14 out of world's 20 most polluted cities belong to India: WHO

New Delhi : Delhi and Varanasi are among the 14 Indian cities which have been placed in a list of world's 20 most populated cities in terms of PM2.5 levels in 2016, said WHO in its latest released data.

In its latest data, WHO also stated that 90 per cent (9 out of 10 people) are breathing polluted air.

Other cities which have been named as the most polluted in the list are Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur followed by Ali Subah Al-Salem in Kuwait and a few cities in China and Mongolia.

World Health Organisation (WHO) has called upon its member countries to address the concern with seriousness as it is causing pre-mature deaths at a large scale.

Of the 3.8 million deaths caused by household air pollution globally, the region accounts for 1.5 million or 40% deaths, and of the 4.2 million global deaths due to ambient air pollution, 1.3 million or 30% are reported from the region, it said.

The PM2.5 includes pollutants like sulfate, nitrate and black carbon, which pose the greatest risk to human health.