⚠️ Unconfirmedenvironmental2019
Average annual exposure to PM2.5 air pollution (population-weighted mean, µg/m³)
Compare countries by average population-weighted exposure to PM2.5 air pollution (µg/m³). Latest available estimates (2019–2021).
Loading visualization...
Key Insights
Global Average
22.2µg/m³
Median: 18.9µg/m³
Countries Covered
157
with available data
Highest
India
83.0µg/m³
Lowest
Solomon Islands
4.6µg/m³
Top 5 Countries
1India83.0µg/m³
2Bangladesh77.1µg/m³
3Egypt68.3µg/m³
4Brunei Darussalam68.0µg/m³
5Afghanistan66.2µg/m³
By Region
Asia35.4µg/m³(25 countries)
Africa32.0µg/m³(9 countries)
Other22.1µg/m³(79 countries)
South America15.7µg/m³(7 countries)
North America14.0µg/m³(4 countries)
Key Findings
- •South Asia and parts of the Middle East show very high population-weighted PM2.5 exposure relative to many other regions.
- •Several high-income countries cluster in the single digits to low teens (µg/m³), while many low- and middle-income countries exceed WHO guideline levels.
- •Population-weighting means that heavily polluted megacities can drive national exposure even if large rural areas are cleaner.
- •Desert dust can substantially influence PM2.5 exposure in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, alongside human-made emissions.
Country Rankings
Top 10 Countries
Bottom 10 Countries
Data Analysis
Value Distribution
How countries are distributed across the value range
Low (4.2µg/m³)High (83.0µg/m³)
Regional Comparison
Average values by world region (Global avg: 22.2µg/m³)
Asia (25)
Africa (9)
Other (79)
South America (7)
North America (4)
Europe (31)
Oceania (2)
About This Statistic
This statistic measures the average fine-particulate air pollution (PM2.5) that people are exposed to in each country, expressed as a population-weighted annual mean concentration (µg/m³). Because it is population-weighted, pollution in densely populated areas contributes more to the national value than pollution in sparsely populated regions.
PM2.5 (particles with diameter ≤2.5 micrometers) is linked to cardiovascular and respiratory disease and is widely used to track air-quality risks globally. The dataset enables cross-country comparisons of exposure and highlights where public-health gains could be largest from cleaner transport, industry, power generation, and household energy.
Full Data
| Rank ↑ | Country ↕ | Value ↕ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 83.0µg/m³ |
| 2 | Bangladesh | 77.1µg/m³ |
| 3 | Egypt | 68.3µg/m³ |
| 4 | Brunei Darussalam | 68.0µg/m³ |
| 5 | Afghanistan | 66.2µg/m³ |
| 6 | Pakistan | 59.0µg/m³ |
| 7 | Nepal | 49.0µg/m³ |
| 8 | Qatar | 43.6µg/m³ |
| 9 | Saudi Arabia | 42.0µg/m³ |
| 10 | Chad | 41.8µg/m³ |
| 11 | Niger | 41.4µg/m³ |
| 12 | People's Republic of China | 41.2µg/m³ |
| 13 | Indonesia | 40.3µg/m³ |
| 14 | Algeria | 39.5µg/m³ |
| 15 | Iraq | 39.4µg/m³ |
| 16 | Sudan | 38.6µg/m³ |
| 17 | United Arab Emirates | 38.5µg/m³ |
| 18 | Myanmar | 38.2µg/m³ |
| 19 | Islamic Republic of Iran | 35.1µg/m³ |
| 20 | Oman | 34.4µg/m³ |
| 21 | Fiji | 34.0µg/m³ |
| 22 | Yemen | 33.7µg/m³ |
| 23 | Mali | 33.3µg/m³ |
| 24 | Kuwait | 33.2µg/m³ |
| 25 | Tajikistan | 33.0µg/m³ |
