Majority of the world has polluted air: report

Most of the global population is breathing dirty air, with only 17% of cities meeting air pollution norms, a report has found.

The findings were published by Switzerland-based air quality monitoring database IQAir on Tuesday as part of its World Air Quality Report for 2024. 

Chad, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Congo and India were among the five most polluted countries in the world.

Meanwhile, only seven countries — Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Estonia, Grenada, Iceland, and New Zealand — met the annual average PM2.5 guideline established by the World Health Organization.

The company's analysis is based on data collected from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations in 138 countries.

Indian cities among the worst affected

India accounted for 13 out of the top 20 polluted cities across the globe, according to the report.

Byrnihat, a small industrial town situated in the country's northeast, was the most polluted metropolitan area in the world.

Delhi continued to remain the most polluted capital city globally.

Scarce monitoring in Africa

The report said that several parts of the world were not equipped with the monitoring required for more precise data, meaning that the real amount of air pollution could be much more. 

For instance, it highlighted that in Africa there was only one monitoring station for every 3.7 million people.

"There has been notable progress in expanding air quality monitoring across various countries, regions, and territories over the past 12 months. However, considerable gaps still exist in government-operated regulatory systems in many parts of the world," the report said. 

Meanwhile, Oceania was listed as the cleanest region on the planet, with 57% of the cities meeting the air quality guidelines.

Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah