For many urban residents, air pollution no longer appears as a distant statistic on a smartphone screen. It arrives quietly, through laboured breaths, chronic illness and the slow erosion of everyday life. Across India’s most polluted metros, a growing number of people are choosing to leave temporarily, seasonally or permanently not for better jobs or lifestyles, but simply to breathe cleaner air.
For Gurugram-based multimedia professional Amitabh Chawla, the cost of pollution became personal long before it became political. His parents, both teetotallers, died in their early sixties, while his grandparents lived well into their nineties. “The difference, I believe, is the air,” says Chawla, now 44. “For a generation that grew up breathing polluted air, our bodies cannot endure indefinitely.”
Over the past two years, the Chawla family’s life has revolved around escaping smog. Summers are spent in their ancestral village in Punjab. As stubble-burning season approaches and air quality deteriorates across north India, they rent homes in coastal towns such as Puri in Odisha. “We have been living like nomads to escape pollution,” Chawla says. The family is now considering a permanent move abroad a decision driven, he says, by air quality rather than ambition.
Stories like Chawla’s are becoming increasingly common. From professionals to families with young children, pollution-induced migration is emerging as a quiet but powerful trend reshaping urban India.
For Arvind Kumar, who works with a New Delhi-based think tank, the shift came after his health began deteriorating. A regular jogger, he found himself breathless within minutes. Sinus infections became frequent, workouts moved indoors and weekends turned into recovery periods. The final trigger came when he noticed a layer of brown dust coating vegetables at a local market. In October 2025, Kumar requested a transfer and moved to Kolkata. “The change was immediate,” he says. “My stamina returned, sinus issues subsided, and I was back to jogging outdoors.”
Such decisions are not isolated. According to a LocalCircles survey conducted in December 2025, eight per cent of respondents in Delhi NCR said they were likely to move out due to worsening air quality. More than 80 per cent reported that someone in their close social network had suffered a severe pollution-related health condition. Delhi recorded no ‘good’ air quality days in 2025, with pollution levels frequently entering the ‘severe’ and ‘hazardous’ categories during winter.
Experts say pollution-driven migration is unfolding in three patterns: short-term escape during severe smog episodes, seasonal relocation during peak pollution months, and permanent migration through job changes or career shifts.
An automobile industry sales manager, who relocated his family from Delhi to Kolkata for nearly a month during winter, describes them as “short-term pollution migrants.” Advocate Prashant Kalra, however, made a permanent move. Six years ago, he relocated from Delhi to Goa after pollution repeatedly sent his three-year-old daughter into respiratory distress. “No parent should have to choose between their home and their child’s health,” Kalra says.
Psychologists note that air pollution has shifted from being an abstract concern to a visceral threat. “This is a classic fight-or-flight response,” explains Pune-based psychologist Stuti Kumar. “People first try to manage pollution with masks and air purifiers. When the threat feels unavoidable, they leave.”
However, the ability to escape polluted cities remains deeply unequal. While affluent households can afford relocation, poor and informal-sector workers often remain trapped. Khalida Khatun, a migrant worker in Noida, earns ₹10,000 a month far more than she could in her village in West Bengal but her eight-year-old daughter frequently falls ill due to respiratory problems. “Going back is not an option yet,” she says, though she hopes to return someday.
For many professionals, leaving cities also comes with steep opportunity costs. Metro cities continue to concentrate high-paying jobs, specialised industries and better education. “You don’t just leave pollution behind,” says Mumbai-based consultant Chintan Bhiwandhar. “You also leave income, networks and career growth.”
Labour economists warn that this ‘green flight’ could have long-term economic consequences. K.R. Shyam Sundar, a Mumbai-based labour economist, notes that when skilled professionals leave during their most productive years, cities risk talent leakage and future labour shortages. Recent resignations citing air pollution, including that of a senior pharmaceutical executive in Delhi, highlight this emerging risk.
“Cities do not function in isolation,” Sundar explains. “Environmental stress in economic hubs inevitably translates into economic stress elsewhere.”
What was once considered a temporary inconvenience is increasingly shaping life-altering decisions. As India’s cities continue to choke, pollution is no longer just a public health crisis it is quietly redrawing the country’s internal migration map, one breath at a time.