| 26 | Sri Lanka | 32.7µg/m³ |
| 27 | Nigeria | 32.0µg/m³ |
| 28 | Central African Republic | 31.2µg/m³ |
| 29 | South Sudan | 30.5µg/m³ |
| 30 | Djibouti | 29.2µg/m³ |
| 31 | Ghana | 29.1µg/m³ |
| 32 | Togo | 28.9µg/m³ |
| 33 | Senegal | 28.8µg/m³ |
| 34 | Ethiopia | 27.8µg/m³ |
| 35 | Burkina Faso | 27.6µg/m³ |
| 36 | Mongolia | 27.4µg/m³ |
| 37 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 27.1µg/m³ |
| 38 | Cote d'Ivoire | 26.7µg/m³ |
| 39 | Guinea | 26.2µg/m³ |
| 40 | Burundi | 26.0µg/m³ |
| 41 | Republic of the Congo | 25.7µg/m³ |
| 42 | Rwanda | 25.6µg/m³ |
| 43 | South Africa | 25.6µg/m³ |
| 44 | Lao People's Democratic Republic | 25.5µg/m³ |
| 45 | Cambodia | 25.2µg/m³ |
| 46 | Vietnam | 25.1µg/m³ |
| 47 | Zambia | 25.0µg/m³ |
| 48 | Turkmenistan | 24.3µg/m³ |
| 49 | Uganda | 24.1µg/m³ |
| 50 | Thailand | 24.0µg/m³ |
| 51 | South Korea | 23.9µg/m³ |
| 52 | Benin | 23.8µg/m³ |
| 53 | Zimbabwe | 23.8µg/m³ |
| 54 | Morocco | 23.7µg/m³ |
| 55 | Haiti | 23.4µg/m³ |
| 56 | Uzbekistan | 23.4µg/m³ |
| 57 | Angola | 23.2µg/m³ |
| 58 | Jordan | 22.9µg/m³ |
| 59 | Tunisia | 22.1µg/m³ |
| 60 | Armenia | 22.1µg/m³ |
| 61 | Kyrgyzstan | 22.0µg/m³ |
| 62 | Madagascar | 22.0µg/m³ |
| 63 | Guatemala | 21.9µg/m³ |
| 64 | Cameroon | 21.3µg/m³ |
| 65 | United Republic of Tanzania | 21.2µg/m³ |
| 66 | Peru | 21.1µg/m³ |
| 67 | Venezuela | 21.1µg/m³ |
| 68 | Kazakhstan | 20.8µg/m³ |
| 69 | El Salvador | 20.7µg/m³ |
| 70 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 20.7µg/m³ |
| 71 | Botswana | 20.3µg/m³ |
| 72 | Lebanon | 20.2µg/m³ |
| 73 | Colombia | 20.0µg/m³ |
| 74 | Panama | 19.9µg/m³ |
| 75 | Mexico | 19.7µg/m³ |
| 76 | Malawi | 19.5µg/m³ |
| 77 | Malaysia | 19.4µg/m³ |
| 78 | Türkiye | 19.4µg/m³ |
| 79 | Georgia | 18.9µg/m³ |
| 80 | Belize | 18.8µg/m³ |
| 81 | Philippines | 18.7µg/m³ |
| 82 | Gabon | 18.5µg/m³ |
| 83 | Nicaragua | 18.5µg/m³ |
| 84 | Poland | 18.5µg/m³ |
| 85 | The Republic of North Macedonia | 18.5µg/m³ |
| 86 | Kenya | 18.4µg/m³ |
| 87 | Mauritania | 18.4µg/m³ |
| 88 | Israel | 18.2µg/m³ |
| 89 | Serbia | 18.2µg/m³ |
| 90 | Chile | 18.1µg/m³ |
| 91 | Dominican Republic | 18.1µg/m³ |
| 92 | Honduras | 18.1µg/m³ |
| 93 | Albania | 18.0µg/m³ |
| 94 | Sierra Leone | 17.3µg/m³ |
| 95 | Slovenia | 17.2µg/m³ |
| 96 | Ukraine | 17.2µg/m³ |
| 97 | Namibia | 17.0µg/m³ |
| 98 | Hungary | 16.8µg/m³ |
| 99 | Czech Republic | 16.7µg/m³ |
| 100 | Moldova, Republic of | 16.7µg/m³ |
| 101 | Greece | 16.6µg/m³ |
| 102 | Romania | 16.6µg/m³ |
| 103 | Bulgaria | 16.4µg/m³ |
| 104 | Somalia | 16.4µg/m³ |
| 105 | Croatia | 16.0µg/m³ |
| 106 | Singapore | 15.9µg/m³ |
| 107 | Belarus | 15.6µg/m³ |
| 108 | Paraguay | 15.4µg/m³ |
| 109 | Italy | 15.3µg/m³ |
| 110 | Slovakia | 15.2µg/m³ |
| 111 | Republic of The Gambia | 15.0µg/m³ |
| 112 | Cuba | 14.6µg/m³ |
| 113 | Montserrat | 14.3µg/m³ |
| 114 | Montenegro | 14.2µg/m³ |
| 115 | Costa Rica | 13.9µg/m³ |
| 116 | Argentina | 13.9µg/m³ |
| 117 | Austria | 13.5µg/m³ |
| 118 | Ecuador | 13.4µg/m³ |
| 119 | Belgium | 13.2µg/m³ |
| 120 | Netherlands | 13.1µg/m³ |
| 121 | Barbados | 13.0µg/m³ |
| 122 | Brazil | 12.7µg/m³ |
| 123 | Jamaica | 12.6µg/m³ |
| 124 | