{"id":45327,"date":"2025-03-12T01:53:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T20:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=45327"},"modified":"2025-05-06T19:14:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T13:44:36","slug":"world-air-quality-report-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/world-air-quality-report-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"World Air Quality Report 2024: India Among Top 5 Most Polluted Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>World Air Quality Report 2024 Latest News<\/li>\n<li>Key Highlights of the World Air Quality Report 2024<\/li>\n<li>Challenges in Pollution Control Efforts and Way Forward<\/li>\n<li>World Air Quality Report 2024 FAQs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>World Air Quality Report 2024 Latest News<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The World Air Quality Report 2024 by IQAir highlights severe pollution in India, with 13 of the world&#8217;s 20 most polluted cities located in the country.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Byrnihat (Assam) is the most polluted city globally, while Delhi remains the most polluted capital. India ranked fifth in air pollution in 2024, improving from third place in 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Key Highlights of the World Air Quality Report 2024<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The World Air Quality Report 2024 has been released by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir.<\/li>\n<li>The report looked at the data from over 40,000 air quality monitoring stations across 138 countries, territories, and regions, and was analysed by IQAir\u2019s air quality scientists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiram-prod.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com\/image4_f48e079a25.webp\" alt=\"image4.webp\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Pollution in India: Key Highlights<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Delhi: The World\u2019s Most Polluted Capital for Six Consecutive Years<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Delhi has once again been ranked as the world\u2019s most polluted capital, surpassing other cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) in 2023.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>While some NCR cities previously recorded worse pollution levels, Delhi emerged as the most polluted regional city in South Asia.<\/li>\n<li>In 2024, Delhi was the second most polluted city in the world and in Central and South Asia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Decline in Average PM2.5 Levels<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India&#8217;s average PM2.5 concentration in 2024 was <strong>50.6 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3<\/strong>, reflecting a <strong>7% decrease<\/strong> from 2023 (54.4 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Most Polluted Cities<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Byrnihat<\/strong> recorded the highest pollution levels globally, with an <strong>annual PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Six Indian cities<\/strong> ranked among the world\u2019s <strong>10 most polluted<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Severe Pollution Episodes in Northern India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>January 2024 witnessed poor air quality in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.<\/li>\n<li>November 2024 saw extreme pollution in Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Major Pollution Sources<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Crop stubble burning accounted for 60% of PM2.5 pollution during peak periods.<\/li>\n<li>Vehicular emissions, industrial discharges, and construction dust were other significant contributors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Air Pollution: A Global Crisis<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Widespread Exposure to Dirty Air<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2024, <strong>most of the global population<\/strong> was breathing polluted air.<\/li>\n<li>Only <strong>12 countries, regions, and territories<\/strong> met the <strong>WHO\u2019s recommended PM2.5 limit<\/strong> of <strong>5 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>These regions were primarily in <strong>Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Most Polluted Countries<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The five most polluted countries, based on <strong>annual average PM2.5 concentrations<\/strong>, were:<\/li>\n<li>Chad \u2013 91.8 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3<\/li>\n<li>Bangladesh \u2013 78 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3<\/li>\n<li>Pakistan \u2013 73.7 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3<\/li>\n<li>Congo \u2013 58.2 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3<\/li>\n<li>India \u2013 50.6 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Severe Air Quality Violations<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Only <strong>17% of the 8,954 cities<\/strong> worldwide met <strong>WHO\u2019s PM2.5 guidelines<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>20 most polluted cities<\/strong>, located in <strong>India, Kazakhstan, Chad, Pakistan, and China<\/strong>, exceeded <strong>WHO limits by over 10 times<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Challenges in Pollution Control Efforts and Way Forward<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), introduced in 2019, aimed to reduce pollution.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, the latest report highlighted persistent challenges due to inconsistent policy implementation and inadequate infrastructure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Need for Stronger Action<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Environmental analysts argue that while Delhi has introduced policies like BS-VI fuel and advanced transportation technology, poor implementation has led to persistently high pollution levels.<\/li>\n<li>They emphasized that systematic actions remain largely on paper and stressed the need for stronger governance and a drastic overhaul of air pollution regulation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Strengthening NCAP and ensuring sustained action will be crucial for long-term improvement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>World Air Quality Report 2024 FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1.<\/strong> Which city is the most polluted in 2024?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> Byrnihat (Assam) recorded the highest pollution globally, with an annual PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>What is India\u2019s air pollution ranking in 2024?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>India ranked fifth in air pollution in 2024, improving from third place in 2023.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>Why is Delhi\u2019s air quality so poor?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>Delhi\u2019s pollution is driven by stubble burning, vehicular emissions, industrial discharges, and construction dust.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4. <\/strong>Which country had the worst air quality in 2024?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>Chad had the highest PM2.5 levels, averaging 91.8 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5. <\/strong>What challenges does India face in controlling air pollution?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>Weak policy implementation, inadequate infrastructure, and ineffective governance hinder India&#8217;s pollution control efforts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/cities\/delhi\/delhi-is-more-polluted-than-ncr-cities-for-second-year-in-a-row-9881748\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/india-news\/report-finds-13-of-20-most-polluted-world-cities-in-india-country-ranks-fifth-101741668754302.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HT<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/city\/delhi\/india-home-to-6-of-worlds-10-most-polluted-cities-delhi-most-polluted-capital-report\/articleshowprint\/118876515.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ToI<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IQAir&#8217;s World Air Quality Report 2024 ranks Byrnihat as the world&#8217;s most polluted city, with Delhi as the most polluted capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-45327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}