Updated By: LatestGKGS Desk
WHO: 14 Indian Cities Topped The List Of 20 World’s Most Polluted Cities
WHO: 14 Indian Cities Topped The List Of 20 World’s Most Polluted Cities- Ranking Tally
According to the data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 2nd May 2018 in Geneva, 14 Indian cities figured in a list of world's 20 most polluted cities in terms of particulate matter PM2.5 concentrations levels in 2016.
The WHO Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database ranked Kanpur as the most polluted city among 4300 world cities which were monitored for their air pollution levels in the year 2016.
The other Indian cities that registered very high levels of PM2.5 pollutants were Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala, and Jodhpur.
The particulate matter PM2.5 includes pollutants like sulfate, nitrate and black carbon, which pose the greatest risk to human health.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had recently proclaimed that air pollution levels improved in 2017 as compared to 2016. The CPCB, however, hasn't released the annual average PM 2.5 concentration for 2017 yet.
The WHO also spotlighted that air pollution mainly leads to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), causing an estimated one-quarter (24%) of all adult deaths from heart disease, 25% from stroke, 43% from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29% from lung cancer.
