Majority of the world’s population breathing dirty air says report

Most of the world has dirty air with just 17% of cities globally meeting World Health Organisation air pollution guidelines, according to a report.

Switzerland-based air quality monitoring database IQAir analysed data from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations in 138 countries and found Chad, Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India had the dirtiest air.

India had six of the nine most polluted cities with the industrial town of Byrnihat in northeastern India the worst.

Experts said the real amount of air pollution might be far greater as many parts of the world lack the monitoring needed for more accurate data. In Africa there is only one monitoring station for every 3.7 million people.

This year, report authors were able to incorporate data from 8,954 new locations and around a thousand new monitors as a result of efforts to better monitor air pollution.

But last week, data monitoring for air pollution was dealt a blow when the US State Department announced it would no longer make public its data from its embassies and consulates around the world.

The World Health Organisation estimates that air pollution kills around seven million people each year.

Several cities like Beijing, Seoul, South Korea, and Rybnik in Poland have successfully improved their air quality through stricter regulations on pollution from vehicles, power plants and industry.

They have also promoted cleaner energy and invested in public transportation.

Another notable effort to curb severe air pollution was the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreement on transboundary haze pollution.

Even though it has had limited success so far, 10 countries in the region pledged to work together to monitor and curb pollution from large forest fires, a common occurrence in the region during dry seasons.

Shweta Narayan, a campaign lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, said many of the regions witnessing the worst air pollution are also places where planet-heating gases are released extensively through the burning of coal, oil and gas.

Slashing planet-warming emissions to slow the heating up of the planet can also improve air quality, she said.

“Air pollution and climate crisis “are two sides of the same coin,” she said.