We know you clicked on this article, hoping to read about the latest development in the Deepika Padukone-NCB story but here’s something that is of even more pressing concern.

According to a report earlier in the year, India was the 5th most polluted country in 2019 with Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region ranked as the most polluted city in the world.

The data which was compiled by IQAir also stated that air pollution in India increased last year as compared to 2018 and that about half of the 50 most polluted cities in the world are in India.

“Whilst cities in India, on average, exceed the World Health Organisation target for annual PM2.5 exposure by 500%, national air pollution decreased by 20% from 2018 to 2019, with 98% of cities experiencing improvements,” IQ Air said in a press statement.

“The new dataset highlights elevated air pollution levels as a result of climate change events, such as sandstorms and wildfires, and pollution gains from the rapid urbanization of cities, in regions such as Southeast Asia. While some achievements have been made in air quality monitoring infrastructure globally, there are still huge gaps in access to data around the world,” the press statement added.