India's air pollution in five charts

By Gurman Bhatia

8th November, 2016

The air you breathe is not just made of good stuff. There is also dust, dirt, soot and smoke: all of which contains tiny, mostly toxic, particles. This is what scientists call particulate matter or PM. The smallest particles are the worst. They are 2.5 micrometers in diameter, far thinner than a strand of human hair.

In high concentrations, they can be deadly.

PM2.5 levels in Delhi-NCR peaked at 30 times more than the prescribed limit in the week after Diwali.

PM2.5 concentration in Delhi-NCR
China's Emergency Level
WHO Recommendation

But Delhites are breathing toxic air throughout the year.

PM2.5 concentration in Delhi-NCR
China's Emergency Level
WHO Recommendation

Sensors in most North Indian cities mirror those in Delhi.

Kanpur and Agra witness a spike in early summer when hot winds further pollute the air with dust from construction. The second spike - in October - is because of Diwali and stubble-burning in Punjab and Haryana.

PM2.5 concentration for the city
Delhi-NCR
WHO Recommendation

Kanpur

Agra

Varanasi

Lucknow

The air is much cleaner in southern India.

PM2.5 concentration for the city
Delhi-NCR
WHO Recommendation

Mumbai

Bengaluru

Chennai

Explore the data
China's Emergency Level
WHO Recommendation
Notes
Additional design: Anand Katakam. Additional development: Piyush Agarwal.

Data is sourced from Hindustan Times' Air Quality portal that tracks data from the US Embassy and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on a real time basis. Daily averages were calculated for each city by combining readings from all stations in the cities from April 1, 2016 to November 6th, 2016. All negative and invalid values for neglected in the calculation. We look at data starting April 2016, because we started collected the data in mid-March 2016.