⚠️ Unconfirmedhealth2019
Age-standardized exposure to ambient PM2.5 air pollution — population-weighted mean concentration
Population-weighted annual mean exposure to ambient PM2.5 (µg/m³), age-standardized. WHO/GBD-style metric comparable across countries (2019).
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Key Insights
Global Average
24.0µg/m³
Median: 19.4µg/m³
Countries Covered
174
with available data
Highest
India
83.2µg/m³
Lowest
Cape Verde
2.5µg/m³
Top 5 Countries
1India83.2µg/m³
2Egypt80.4µg/m³
3Bangladesh76.9µg/m³
4Pakistan66.8µg/m³
5Solomon Islands65.8µg/m³
By Region
Asia36.3µg/m³(25 countries)
Africa34.6µg/m³(9 countries)
Other24.5µg/m³(95 countries)
South America17.3µg/m³(7 countries)
North America15.0µg/m³(4 countries)
Key Findings
- •Exposure levels vary by more than an order of magnitude across countries, reflecting differences in energy use, industry, transport, dust, and wildfire smoke.
- •Several South Asian and Middle Eastern countries show among the highest population-weighted PM2.5 exposures in 2019.
- •Many high-income countries cluster at much lower exposure levels, though some still exceed WHO guideline values.
Country Rankings
Top 10 Countries
Bottom 10 Countries
Data Analysis
Value Distribution
How countries are distributed across the value range
Low (2.5µg/m³)High (89.7µg/m³)
Regional Comparison
Average values by world region (Global avg: 24.0µg/m³)
Asia (25)
Africa (9)
Other (95)
South America (7)
North America (4)
Europe (32)
Oceania (2)
About This Statistic
This statistic measures the population-weighted annual average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in outdoor air that people are exposed to in each country, expressed in micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³). Because PM2.5 particles are small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, this indicator is widely used as a headline measure of chronic air-pollution exposure.
The values are typically produced by combining satellite remote-sensing, chemical-transport models, and ground monitoring data, then weighting concentrations by where people live (population distribution). This makes the metric especially useful for comparing exposure across countries even when monitoring networks differ in coverage and quality.
Full Data
| Rank ↑ | Country ↕ | Value ↕ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 83.2µg/m³ |
| 2 | Egypt | 80.4µg/m³ |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 76.9µg/m³ |
| 4 | Pakistan | 66.8µg/m³ |
| 5 | Solomon Islands | 65.8µg/m³ |
| 6 | Nepal | 63.6µg/m³ |
| 7 | Bulgaria | 59.8µg/m³ |
| 8 | Tajikistan | 56.6µg/m³ |
| 9 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 54.2µg/m³ |
