UPSC Articles
IQ Air’s Global air pollution Report
Part of: GS Prelims and GS – III – Environment; Pollution
In news
- A report on Global air pollution was released from IQ Air.
- It is a Swiss air quality technology company specialising in protection against airborne pollutants, and developing air quality monitoring and air cleaning products.
Key takeaways
- Delhi remained the most polluted capital city in the world.
- India, on the whole, had improved its average annual PM2.5 (particulate matter) levels in 2020 than in 2019.
- India is the third most polluted country in 2020.
- Bangladesh and Pakistan have worse average PM2.5 levels than India.
- China ranked 11th in the latest report, a deterioration from the 14th in the previous edition of the report.
- Amongst cities, Hotan in China was the most polluted, followed by Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
- Of the 15 most polluted cities, 13 were in India.
- The pollution levels are weighted averages, meaning that the population of a country influences the pollution values reported.
84% of all monitored countries observed air quality improvements.
- However, of the 106 monitored countries, only 24 met the WHO’s annual guidelines for PM 2.5.
