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NEU Senior Regional Support Officer
Most of the world's population breathes dirty air, says new report
A sweeper cleans as smog envelops the area and reduces visibility in Lahore, Pakistan, January 11, 2024

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.

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