IQAir’s 2021 World Air Quality Report

The IQAir’s report & key findings-

• The report is based on PM2.5 air quality data from 6,475 cities in 117 countries, regions, and territories around the world.
• As per the report, air pollution continued to spike to unhealthy levels in 2021.
• The report also revealed that not a single country managed to meet the WHO’s air quality standard in 2021, and smog even rebounded in some regions after a Covid-related dip in numbers. 
• WHO’s guidelines of September 2021 warrant good air quality with PM2.5 concentration level between 0-5 g/m3 (the last update released in 2006). 
• New Delhi continues to be the world’s most polluted capital city for the fourth consecutive year.
• Dhaka (Bangladesh) ranked second, followed by N’Djamena in Chad, Dushanbe in Tajikistan and Muscat in Oman.
• All six metro cities except Chennai saw a rise in air pollution levels in 2021.
• In India, major sources of air pollution include vehicular emissions, power generation, industrial waste, biomass combustion for cooking, the construction sector, and episodic events like crop burning.
• The index noted that air quality in China continued to improve in 2021. 
• Countries and regions in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia suffered from the highest annual average PM2.5 concentration weighted by population. 
• Top five most polluted countries are Bangladesh, Chad, Pakistan, Tajikistan and India.
• As per the report, air pollution is now considered to be the world’s largest environmental health threat, accounting for seven million deaths around the world every year.