15 Indian Cities In Top 20 World’s Most Polluted Cities, Gurugram Tops List

The WHO global air pollution database which listed 14 Indian cities among the 15 most polluted cities in the world last year, was a matter of shame for the country and its government. The list was topped by Kanpur, while cities like Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna occupied the next few spots.

Come 2019, and it seems nothing has changed.

According to data released by the non-profit organization, IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace, 15 out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world belong to India. The topper of the list and the winner of the “most polluted city” tag was Gurugram (or Gurgaon), which lies in the NCR region of the country.

Gurgaon. Image source

The calculations were made considering the presence of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 in the atmosphere and 3000 cities were evaluated.

The top 10 spots have seven Indian cities in the name of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bhiwadi, Noida, Patna, and Lucknow. Hotan in China and Lahore and Faisalabad in Pakistan make the other three.

Lucknow. Image source

The Indian capital of Delhi, which has raised a million questions over the last two years with its pollution level breaking all limits, was placed at the 11th spot in the list.

Here are the top 20:

The report also stated that the pollution level in South Asia is really serious. Out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world last year, 18 were from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

The rankings come as a wake-up call for the country. With a long road ahead, it’s high time we realized our responsibilities as matured citizens and did our best in keeping the cities clean.

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