India hosts 7 out of top 10 most polluted cities globally: data

MUMBAI. KAZINFORM India has received the dreadful distinction of having seven of its cities in the list of top 10 most polluted cities in the world, according to data compiled in the IQAir AirVisual 2018 World Air Quality Report on Tuesday.

Gurugram, located southwest of India's capital New Delhi, holds the top position. The other Indian cities include Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Bhiwadi among the top five and Noida, Patna and Lucknow among the top 10. Faisalabad and Lahore from Pakistan and Hotan in southwest Xinjiang in western China are the three other cities in the top 10, Xinhua reports.

The index measures the presence of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, a pollutant that can fester deep in the lungs and bloodstream of human beings, the release said.

"Air pollution steals our livelihoods and our futures, but we can change that. In addition to human lives lost, there's an estimated global cost of 225 billion U.S. dollars in lost labour, and trillions in medical costs. This has enormous impacts on our health and on our wallets," Yeb Sano, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia said.

The report was prepared in collaboration with Greenpeace Southeast Asia.