IQAir’s world air quality report, 2020

In news : According to the IQAir report, India emerged as the world’s third most polluted country after Bangladesh and Pakistan time

About the World Air Quality Report

• The report was prepared by y Swiss organisation IQAir, 
• The 2020 World Air Quality Report analyzes PM2.5 data reported by ground-level monitoring stations around the world, as aggregated through IQAir’s air quality information platform. By comparing PM2.5 levels across the globe, IQAir strives to highlight a wide variety of air quality challenges as well as underscore the threat of human-caused air pollution

Key highlights of the report

• As per the World Air Quality Report, New Delhi was the world’s most polluted capital for the third straight year in 2020
• The organization measures  air quality levels based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles known as PM2.5.
• According to the report, India was home to 35 of the world’s 50 most polluted cities, IQAir gathered  data for 106 countries
• The report highlights that in 2020, New Delhi’s average annual concentration of PM2.5 in a cubic meter of air was 84.1 which is more than double the level of Beijing, which averaged 37.5 during the year, making it the 14th most polluted city in the world.
• However, it shows that Delhi’s air quality improved by approximately 15% from 2019 to 2020.
• But it says that in 2019 Delhi’s 20 million residents, who breathed some of the cleanest air on record in summer months due to the lockdown curbs, battled toxic air in winter, following a sharp increase in farm fire incidents in the neighbouring state of Punjab
• The report point out that as the burning of crop stubble peaked, Delhi’s PM2.5 levels averaged 144 micrograms per cubic metre in November and 157 micrograms per cubic metre in December, exceeding the World Health Organisation’s annual exposure guideline by more than 14 times
  • The WHO states that, while no level of PM2.5 exposure is free from adverse health effects, annual average exposure below 10 μg/m³ minimizes risks
• Further, IQAir report highlights that South Asia endured some of the world’s worst air quality on record in 2020

World country/region Ranking

Arranged by annual average PM2.5 concentration (µg/m³), weighted by population based on the available

World capital city ranking 

Arranged by annual average PM2.5 concentration (µg/m³)

Air pollution: PM2.5 and its impact on Health

• Prolonged exposure to PM2.5 can lead to deadly diseases, including cancer and cardiac problems. 
• According to a study by Greenpeace Southeast Asia Analysis and IQAir, Air pollution caused an estimated 54,000 premature deaths in New Delhi in 2020