Fourteen Indian cities, including Delhi and Varanasi, have figured in a list of 20 most polluted cities in the world in terms of PM2.5 levels in 2016, according to the latest World Health Organisation data.
Other Indian cities that registered very high levels of PM2.5 pollutants were Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur followed by Ali Subah Al-Salem in Kuwait and a few cities in China and Mongolia, the report said.
In terms of PM10 levels, 13 cities in India figured among the 20 most-polluted cities of the world in 2016.
The WHO data has also pointed out that nine out of 10 people in the world breathe air containing high levels of pollutants.
The World Health Organisation has reportedly called upon member-countries in its Southeast Asia Region to aggressively address the double burden of household and ambient (outdoor) air pollution, saying the region, which comprises India, accounts for 34 pc or 2.
A PTI report quoted the WHO data as suggesting that 4 million of the seven million premature deaths caused by household and ambient air pollution together globally every year.
Of the 3.8 million deaths caused by household air pollution globally, the region accounts for 1.5 million or 40 per cent deaths, and of the 4.2 million global deaths due to ambient air pollution, 1.3 million or 30 per cent are reported from the region, it added.
The PM2.5 includes pollutants like sulfate, nitrate and black carbon, which pose the greatest risk to human health.
