| Pak’s another achievement, Lahore becomes world’s most polluted city | | | Agencies
New Delhi, Mar 14: After emerging as a factory of terrorism to export bloodshed and destruction, Pakistan’s Lahore jumped more than 10 places to become the city with the worst air in the world in 2022, according to an annual global survey by a Swiss maker of air purifiers.
The report published on Tuesday by IQAir also said that Chad in central Africa had replaced Bangladesh as the country with the most polluted air last year.
IQAir measures air quality levels based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles known as PM2.5. Researchers and government organizations widely cite its annual survey.
Lahore’s air quality worsened to 97.4 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter from 86.5 in 2021, making it the most polluted city globally.
Hotan, the only Chinese city in the top 20, followed Lahore with PM2.5 levels of 94.3, an improvement from 101.5 in 2021.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a maximum PM2.5 concentration of 5 micrograms per cubic meter.
While Chad had an average level of 89.7, Iraq, which had the second most polluted air for a country, averaged 80.1.
Pakistan, which had two of the five cities with the worst air in 2022, stood third in the country-wide ranking at 70.9, followed by Bahrain at 66.6.
Bangladesh’s air quality improved in 2021, when it was tagged as the country with the worst air. It is ranked fifth in the latest report, with PM2.5 levels coming down to 65.8 from 76.9.
The index was prepared using data from more than 30,000 air quality monitors in more than 7,300 locations in 131 countries, territories and regions.
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