The latest data is out on how much air pollution is estimated to shorten lives, and New Delhi tops the global list for the eighth year running.

The Indian megacity’s pollution level in 2023 was high enough to shave off 8.2 years of a person breathing its polluted air over the long term.

South Asia remains the most polluted region in the world. In countries here, the impact of particulate pollution on life expectancy is nearly twice that of childhood and maternal malnutrition and more than five times that of unsafe water, sanitation and handwashing. The report has been produced by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). Within South Asia, Bangladesh is more polluted than India, averaging 60.8 micrograms/cubic metre (µg/m³) of the fine pollutant, PM 2.5, compared to 41 µg/m³ of it’s larger neighbour. But its capital Dhaka (76.4 µg/m³) is less polluted than Delhi, which – with 88.4 micrograms – is the highest of the global cities analysed.