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Mahesh

18/08/22 10:30 AM IST

Delhi, Kolkata first, second globally in PM2.5 pollution: Report

In News 
  • Delhi and Kolkata have the highest and second-highest levels of pollution globally in terms of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5.
  • The report has been published by the US-based research organisation Health Effects Institute (HEI) and released by HEI’s State of Global Air Initiative.
Major Findings 
  • Delhi has had an ‘annual exposure level’ of 110 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) of PM2.5 (WHO recommendation: annual average concentrations of PM5should not exceed 5 µg/m 3
  • Kolkata came second with 84 µg/m³ of PM2.5
  • Shanghai led the list of cities most polluted due to NO2
  • The report found that exposure to PM2.5 pollution tended to be higher in cities located in low- and middle-income countries
  • NO2: Exposure to NO2 was found to be higher across cities in high-income as well as low- and middle-income
  • NO2 is produced mainly from the burning of fuels mostly in older vehicles, power plants, industrial facilities and residential cooking and heating.
  • As city residents tend to live closer to busy roads with dense traffic, they are often exposed to higher NO2 pollution than residents of rural areas.
  • Impact: In 2019, 7 million deaths linked to PM2.5 exposure occurred.
  • In 2019, 1.7 million deaths linked to PM2.5 exposure occurred in the 7,239 cities included in the analysis, with cities in Asia, Africa, and Eastern and Central Europe seeing the greatest health impacts.
Source- Down To Earth 

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