The Most Polluted City In The World
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 Mumbai, India, is 385 today.
The term “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. Mumbai is on India’s west coast on the Arabian Sea.
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Mumbai’s population is over 12.5 million, making it the 13th largest city in the world. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region has a population of 23 million. According to a Bloomberg report last October, “Air pollution has resulted in some 29,000 deaths in Mumbai so far in 2023 and cost about $2.9 billion in productivity, according to calculations by IQAir in partnership with Greenpeace Southeast Asia.”
Construction Sites
Among the reasons for the high air pollution is that Mumbai has approximately 6,000 construction sites. Massive traffic in and out of the city includes tens of thousands of older cars and trucks with emissions higher than those in vehicles built in the most recent decade. Almost all plants in and around the city are fire-powered. The city has anti-smog machines that are ineffective, given their modest numbers.
Mumbai has a second climate challenge. The record high temperature was over 100 degrees F in February, March, April, May, October, and November.
India’s Times Now reported in November that 60% of people living in Mumbai and New Delhi would relocate if they could because of the high level of air pollution. The economic challenge is that it is impossible to relocate millions of people. Even if they could be relocated, it would be impossible to create the buildings necessary to house them or the infrastructure needed to support a new metropolitan area.
