The dirtiest countries for air quality named

The Swiss company IQAir, which develops technologies for cleaning and measuring air quality, has published an annual report for 2023. It showed that only seven major countries have air quality that meets the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The study was conducted in 134 countries, and data was collected by scientists using 30 thousand available quality measurement stations in 7,812 different locations.

Air quality is measured using particulate matter measured at or below 2.5 microns (PM2.5). They are so small that they easily enter the bloodstream - and cause millions of premature deaths a year: they are the cause of many diseases, from lung and heart disease to diabetes, cancer and premature birth. Particulate matter enters the atmosphere when burning fuel, domestic heating, generating electricity or driving a car, as well as as a result of the interaction of chemical elements. According to WHO recommendations, air should contain no more than five micrograms per cubic meter.

Only 10 countries managed to implement this WHO recommendation. These included: Finland, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius, French Polynesia. The most polluted countries were Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Burkina Faso, Iraq, UAE, Nepal, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Russia is in 94th place out of 134 (the list is from smallest to largest: 1st place is the dirtiest), air quality is twice the norm from WHO recommendations. The cleanest city in Russia in 2023 was Chelyabinsk (its air quality meets WHO standards), and the dirtiest city was Krasnoyarsk (air quality is four times worse than the norm). In Moscow, air pollution exceeds the norm by two times, in Vladivostok by three times, but in St. Petersburg the air quality is within the normal range.

The researchers acknowledge that data for countries such as Russia may be incomplete because they do not have enough monitoring stations to reliably measure air quality. For example, in reality, Chelyabinsk spends half of the days a year in the NMU (Adverse Meteorological Conditions) mode - when there is no wind and harmful emissions do not dissipate, but hang in the atmosphere. Aidan Furrow, a senior researcher studying air quality at Greenpeace International, notes that current efforts to monitor air quality are not enough - the number of monitoring stations needs to be increased, which scientists plan to do, including with the help of volunteers and amateur scientists.

In most European countries, air quality is higher than in Russia: Spain - 95th place; Austria is 98th, France is 99th, Belgium is 100th, Germany is 103rd and Switzerland is 104th. The USA and Japan are also ahead - 102nd and 96th places, respectively. Ukraine ranks 107th on this list, and Latvia ranks 109th. But the air is dirtier in the Czech Republic, Canada, Lithuania and Poland: 89th, 93rd, 92nd and 74th places.

Air pollution in more than a third of cities in South and Central Asia exceeds the permissible standard by more than 10 times. Scientists attribute this to environmental pollution and human economic activities: vehicle fumes, coal mining and heavy industry, and waste burning among farmers.

war on air pollution in 2014 Great progress in the fight against pollution has been demonstrated by China, which declared . Since then, despite economic growth, the air has only become 6.3% dirtier. At the same time, in many cities its quality has improved significantly, this was especially noticeable during the coronavirus pandemic.

To receive the main news faster, subscribe to our telegram and Twitter .