KARACHI: Karachi has risen in the top three most polluted cities globally.
Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, topped the Air Quality Index list of the country's most polluted cities, while Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, came in second.
Karachi, Pakistan's most populous city, ranked third on the air quality index (AQI) list with 189 points.
Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and ground-level ozone are used to determine the AQI's accuracy.
Experts say it's dangerous to have an AQI of 150 to 200; it's even more dangerous to have an AQI of 101 to 300, and anything over 300 is regarded as highly poisonous.
According to researchers, winter used to be a time when air pollution levels spiked. Due to the heavier air in the winter compared to the summer, harmful atmospheric particles travel below and damage the environment. As a result, a city's air is thick with pollutants, such as significant volumes of carbon dioxide and smoke.
As per specialists, the smoke from burning agricultural leftovers and factories enters the atmosphere, and the consequences of this begin at the beginning of winter. The impacts of this last until the conclusion of the season.
As a result, air pollution has reached dangerously high levels, putting public health at risk.