NEW DELHI — India has earned the dubious distinction of becoming the country with the most cities in the top 100 worst polluted cities globally, far ahead of its rival, China.
As residents in Delhi grapple with one of the worst pollution levels this winter — air quality index (AQI) readings regularly exceeding 500 — the central and state governments, as usual, blame each other for the crisis, PTI reported.
A recent S&P Global Mobility web presentation identified 39 Indian cities in the top 100 most polluted globally. In comparison, China, the nearest rival, has 30 cities on the list.
Neighbouring Pakistan ranks third with seven cities, followed by Bangladesh with five and Nepal with two. Alarmingly, more than half (53, to be precise) of the top 100 most polluted cities in the world are in the Indian subcontinent.
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The S&P study was part of a presentation highlighting the need for India to shift towards vehicle electrification. It also called attention to concerns about growing traffic congestion in major Indian cities. Mumbai tops the list with 430 vehicles per kilometer (km), followed by Kolkata at 308, Pune at 248, and Delhi comparatively better at 93 vehicles per km.
S&P also shared some startling facts: in Bengaluru, for instance, severe road congestion has brought the average vehicle speed down to just 10 km/hour.
The gravity of India’s pollution problem is evident from data provided by AQI, an India-based company monitoring live air quality.
As of this afternoon, 60 Indian cities feature in the top 100 most polluted, with the top 10 spots occupied entirely by Indian cities, including Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Hubli, and Gulbarga. In stark contrast, only three Chinese cities appear on the list.
In 2023, IQAir, an international monitoring agency, ranked Delhi as the most polluted capital in the world, with Beijing in China placed 18th. Among countries with the highest average PM2.5 concentrations, India ranked third, after Bangladesh and Pakistan. China, meanwhile, ranked 19th, showcasing its evident progress in reducing pollution levels.