Delhi no longer most polluted city in the world

As per recently released World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Urban Air Quality Database for 2016, Delhi is no longer most polluted in the world in terms of air quality.
The dirtiest air was recorded at Zabol City in Iran, which has annual PM2.5 measure of 217 due to months of dust storms in the summer.
WHO’s Urban Air Quality Database for 2016, was based on the annual average  of PM2.5 readings of 3000 cities in 100 countries.
Key highlights of Air Quality Database

  • Top 10 Cities (PM2.5): Iran’s Zabol (217), India’s Gwalior (176) and Allahabad (170), Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh (156) and Al Jubail (152), India’s Patna (149) and Raipur (144), Cameroon’s Bamenda (132), China’d Xingtai (128) and Baoding (126).
  • India Related Facts: India is home to four of the top seven cities in the world with the worst air pollution.
  • New Delhi ranked as the 11th worst city in the survey. It had an annual average PM2.5 measurement of 122.
  • Global Facts: More than 80% of people living in urban areas that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality levels that exceed WHO limits.
  • People dwelling in low-income cities are the most impacted. In high-income countries, 56% of cities meet WHO air quality guidelines.
  • In case of low- and middle income countries, 98% of cities with more than 100000 inhabitants do not meet WHO air quality guidelines.

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