A dog sits on the banks of the Yamuna River in Delhi. Many activities that contribute to air pollution are also central to India’s development.
| Photo Credit: Dewang Gupta/Unsplash
India ranked 176 out of 177 countries in the 2026 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), which is published by the Yale and Columbia Universities in the U.S. The index assesses 47 indicators across 12 issue categories. Of them, India performed the worst on air quality, where it ranked 175, yet it did considerably better on air pollution, ranking 88. This contrast is illustrative: doing better at controlling select emissions does not necessarily mean the air people breathe gets better. And only the latter matters for India’s health burden.
The State of Global Air 2025 report estimated that more than 20 lakh deaths in India in 2023 could be attributed to air pollution. A Central Pollution Control Board assessment in 2012 also found lower lung function in 43.5% of Delhi schoolchildren compared to 25.7% of children in a control group.
Published – November 11, 2026 07:30 am IST
