MOST of the world has dirty air, with just 17 per cent of cities globally meeting air pollution guidelines, a damning new report said today.

Switzerland-based air quality monitoring database IQAir analysed data from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations in 138 countries and found that Chad, Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India had the dirtiest air. 

India had six of the nine most polluted cities with the industrial town of Byrnihat in north-east India the worst.

Experts said the real amount of air pollution might be far greater as many parts of the world lack the monitoring needed for more accurate data. 

In Africa, for example, there is only one monitoring station for every 3.7 million people.

More air quality monitors are being set up to counter the issue, the report said.

This year, report authors were able to incorporate data from 8,954 new locations and around a thousand new monitors as a result of efforts to better monitor air pollution.

But last week, data monitoring for air pollution was dealt a blow when the US State Department announced that it would no longer make public its data from its embassies and consulates around the world.

Breathing in polluted air over a long period of time can cause respiratory illness, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, said Fatimah Ahamad, chief scientist and air pollution expert at Malaysia-based Sunway Centre for Planetary Health. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that air pollution kills about 7 million people each year.

Ms Ahamad said that much more needs to be done to cut air pollution levels. 

The WHO had earlier found that 99 per cent of the world’s population lives in places that do not meet recommended air quality levels.

“If you have bad water, no water, you can tell people to wait for half an hour a day, the water will come. But if you have bad air, you cannot tell people to pause breathing,” Ms Ahamad said.

Several cities like Beijing in China and Seoul, South Korea have successfully improved their air quality through stricter regulations on pollution from vehicles and industry. 

Shweta Narayan, a campaign lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, said many of the regions witnessing the worst air pollution are also places where planet-heating gases are released extensively through the burning of coal, oil and gas. 

Slashing planet-warming emissions to slow the heating up of the planet can also improve air quality.

Air pollution and climate crisis “are two sides of the same coin,” she said.