Lahore, Oct. 29 -- Lahore attained the unenviable distinction of being named the world's most polluted city on Thursday, registering an alarming Air Quality Index (AQI) of 419, amid mounting evidence that severe smog and toxic air pollution are reducing life expectancy across Pakistan by an estimated 3.9 years while driving roughly 128,000 premature deaths annually.

According to global monitoring metrics provided by IQAir covering the period from 10 am to 11 am on October 29, Lahore secured the top spot globally for hazardous air, followed by Egypt's Cairo, which recorded an AQI of 274. Meanwhile, Karachi placed eighth globally, with an AQI of 165, as documented by Dawn.

Simultaneously, data extracted from the Punjab government's air qu...