02, May 2018 | CJP Team

The World Health Organization (WHO) released a list of the world’s 20 most polluted cities, of which 14 are in India, NDTV reported. These included Varanasi, New Delhi, Kanpur, and Gwalior. Varanasi is the most polluted city in terms of levels of PM2.5, which includes pollutants like black carbon, nitrates and sulfates that pose the highest risk to human health, according to WHO. The organisation reported that nine out of ten people in the world breathe polluted air, and that seven million deaths occur annually due to expose to polluted air resulting in ailments such as heart disease, lung cancer, stroke and others. More than 90% of deaths tied to air pollution take place in low-income and middle-income countries, largely in Africa and Asia, WHO said. The report includes air quality data from more than 4,300 towns and cities from 108 countries around the world.