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China, India dominate list of world's most polluted cities

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Fine dust blankets the Chinese city of Xian. gettyimagesbank
Fine dust blankets the Chinese city of Xian. gettyimagesbank

By Jung Min-ho

China and India have dominated a new list of the world's most polluted cities.

According to the latest report from Greenpeace and
AirVisual, which measured 3,000 cities, the two Asian countries account for 90 ― 57 Chinese and 33 Indian ― of the worst 100 cities.

Gurugram, a city just southwest of the Indian capital New Delhi, topped the list with an average air quality index of 135.8 in 2018, nearly three times the level that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regards as healthy.

The data is compiled from governmental public monitoring sources and public IQAir AirVisual monitoring stations.

Air pollution now represents the world's fourth leading contributing cause of premature deaths, killing more than 7 million people a year, according to the report.

"While its impact on everyday lives may not always be apparent, the global economy silently suffers an estimated $225 billion annually from lost labor," the report says.

"While concerning in itself, these numbers are expected to underestimate true global pollution levels, as countries without air quality monitoring resources are not represented, yet may often have high levels of air pollution which go unmeasured or unpublished."

While South Asian countries and China are the worst affected, air pollution is a global, not a regional, challenge, it says.

The 100 most polluted cities according to the report are:

1. Gurugram, India

2. Ghaziabad, India

3. Faisalabad, Pakistan

4. Faridabad, India

5. Bhiwadi, India

6. Noida, India

7. Patna, India

8. Hotan, China

9. Lucknow, India

10. Lahore, Pakistan

11. Delhi, India

12. Jodhpur, India

13. Muzaffarpur, India

14. Varanasi, India

15. Moradabad, India

16. Agra, India

17. Dhaka, Bangladesh

18. Gaya, India

19. Kashgar, China

20. Jind, India

21. Kanpur, India

22. Singrauli, India

23. Kolkata, India

24. Pali, India

25. Rohtak, India

26. Mandi Gobindgarh, India

27. Xingtai Shi, China

28. Shijiazhuang, China

29. Ahmedabad, India

30. Aksu, China

31. Handan, China

32. Anyang, China

33. Baoding, China

34. Linfen, China

35. Wujiaqu, China

36. Xianyang, China

37. Jaipur, India

38. Jiaozuo, China

39. Hengshui Shi, China

40. Xuzhou, China

41. Cangzhou Shi, China

42. Pingdingshan, China

43. Kaifeng, China

44. Asansol, India

45. Howrah, India

46. Xuchang, China

47. Zhengzhou, China

48. Tangshan, China

49. Puyang, China

50. Luohe, China

51. Shangqiu, China

52. Kabul, Afghanistan

53. Xinxiang, China

54. Shihezi, China

55. Laiwu, China

56. Nanyang, China

57. Amritsar, India

58. Xiangyang, China

59. Zhumadian, China

60. Liaocheng, China

61. Heze, China

62. Kizilsu, China

63. Xian, China

64. Luoyang, China

65. Yuncheng, China

66. Jincheng, China

67. Manama, Bahrain

68. Urumqi, China

69. Yangquan, China

70. Zhoukou, China

71. Mumbai, India

72. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

73. Huaibei, China

74. Weinan, China

75. Mandideep, India

76. Talcher, India

77. Suzhou, China

78. Zaozhuang, China

79. Sanmenxia, China

80. Bozhou, China

81. Zigong, China

82. Jalandhar, India

83. Jingmen, China

84. Panchkula, India

85. Turpan, China

86. Kuwait City, Kuwait

87. Zibo, China

88. Taiyuan, China

89. Langfang, China

90. Binzhou, China

91. Hebi, China

92. Lukavac, Bosnia-Herzegovina

93. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

94. Udaipur, India

95. Ludhiana, India

96. Changji, China

97. Dezhou, China

98. Huainan, China

99. Fuyang, China

100. Kathmandu, Nepal


Jung Min-ho mj6c2@koreatimes.co.kr


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