Lahore becomes world’s most polluted major city with AQI at 419

Lahore was the world’s most polluted major city on Thursday morning, recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 419.

Data from IQAir’s live global ranking for 10am to 11am on October 29 placed Cairo second with an AQI of 274, followed by Delhi at 220. Karachi stood eighth, with an index of 165.

The Punjab government’s air quality monitoring dashboard also recorded high pollution levels across the province, with Kasur leading the provincial list at an AQI of 348. Lahore followed at 324, while Faisalabad recorded 290, Kot Addu 269 and Dera Ghazi Khan 267.

Nankana Sahib registered an AQI of 261, followed by Hafizabad at 250, Sahiwal at 210, Sheikhupura at 205, Jhang at 203 and Rajanpur at 201. Multan and Gujranwala both recorded 194, while the readings for Bhakkar and Vehari stood at 186 and 181, respectively.

The two monitoring platforms reported different readings, reflecting differences in monitoring locations and reporting periods. However, both showed elevated pollution levels in Lahore and other parts of Punjab.

The situation had changed by 1pm, when Lahore stood fifth in IQAir’s global ranking with an AQI of 183. The provincial government’s live dashboard, meanwhile, listed Khanewal as Punjab’s most polluted city at 212, while Lahore’s AQI was recorded at 173.