{"id":5574,"date":"2024-05-23T17:54:38","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T09:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/?p=5574"},"modified":"2024-05-23T17:54:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T09:54:40","slug":"indian-cities-best-air-quality-most-polluted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/blog\/indian-cities-best-air-quality-most-polluted\/","title":{"rendered":"List of Cities with Best and Worst Air Quality in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever wondered which cities in India have the best air quality and AQI? The city with the best AQI and cleanest air might not be where you think. I analyzed the data from the World Health Organization’s database<\/a> of annual particulate pollution (PM2.5<\/a>) averages for 122 cities. Here’s what I found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agra Through Mumbai<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

122 cities are too much for one graph, so to map out the pollution levels, I broke it in half. Here\u2019s A through M from cities in India with the worst air quality (highest PM2.5 in the graph) to the best air quality (lowest PM2.5 number in the graph).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: the numbers used in this graph show PM2.5 concentration, not the ‘Air Quality Index’ or AQI. US AQI levels (not to be confused with NAQI) are indicated by the color bands going from green (‘Good’) to purple (‘Hazardous’) on the left-hand side. To find out more about the relationship between “air quality index” or AQI, and PM2.5 concentration, check out the EPA’s Air Quality Index calculator<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cities<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here’s that same list in alphabetical order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cities<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nagaon Through Warangal<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are cities in India, N through Z from highest pollution levels to lowest pollution levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Comparison<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here’s that same list in alphabetical order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Comparison<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway 1: It helps to be later in the alphabet<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For some unknown reason (regional linguistic differences?), you\u2019re better off on average if you\u2019re living in an N-Z city in India (48 micrograms) rather than an A-M city (66 micrograms)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway 2: Only one city is under the WHO annual limit<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The World Health Organization\u2019s annual limit is 10 micrograms\/m3<\/a>. Only one city in India came in under that limit and can claim to be India’s least polluted city\u2014Tezpur, Assam. That means Tezpur takes the spot as the city with the best air quality in India!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Tezpur,<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Maybe 10 micrograms is a ridiculous, unattainable limit? It\u2019s true that my university\u2019s city, Chicago, is above that limit (12 micrograms), although New York City is just below it (9 micrograms). Many major developed cities are around 10 micrograms. Still, if you’re looking to move to a city with the cleanest air in India, then the take-home is that Tezpur is the place for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway 3: Seven cities are under the looser WHO 24-hour limit<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If the 10-microgram limit is too strict, we can try out the looser 24-hour limit of 25 micrograms<\/a>. Based on that limit, seven cities on the top 10 list make the cut. That\u2019s a meager 6% of cities under this looser limit, or 6% of cities in India have air quality levels that are almost acceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s Top 10<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s top 10 cities with the best air quality, according to this database are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Tezpur (6 micrograms)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Pathanamthitta (12)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Hassan (19)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Chitoor (21)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Kollam (22)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Puducherry (22)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Bongaigaon (24)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Madurai (26)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Warangal (26)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Alappuzha (27)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    India\u2019s Bottom 10<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The cities in India with the worst air quality, or the highest levels of air pollution, according to this database are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Gwalior (176 micrograms)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Allahabad (170)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Patna (149)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Raipur (144)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Delhi (122)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. Ludhiana (122)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    7. Kanpur (115)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    8. Khanna (114)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    9. Firozabad (113)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    10. Lucknow (113)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Caveats<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Now, this data isn\u2019t perfect. For one, it\u2019s from 2012, so it\u2019s a bit old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Second, some Indian cities don\u2019t measure PM2.5, so the WHO infers it from the larger PM10 particles (what\u2019s the difference<\/a>?). I\u2019ve discovered that the WHO database vastly underestimates pollution levels in Beijing<\/a> compared to my analysis of local data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      To some extent, the exact top and bottom cities for air quality in India are arbitrary. Different articles use different data sources and will come up with different answers for the best air quality in India. But the bigger picture of air quality across India holds up regardless of the dataset – Indian cities are dangerously polluted and you need to protect yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      How I Protect Myself<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Smart Air is a  certified B Corp committed to combating the myths big companies use to inflate the price of clean air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Smart Air provides empirically backed<\/a>, no-nonsense purifiers and air quality monitors, that remove the same particles as the big companies for a fraction of the cost. Only corporations benefit when clean air is a luxury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Check out the Sqair!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

      \n
      \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

      India’s air quality is far from safe. Stay smart, do the research, and breathe safe today!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Ever wondered which cities in India have the best air quality and AQI? The city with the best AQI and cleanest air might not be where you think. I analyzed the data from the World Health Organization’s database of annual particulate pollution (PM2.5) averages for 122 cities. Here’s what I found. … <\/p>\n

      Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1035,"featured_media":31009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"28722,20359,12153,20057,13194,6631","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,257],"tags":[272,269,74],"class_list":["post-5574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-pollution","category-pm2-5","tag-air-pollution","tag-india","tag-pm2-5","resize-featured-image"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5574"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31223,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5574\/revisions\/31223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}