These Are The 20 Most Air-Polluted Cities On Earth

These Are The 20 Most Air-Polluted Cities On Earth

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost the entire global population (99%) breathes air that exceeds WHO air quality limits.

In the map below, Visual Capitalist’s Selin Oğuz, Miranda Smith, and Bruno Venditti use 2022 average PM2.5 concentrations from IQAir’s World Air Quality Report to visualize the most air-polluted major cities in the world.

World’s Air Pollution Hot Spots

As one of the standard air quality indicators used by the WHO, the PM2.5 concentration refers to the quantity of fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less in a given volume of air.

Fine particulate matter that is this small can penetrate the lungs when inhaled and enter the bloodstream, affecting all major organs.

Based on annual average PM2.5 concentrations (μg/m³) in 2022, here are the most polluted cities in the world.

Rank City 2022 average PM2.5 concentration (μg/m³) 1 🇵🇰 Lahore, Pakistan 97.4 2 🇨🇳 Hotan, China 94.3 3 🇮🇳 Bhiwadi, India 92.7 4 🇮🇳 Delhi, India 92.6 5 🇵🇰 Peshawar, Pakistan 91.8 6 🇮🇳 Darbhanga, India 90.3 7 🇮🇳 Asopur, India 90.2 8 🇹🇩 N’Djamena, Chad 89.7 9 🇮🇳 New Delhi, India 89.1 10 🇮🇳 Patna, India 88.9 11 🇮🇳 Ghaziabad, India 88.6 12 🇮🇳 Dharuhera, India 87.8 13 🇮🇶 Baghdad, Iraq 86.7 14 🇮🇳 Chapra, India 85.9 15 🇮🇳 Muzaffarnagar, India 85.5 16 🇵🇰 Faisalabad, Pakistan 84.5 17 🇮🇳 Greater Noida, India 83.2 18 🇮🇳 Bahadurgarh, India 82.2 19 🇮🇳 Faridabad, India 79.7 20 🇮🇳 Muzaffarpur, India 79.2

With numbers these high, the concentration of some or all of the following pollutants are at dangerous levels in these cities:

Ground-level ozone

Particulate matter

Carbon monoxide

Sulfur

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