India’s air quality improves

PM2.5 concentrations in India in 2022 were around 9 micrograms per cubic metre (19.3 per cent) lower compared to 2021. File pic

India logged a 19.3 per cent decline in particulate pollution in 2022, the second highest in the world after Bangladesh, adding an average of one year to the life expectancy of citizens, a new report showed on Wednesday.

The annual report, "Air Quality Life Index" 2024, by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) also said that Indians are likely to lose 3.6 years of life expectancy if the country fails to meet the WHO annual PM2.5 concentration standard of 5 micrograms per cubic metre.

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The researchers attributed the decline in particulate levels in India and other South Asian countries primarily to favourable meteorological conditions and a reduced number of thermal inversions - when a layer of warm air traps cooler air near the ground, causing pollution to build up. PM2.5 concentrations in India in 2022 were around 9 micrograms per cubic metre (19.3 per cent) lower compared to 2021.

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