| 10 | Mongolia | 51.9µg/m³ |
| 11 | Niger | 49.4µg/m³ |
| 12 | Bahrain | 47.5µg/m³ |
| 13 | Myanmar | 47.1µg/m³ |
| 14 | Yemen | 46.6µg/m³ |
| 15 | Iraq | 45.7µg/m³ |
| 16 | Ghana | 45.6µg/m³ |
| 17 | Sudan | 45.4µg/m³ |
| 18 | Nigeria | 44.8µg/m³ |
| 19 | United Arab Emirates | 44.5µg/m³ |
| 20 | Kuwait | 44.1µg/m³ |
| 21 | Qatar | 43.7µg/m³ |
| 22 | Ethiopia | 43.2µg/m³ |
| 23 | Saudi Arabia | 43.1µg/m³ |
| 24 | Uzbekistan | 41.7µg/m³ |
| 25 | Burkina Faso | 41.4µg/m³ |
| 26 | People's Republic of China | 41.2µg/m³ |
| 27 | Chad | 41.0µg/m³ |
| 28 | Islamic Republic of Iran | 39.6µg/m³ |
| 29 | Indonesia | 39.2µg/m³ |
| 30 | Rwanda | 37.6µg/m³ |
| 31 | South Sudan | 37.3µg/m³ |
| 32 | Oman | 36.2µg/m³ |
| 33 | Mali | 35.8µg/m³ |
| 34 | Togo | 35.1µg/m³ |
| 35 | Syrian Arab Republic | 35.0µg/m³ |
| 36 | North Korea | 34.8µg/m³ |
| 37 | Sri Lanka | 34.7µg/m³ |
| 38 | Jordan | 33.9µg/m³ |
| 39 | Liberia | 33.8µg/m³ |
| 40 | Haiti | 33.7µg/m³ |
| 41 | Libya | 33.4µg/m³ |
| 42 | Guinea-Bissau | 33.4µg/m³ |
| 43 | Guinea | 33.1µg/m³ |
| 44 | Mauritania | 33.0µg/m³ |
| 45 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 32.3µg/m³ |
| 46 | Uganda | 31.8µg/m³ |
| 47 | Senegal | 31.3µg/m³ |
| 48 | Cote d'Ivoire | 31.2µg/m³ |
| 49 | Peru | 29.6µg/m³ |
| 50 | Türkiye | 29.5µg/m³ |
| 51 | Lebanon | 28.8µg/m³ |
| 52 | Burundi | 28.7µg/m³ |
| 53 | Vietnam | 28.6µg/m³ |
| 54 | Cambodia | 28.5µg/m³ |
| 55 | Zambia | 28.1µg/m³ |
| 56 | Dominican Republic | 27.1µg/m³ |
| 57 | Malawi | 27.0µg/m³ |
| 58 | Republic of the Congo | 26.8µg/m³ |
| 59 | Kenya | 25.7µg/m³ |
| 60 | South Africa | 25.1µg/m³ |
| 61 | Thailand | 25.1µg/m³ |
| 62 | Lao People's Democratic Republic | 24.4µg/m³ |
| 63 | Barbados | 24.3µg/m³ |
| 64 | Guatemala | 23.8µg/m³ |
| 65 | Sierra Leone | 23.3µg/m³ |
| 66 | El Salvador | 23.0µg/m³ |
| 67 | Mozambique | 23.0µg/m³ |
| 68 | Brunei Darussalam | 22.6µg/m³ |
| 69 | Morocco | 22.3µg/m³ |
| 70 | Djibouti | 22.2µg/m³ |
| 71 | Honduras | 22.2µg/m³ |
| 72 | Georgia | 22.1µg/m³ |
| 73 | Bolivia | 22.1µg/m³ |
| 74 | Tunisia | 21.7µg/m³ |
| 75 | Zimbabwe | 21.6µg/m³ |
| 76 | Suriname | 21.4µg/m³ |
| 77 | Nicaragua | 21.2µg/m³ |
| 78 | Kazakhstan | 20.5µg/m³ |
| 79 | United Republic of Tanzania | 20.5µg/m³ |
| 80 | Chile | 20.0µg/m³ |
| 81 | South Korea | 20.0µg/m³ |
| 82 | Samoa | 19.8µg/m³ |
| 83 | Israel | 19.7µg/m³ |
| 84 | Singapore | 19.5µg/m³ |
| 85 | Mexico | 19.4µg/m³ |
| 86 | Trinidad and Tobago | 19.4µg/m³ |
| 87 | Belize | 19.4µg/m³ |
| 88 | Kyrgyzstan | 19.3µg/m³ |
| 89 | Jamaica | 19.1µg/m³ |
| 90 | Ukraine | 19.1µg/m³ |
| 91 | Paraguay | 19.0µg/m³ |
| 92 | The Republic of North Macedonia | 19.0µg/m³ |
| 93 | Albania | 18.6µg/m³ |
| 94 | Colombia | 18.5µg/m³ |
