The Most Polluted City In The World Today

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Widely regarded IQAir uses a point system to measure air pollution. The index runs from 0 to 300+. The most dangerous air pollution category is 300+, which means “hazardous.” The score for Lahore, Pakistan, is 305 today.

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Hazardous is from an EPA designation known as the “air quality index.” Above 300, the pollution situation is such that there are “health warnings of emergency conditions for the entire population.” These levels are not unusual in the largest cities in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iraq. Lahore is on Pakistan’s border with the northwest section of India.

Lahore’s population is over 13 million, making it the 26th largest city in the world. IQAir listed it as the city with the worst air pollution in 2022. According to Reuters, “Lahore’s air quality worsened to 97.4 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter from 86.5 in 2021, making it the most polluted city globally.”

Many of the vehicles in Lahore are old, and their engines are inefficient. Fossil fuels usually power the large industrial sections of the city. Many of the city’s residents use fossil fuels in their homes. According to Foreign Policy, thousands of brick kilns are also in the area.

Among the effects of Lahore’s air quality problems is that children are often told not to go to school. The government has even tried to seed clouds, which can sometimes cause rain.

The Lahore problem is so significant that according to The University of Chicago, “Some areas of Pakistan fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by almost 7 years in the country’s most polluted regions like Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur and Peshawar.”