Air quality trends in India’s most and least polluted cities as peak pollution season starts
From Respirer Reports, an initiative of Respirer Living Sciences, a climate tech startup in Pune, and Climate Trends
The latest air quality trends and rankings of India’s cities have been published by Respirer Reports and Climate Trends. These include India’s most and least polluted places. Notably, there are a few significant improvements; summary below.
The analysis has been covered in the national and regional Press, from Gujarat to Assam. In recent years there’s been rising concern about air pollution as health risk.
Summary:
A list of the 10 most polluted cities in the last year shows that Delhi and other cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) still dominate air pollution rankings.
Delhi’s air quality improved marginally, yet it was the most polluted city between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023, with a PM2.5 concentration of 100.1 micrograms/cubic metre (μg/m3). This is more than thrice the government’s ‘good’ level and 20 times the WHO’s safe limit.
Patna, though in second place at 99.7 μg/m3, saw a 24 per cent deterioration in air quality over the previous year.
Seven cities in the top 10 are in Delhi-NCR and Bihar, both part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
Aizwal, Mizoram, is the place with India’s cleanest air, with a PM2.5 level of only 11.1 μg/m3.
A look at six major capitals, which have air quality challenges, during the peak pollution months (October–March) between 2019 and 2023 shows that Mumbai’s AQ worsened steadily while Delhi’s and Lucknow’s improved.
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