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monitoring resources are not represented, yet may often have high levels of air pollution which go unmeasured or unpublished."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