Do you know what were the top three most polluted countries in 2023?

IQAir, a Swiss air monitoring organisation, published its World Air Quality Report on Tuesday revealing troubling details of the world’s most polluted countries, territories, and regions in 2023.

“IQAir’s annual report illustrates the international nature and inequitable consequences of the enduring air pollution crisis. Local, national, and international effort is urgently needed to monitor air quality in under-resourced places, manage the causes of transboundary haze, and cut our reliance on combustion as an energy source,” states Aidan Farrow, Sr. Air Quality Scientist, Greenpeace International.

“In 2023, air pollution remained a global health catastrophe. IQAir’s global data set provides an important reminder of the resulting injustices and the need to implement the many solutions that exist to this problem.”

The report revealed that Pakistan, alongside Bangladesh and India, remained among the top three countries with the highest levels of air pollution, particularly concerning particulate matter, in 2023.

The concentrations of PM2.5, harmful airborne particles detrimental to respiratory health, surpassed recommended levels by a staggering margin, as indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In Bangladesh, the average concentration of PM2.5 reached 79.9 micrograms per cubic meter, while in Pakistan, it stood at 73.7 micrograms per cubic meter. These figures starkly contrast with the WHO’s guideline of no more than 5 micrograms per cubic meter.

“Because of the climate conditions and the geography (in South Asia), you get this streak of PM2.5 concentrations that just skyrocket because the pollution has nowhere to go,” said Christi Chester Schroeder, air quality science manager at IQAir.

“On top of that are factors such as agricultural practices, industry and population density,” she added. “Unfortunately, it really does look like it will get worse before it gets better.”

In 2022, Bangladesh was ranked fifth for its air quality, with India in the eighth position. Approximately 20% of premature deaths in Bangladesh are attributed to air pollution, with related healthcare costs accounting for a substantial portion of the country’s GDP, according to Md Firoz Khan, an air pollution expert at Dhaka’s North South University.

India also witnessed an escalation in pollution levels in 2023, with PM2.5 levels exceeding the WHO standard by about 11 times. Notably, New Delhi emerged as the worst-performing capital city, recording a PM2.5 level of 92.7 micrograms.

China experienced a 6.3% increase in PM2.5 levels in 2023, marking a departure from five consecutive years of decline. Conversely, only a handful of countries, including Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius, and New Zealand, met the WHO standards for air quality.

The IQAir report, based on data from over 30,000 monitoring stations across 134 countries and regions, highlighted significant gaps in air quality monitoring, particularly in countries where the health impacts of pollution are most severe.

Christa Hasenkopf, director of the Air Quality Life Index at the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, said 39pc of countries have no public air quality monitoring.

“Considering the large potential benefits and relatively low cost, it’s stunning that we don’t have an organised global effort to deploy resources to close these data gaps, especially in places where the health burden of air pollution has been largest,” she said.