Delhi Tops World's Most Polluted Cities List, Kolkata & Mumbai Also Among Top 10

Last Updated:October 22, 2025, 09:52 IST

While Delhi sits at the very top, Mumbai has been ranked 5th, and Kolkata holds the 8th spot, highlighting the widespread nature of India’s pollution crisis

With people across the national capital celebrating Diwali with fireworks on Monday night, Delhi's air quality deteriorated, with most of the monitoring stations marked in the 'red zone'. (PTI)

India’s struggle with air pollution has once again drawn global concern, with Delhi earning the grim distinction of being the world’s most-polluted city, according to the latest data from Swiss air quality firm IQAir.

The report, which ranks cities based on real-time air quality levels, places three Indian cities in the global top 10. While Delhi sits at the very top, Mumbai has been ranked 5th, and Kolkata holds the 8th spot, highlighting the widespread nature of India’s pollution crisis.

Neighbouring Pakistan also finds itself prominently on the list, with Lahore at 2nd place and Karachi ranked 4th. The report points to a troubling trend of deteriorating air quality across South Asia.

Here are the top 10 most polluted cities in the world, according to the report:

1. Delhi, India

2. Lahore, Pakistan

3. Kuwait City, Kuwait

4. Karachi, Pakistan

5. Mumbai, India

6. Tashkent, Uzbekistan

7. Doha, Qatar

8. Kolkata, India

9. Canberra, Australia

10. Jakarta, Indonesia

With people across the national capital celebrating Diwali with fireworks on Monday night, Delhi’s air quality deteriorated, with most of the monitoring stations marked in the ‘red zone’.

The Supreme Court had allowed the bursting of green firecrackers between 8 pm and 10 pm on the festival day, but the celebrations continued well past the allotted time.

Thirty-six out of 38 monitoring stations recorded pollution levels in the ‘red zone’, indicating ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ air quality across Delhi. At 10 pm, the city’s overall air quality index (AQI) was ‘very poor’ at 344, with four stations reporting ‘severe’ air quality (above 400).

The CPCB categorises AQI between 0 and 50 as ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe.’ Transport emissions contributed 15.6 per cent to Delhi’s air pollution on Monday, while other factors, including industries, accounted for 23.3 per cent, data from the Decision Support System (DSS) showed.

On Sunday, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) invoked Stage II of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across Delhi-NCR.

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