Lahore tops global pollution ranking

LAHORE:

Lahore topped IQAir's live ranking of the world's most polluted major cities on Thursday, recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 189

Air pollution remained elevated across Punjab, with Rajanpur registering the province's highest city-level reading at 339. IQAir's global ranking placed Lahore first, ahead of Delhi, which recorded an AQI of 183, and Kolkata at 172. Kuala Lumpur ranked fourth with 169, followed by Mumbai at 166, according to the live tracker. The ranking compares air quality across more than 100 major cities worldwide. The global ranking uses the US AQI scale, under which a reading of 189 falls in the "unhealthy" category. The ranking can change as monitoring data are updated.

Punjab's official air quality dashboard showed Rajanpur at the top of its city-based ranking with an AQI of 339 at around 7pm. Kasur followed at 266, Faisalabad 251, Pakpattan 245 and Vehari 233.

Kot Addu recorded an AQI of 229, Rawalpindi 221, Dera Ghazi Khan 219, Multan 217 and Bhakkar 208. Sahiwal registered 199, while Lahore stood at 198, placing the provincial capital 12th in the dashboard's city ranking at the time of the update.