Scientists say that air pollution is a ‘global health catastrophe’.
Only seven countries in the world met safe air pollution levels in 2023, a new report by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir reveals.
The World Air Quality Report, released this week, draws on data from more than 30,000 monitoring stations in 134 countries, territories and regions.
Of these, 124 were found to breach safe levels of PM2.5 (fine particulate matter), according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. READ MORE...
Morning walkers seen during a cold and hazy morning at Kartavya Path near India Gate on December 9, 2023 in New Delhi, India. Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times/Getty Images Hong KongCNN —
All but one of the 100 cities with the world’s worst air pollution last year were in Asia, according to a new report, with the climate crisis playing a pivotal role in bad air quality that is risking the health of billions of people worldwide.The vast majority of these cities — 83 — were in India and all exceeded the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines by more than 10 times, according to the report by IQAir, which tracks air quality worldwide.The study looked specifically at fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which is the tiniest pollutant but also the most dangerous. Only 9% of more than 7,800 cities analyzed globally recorded air quality that met WHO’s standard, which says average annual levels of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic meter. READ MORE...
