Breathe carefully: Delhi third most polluted city in India

Contrary to popular belief,Mumbai’s pollution levels are much lower than other cities in the country,being only the tenth most polluted city out of 32 cities in India,according to the report. Among the metropolitan cities Delhi ranks as the highest polluted and the lowest is Chennai with 48 micrograms per cubic meter. Kolkata came in second with 148 micrograms per cubic meter,Mumbai is third and Bangalore was fourth with 90 micrograms per cubic meter.

However,as a whole,India ranks as the 13th most polluted country out of the 91,considered with an annual mean of 109 micrograms per cubic meter of PM10. The cleanest city in the world is Whitehorse in Canada and the most polluted is Ahwaz in Iran with 372 micrograms per cubic meter.

The report considered both indoor and outdoor pollution in developed and developing countries including residential and commercial areas but excluded industrial areas. The report finds that most cities in the world have exceeded the air quality guidelines with a world average of 71 micrograms per cubic meter. WHO estimates that 2 million people die every year due to inhalation of tiny particles in air pollution causing health hazards such as heart disease,lung cancer and asthma.

As per the WHO’s air quality guidelines the annual mean should not be above a maximum 20 micrograms per cubic meter in the air.

WHO’s urban air pollution database released on Monday,recorded particulate matter (PM) presence in 1,100 cities in 91 countries of the world from 2003 to 2010.