India continues to feature prominently at the top of the most polluted cities ranking as 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities are in India, according to a report prepared by Swiss organisation IQAir in the form of the World Air Quality Report, 2020. Delhi has been ranked as the most polluted capital city globally, the report said.
The report added Delhi’s air quality improved by approximately 15 percent from 2019 to 2020 but stated Delhi ranked as the 10th most polluted city and the top polluted capital city in the world despite the improvement.
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Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar, Bisrakh Jalalpur, Noida, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Agra and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh; Bhiwari in Rajasthan; Faridabad, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad, Bandhwari, Gurugram, Yamuna Nagar, Rohtak and Dharuhera in Haryana; and Muzaffarpur in Bihar are the 21 other Indian cities among the 30 most polluted cities in the world.
The top most polluted city is Xinjiang in China. Ghaziabad is the second most polluted city in the world followed by Bulandshahar, Bisrakh Jalalpur, Noida, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow and Bhiwari.
Transportation, biomass burning for cooking, electricity generation, industry, construction, waste burning and episodic agricultural burning are among the major sources of India’s air pollution.
The report also said “transportation sector is one of the major contributors to India's leading PM2.5 emission sources across cities”.
The global cities ranking report is based on PM2.5 data from 106 countries.