Lahore 9th poorest in air quality rankings

Lahore on Tuesday ranked at number 9 in the list of cities having the worst air quality in the world.

According to Air Visual, an organisation that provides anyone with free access to the world’s largest air quality database and ranks the world’s cities according to the Air Quality Index (AQI), Lahore is now on number 9 in the list of cities having the worst air quality in the world.

Lahore has a ranking of 153 on the US AQI. The city which has the world’s worst air quality, is the Indian capital of New Delhi with a US AQI ranking of 323, followed by Beijing (287) and Kolkata (180).

Karachi has a ranking of 92 on the US AQI, placed at number 27 on the list.

Air Quality also forecasts the air pollution and quality of all cities. Lahore’s air quality is expected to remain between 150 to 200 on Tuesday and Wednesday, and improve on Thursday, with the US AQI expected to be between 101 and 150.

A real-time world map on the organisation’s website shows Pakistan in the red zone alongside India, indicating the poorest levels of air pollution and quality.

According to the Pakistani Air Quality Monitoring Project, The World Health Organization (WHO) states that there are many reasons to be worried about the air quality in Lahore, with an yearly average of 68 µg/m3 of PM2.5, which corresponds to a 155 – Unhealthy Air Quality Index.

The World Heath Organisation says that some 3 million deaths a year are linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution. Indoor air pollution can be just as deadly. In 2012, an estimated 6.5 million deaths (11.6 per cent of all global deaths) were associated with indoor and outdoor air pollution together.

Nearly 90 per cent of air-pollution-related deaths occur in low-and middle-income countries, with nearly 2 out of 3 occurring in WHO’s South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions.

Ninety-four per cent are due to noncommunicable diseases – notably cardiovascular diseases, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. Air pollution also increases the risks for acute respiratory infections.