| 95 | Madagascar | 18.3µg/m³ |
| 96 | Malaysia | 18.2µg/m³ |
| 97 | Montenegro | 18.2µg/m³ |
| 98 | Venezuela | 18.0µg/m³ |
| 99 | Republic of The Gambia | 17.8µg/m³ |
| 100 | Czech Republic | 17.4µg/m³ |
| 101 | Philippines | 17.4µg/m³ |
| 102 | Moldova, Republic of | 17.1µg/m³ |
| 103 | Angola | 16.8µg/m³ |
| 104 | Ecuador | 16.7µg/m³ |
| 105 | Hungary | 16.6µg/m³ |
| 106 | Malta | 16.5µg/m³ |
| 107 | Poland | 16.4µg/m³ |
| 108 | Slovakia | 16.3µg/m³ |
| 109 | Cameroon | 16.2µg/m³ |
| 110 | Romania | 16.0µg/m³ |
| 111 | Serbia | 16.0µg/m³ |
| 112 | Bhutan | 16.0µg/m³ |
| 113 | Gabon | 15.9µg/m³ |
| 114 | Greece | 15.6µg/m³ |
| 115 | Cuba | 15.3µg/m³ |
| 116 | Afghanistan | 15.2µg/m³ |
| 117 | Somalia | 15.1µg/m³ |
| 118 | Central African Republic | 15.0µg/m³ |
| 119 | Croatia | 14.8µg/m³ |
| 120 | Slovenia | 14.8µg/m³ |
| 121 | Botswana | 14.8µg/m³ |
| 122 | Russian Federation | 14.3µg/m³ |
| 123 | Belarus | 14.2µg/m³ |
| 124 | Austria | 14.1µg/m³ |
| 125 | Costa Rica | 14.0µg/m³ |
| 126 | Italy | 14.0µg/m³ |
| 127 | Cyprus | 13.8µg/m³ |
| 128 | Panama | 13.5µg/m³ |
| 129 | Germany | 13.2µg/m³ |
| 130 | Eswatini | 13.2µg/m³ |
| 131 | Argentina | 12.9µg/m³ |
| 132 | Armenia | 12.6µg/m³ |
| 133 | Brazil | 12.6µg/m³ |
| 134 | Lesotho | 12.5µg/m³ |
| 135 | Timor-Leste | 12.4µg/m³ |
| 136 | Latvia | 12.2µg/m³ |
| 137 | Belgium | 12.1µg/m³ |
| 138 | Maldives | 12.0µg/m³ |
| 139 | Bermuda | 12.0µg/m³ |
| 140 | Papua New Guinea | 11.9µg/m³ |
| 141 | France | 11.7µg/m³ |
| 142 | Denmark | 11.6µg/m³ |
| 143 | Namibia | 11.6µg/m³ |
| 144 | Benin | 11.4µg/m³ |
| 145 | Japan | 11.3µg/m³ |
| 146 | Country 532 | 11.2µg/m³ |
| 147 | Lithuania | 11.1µg/m³ |
| 148 | Netherlands | 10.7µg/m³ |
| 149 | Uruguay | 10.7µg/m³ |
| 150 | Mauritius | 10.4µg/m³ |
| 151 | Portugal | 10.4µg/m³ |
| 152 | Switzerland | 10.4µg/m³ |
| 153 | Spain | 10.0µg/m³ |
| 154 | Luxembourg | 9.8µg/m³ |
| 155 | United Kingdom | 9.6µg/m³ |
| 156 | Ireland | 9.5µg/m³ |
| 157 | Bahamas | 8.7µg/m³ |
| 158 | Cayman Islands | 8.6µg/m³ |
| 159 | Fiji | 8.6µg/m³ |
| 160 | United States of America | 8.6µg/m³ |
| 161 | Comoros | 8.5µg/m³ |
| 162 | Canada | 8.0µg/m³ |
| 163 | Norway | 7.6µg/m³ |
| 164 | Algeria | 7.4µg/m³ |
| 165 | New Zealand | 7.3µg/m³ |
| 166 | Faroe Islands | 6.7µg/m³ |
| 167 | Finland | 6.6µg/m³ |
| 168 | Estonia | 6.5µg/m³ |
| 169 | Sweden | 6.2µg/m³ |
| 170 | Australia | 6.0µg/m³ |
| 171 | Iceland | 5.6µg/m³ |
| 172 | Vanuatu | 5.3µg/m³ |
| 173 | New Caledonia | 5.1µg/m³ |
| 174 | Cape Verde | 2.5µg/m³ |
Showing 174 of 174 countries
Topics
Data Source
This data comes from IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) — Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Results (2019).
View Original Source