From the smog–choked streets of Delhi to the suffocating skies over Eastern Europe, air pollution is a deadly threat to city dwellers all around the world.
Now, terrifying charts have revealed the towns and cities facing the world’s highest levels of pollution.
And it is bad news for residents of Asia and Africa, where all 10 of the smoggiest cities can be found.
According to data collected by House Fresh, the world’s most polluted city is Byrnihat in India, with an average concentration of 128.2 micrograms of toxic PM2.5 particles per cubic metre (µg/m³).
That makes Byrnihat 25 times more polluted than the World Health Organisation‘s recommended safe levels of just five µg/m³.
This is followed by Delhi in India (108.3µg/m³) and Karaganda in Kazakhstan (104.8µg/m³).
At the other end of the scale, Kazakhstan is also home to the world’s cleanest town, Chu, with pollution levels of just 1.5µg/m³.
This is closely followed by the Hawaiian towns Waimea (1.7µg/m³) and Miliani Town (1.9µg/m³).
A new study has revealed that Byrnihat, India (pictured), is the world’s worst city for air pollution, with pollution levels 25 times higher than the recommended safe rate
Asia is the worst continent for air pollution and is home to nine of the ten most polluted cities on Earth. Pictured: Smog envelopes a road in Delhi
Overall, Asia is the worst continent for air pollution, with nine of the 10 most polluted cities on Earth.
Asia is also home to the world’s second most polluted capital city, New Delhi, which is a smaller municipality within Delhi and has air particulate levels of 91.6µg/m³ – 18 times higher than the safe limit.
According to air monitoring service IQAir’s 2024 report, the intense levels of pollution in South Asia are due to ‘industrial emissions, biomass burning, coal–fired power, and transportation.’
In Asia, the cleanest cities for air pollution are largely located in Kazakhstan and Japan, with Japan boasting five of the 10 least polluted towns.
Europe, by contrast, has some of the world’s lowest rates of air pollution and is home to half of the 20 least polluted cities.
The title of least polluted city in Europe goes to Faro, a fairly large city on Portugal’s south coast, with average particulate levels of just three µg/m³.
Faro is closely followed by two Spanish cities, Alicante and Castello de la Plana, which both have particulate levels of 3.2 µg/m³.
Meanwhile, the UK town of Newquay comes in as the seventh cleanest town in Europe, with particulate pollution levels sitting at an average of 3.8µg/m³.
North America’s least polluted town is Waimea, Hawaii (pictured), which is also the second least polluted town in the world
In Europe, the title of least polluted town goes to Faro (pictured), a relatively large city on Portugal’s south coast
As for Europe’s most polluted towns, all 10 are located on the Balkan Peninsula, with Novi Pazar, Serbia, coming in as the most polluted.
A 2019 UN report found that one in five premature deaths in the Balkans is due to air pollution, while in the region’s most polluted capital, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, one in 12 deaths is caused by lung cancer.
In the UK, the most polluted city is Liverpool, which has average particulate levels of 10.3µg/m³, over twice the safe limit.
However, in North America, there are even more striking discrepancies between the most and least polluted towns and cities.
Almost all of the continent’s most polluted towns and cities are located in Mexico, with the exception of Whitecourt, Canada, which is the most polluted town in North America.
Whitecourt has an average particulate pollution of 48.4µg/m³ – twice that of the next most polluted town in North America and equivalent to pollution levels in Baghdad, Iraq.
By contrast, Prince Rupert, Canada’s least polluted town, has particulate levels of just 2.2µg/m³.
Outside of Hawaii, the best city for clean air in the USA is Troutdale in Oregon, where the 2024 average was just 2.5µg/m³.
The most polluted town in the UK is Liverpool (pictured), which has levels of pollution over twice the safe level recommended by the World Health Organisation
In South America, seven of the 10 most polluted towns on the continent are located in Chile.
In Coyhaique, the region’s most polluted city, levels of particulate pollution average 40.5µg/m³.
Studies have shown that this excessively high level of pollution is largely caused by residents burning damp wood to stay warm during the winter.
However, South America is also home to the world’s least polluted capital city, Nassau in the Bahamas, with pollution levels of just 2.3µg/m³.
Meanwhile, Oceania has some of the world’s most consistently clean air, with the continent’s most polluted city, Richmond, New Zealand, having an average PM2.5 pollution level of just 10.5µg/m³.
This is followed by two New Zealand towns, Blenheim and Kaiapoi, which have pollution levels of 9.9µg/m³ and 9.8µg/m³, respectively.
Similarly, the least polluted town in Oceania is Australia’s Broken Hill, with a pollution level of only 1.7µg/m³.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .