Air Pollution in New Delhi Is Worse Than in Beijing

Although the city of Beijing in China gets a lot of media attention for having some of the worst air quality in the world, New Delhi, India actually has significantly more air pollution.

Although the city of Beijing in China gets a lot of media attention for having some of the worst air quality in the world, New Delhi, India actually has significantly more air pollution.

One report found that the average measurements of fine particulate matter from the first three weeks of 2014 in New Delhi are over twice that of Beijing.

In January of 2014, the Chinese government issued a warning that air pollution had measured dangerous levels of over 500 of fine particulate matter, while in comparison New Delhi had already experienced 5 straight days at levels of 500 or higher.

Frank Hammes, chief executive of IQAir, an air filter company in Switzerland said: “In China, people are extremely concerned about the air, especially around small children. Why there’s not the same concern in India is puzzling.”

According to the World Health Organization, India is home to the highest death rate in the world from respiratory disease, and more people die from asthma in India than any other country.

But the Indian government doesn’t seem concerned about air quality and has recently approved new projects that could add to the problem, even after a 44 percent increase in fine particle air pollution was recorded over the past year.