New Delhi is world’s most polluted capital city : IQAir’s 2021 World Air Quality Report

New Delhi has been ranked the world’s most polluted capital city for second consecutive year as per IQAir’s 2021 World Air Quality Report.
New Delhi is followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh), N’Djamena (Chad), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Muscat (Oman) as top five most polluted capital cities respectively..

Major Points to be noted

The 2021 World Air Quality Report by Swiss organisation IQAir is the first major global air quality report based on updated annual WHO air quality guidelines for PM2.5.
The new guidelines were released in September 2021 and cut existing annual PM2.5 guideline values from 10 Aug/m 3 to 5 Aug/m 3.
The report has analysed PM2.5 air pollution measurements in 6,475 cities in 117 countries, regions and territories.
Of the 15 most polluted cities in Central and South Asia in 2021, 12 were in India.
PM2.5 concentration in New Delhi increased by 14.6 percent in 2021 to 96.4 Ig/m3, compared to 84 Ig/m3 in 2020.
Meanwhile, Bhiwadi was the most polluted city in India, followed by Ghaziabad, Delhi and Jaunpur.
Bangladesh was the most polluted country, followed by Chad, Pakistan and Tajikistan. India was the fifth most polluted country.

Points to remember:

Which city has been ranked as the most polluted capital city of the world as per IQAir’s 2021 World Air Quality Report?