World Air Quality Report 2024

The 7th annual World Air Quality Report 2024 has been recently released by IQAir highlighting alarming trends of the world’s most polluted countries, territories, and regions.

IQAir is a Swiss company specializing in air quality monitoring and purification solutions.

Key Highlights of the Report

Data Source: Data from over 40,000 air quality monitoring stations at 8,954 locations in 138 countries, territories and regions were relied on.
Findings:
- Only 17% of global cities meet WHO air pollution guidelines.
- Cleanest Countries: Seven countries (Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Estonia, Grenada, Iceland, and New Zealand) met the WHO annual average PM2.5 guideline of 5 µg/m3
  - 126 (91.3%) out of the 138 countries and regions exceeded the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline value of 5 μg/m3.
- Polluted Countries: The five most polluted countries in 2024 were:
  - Chad (91.8 µg/m3): More than 18 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline.
  - Bangladesh (78.0 µg/m3): More than 15 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline.
  - Pakistan (73.7 µg/m3): More than 14 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline.
  - Democratic Republic of the Congo (58.2 µg/m3): More than 11 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline.
  - India (50.6 µg/m3): More than 10 times higher than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline.
- Metropolitan Area:
  - Most Polluted: Byrnihat, (Assam-Meghalaya border) India was the most polluted metropolitan area of 2024, with an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 µg/m3.
  - Most Cleanest: Mayaguez, Puerto Rico was the cleanest metropolitan area of 2024, with an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 1.1 µg/m3.
- Most Polluted Capital City: Delhi continues to be the most polluted capital city in the world with an average PM 2.5 concentration of 91.8 μg/m3
- Region Wise:
  - Polluted: The region of Central & South Asia was home to the top seven most polluted cities in the world.
  - Cleanest: Oceania is the world’s cleanest region, with 57% of regional cities meeting the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline value of 5 µg/m3.

India

Rank: India is the fifth most polluted country in the world down from being the third most polluted country in 2023.
- Decline in Pollution: India saw a 7% decline in PM2.5 concentrations in 2024, averaging 50.6 µg/m³ compared to 54.4 µg/m³ in 2023.
  - It is 10 times higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual PM2.5 guideline value of 5 μg/m3.
Polluted Cities: Six of the world’s ten most polluted cities and 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India.
- Indian Cities: Byrnihat, Faridabad, Multanpur, Loni (Ghaziabad), Gurgaon, Greater Noida, Bhiwadi, Noida, Muzaffarnagar, New Delhi (Central Delhi) and Delhi (taking the average from the rest of the city), Hanumangarh, Ganganagar
Capital City: New Delhi’s pollution level saw a marginal decrease to an annual average of 91.6 µg/m³, from 92.7 µg/m³ in 2023.
Life Expectancy: Air pollution remains a significant health burden in India, reducing life expectancy by an estimated 5.2 years

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