Lahore tops global air pollution ranking with AQI 167 — Dawn

Lahore in Pakistan topped the global ranking of cities with the highest air pollution on Friday morning. The city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 167, corresponding to the “unhealthy” category. Dawn reports, citing data from the IQAir air quality monitoring platform.

Figures for other cities

According to the IQAir online tracker, Lahore was followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh with an AQI of 164 and Cairo in Egypt with an index of 158. Lahore was the only Pakistani city in the top 30 of the list of 125 cities.

Another Pakistani city on the list was Karachi, which ranked 34th with an AQI of 69. IQAir also noted that the concentration of fine particulate matter PM2.5 in Lahore was 15.2 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended annual level for PM2.5.

PM2.5 are fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less. According to IQAir, they can enter the bloodstream and the brain, and prolonged exposure to these particles can cause serious health problems.

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Recommendations and smog

The platform advised Lahore residents to avoid exercising outdoors, keep windows closed, wear a mask outside and install an air purifier indoors.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said that authorities were working to address environmental problems. According to her, Lahore and some areas of Punjab experienced “smog closures” in September and October for eight years, while over the past three years there has been less smog, although it has not disappeared completely.

In January this year, IQAir had already placed Lahore first in the global ranking with an AQI of 452. Earlier this week, the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service also classified the city among settlements with “extremely poor” ozone levels.