India, China: the two Countries where 90% of the 200 most polluted cities in the world

the BANGKOK (AsiaNews/Agencies) - About 90% of the 200 cities with the highest level of micro-pollutants in the environment are located in China and India. The reports Asianews. Among the remaining metropolis, the majority are located in Pakistan and Indonesia also present in the special standings for the poor level of the air. Is what emerges from the report 2019 World Air Quality Report, published these days by the IQAir Group and the environmental group Greenpeace.

The country most affected is Bangladesh. Taking into account the population, the country most affected is Bangladesh, which has the highest level of fine particles (PM2.5). Follow the Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan and India. In this case, China is located at 11th place in the standings. Among the megacities with 10 million inhabitants, the most polluted last year, it was the capital of India New Delhi, followed by Lahore in Pakistan, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Kolkata in India, Linyi and Tianjin in China and Jakarta in Indonesia. For all the particulate levels was well above the limits tolerated by the body. In the list there are also Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic of the coronavirus, together with Chengdu and Beijing.

The relationship of IQAir. And is based on data from 5 cities around the world, According to experts of the world health Organization (Who), the high levels of PM2.5 causing up to 7 million premature deaths throughout the world. In China alone, the number of victims is over a million, but some estimates - not official - that double given up to a maximum of two million. Frank Hammes, chief executive of IQAir, stresses that “the air pollution is the most serious environmental threat to the whole planet”. And 90% of the “global population” breathe “unhealthy air”. Some factors seem to show a slight improvement as China, where the average level of fine dust in urban areas is down 20% between 2018 and 2019. However, last year, 117 among the 200 most polluted cities in the world were in the Land of the dragon.

the particles in The blood through the lungs. The particles are so small that they can enter the blood through the respiratory system and cause asthma, lung cancer and heart disease. If the link with cancer of the respiratory system is by now well-proven, a recent study shows that air pollution is at the base of heart attacks, stroke and other types of cardiovascular disease. Other types of particulates such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3) are linked to cases of decline in cognitive performance, labour productivity and learning capacity at school. In contrast, among the cities with over a million inhabitants in the less polluted are Adelaide, Helsinki, Stockholm, San Jose, California; to follow there are a Perth and Melbourne in Australia, then Calgary in Canada and New York in the United States.

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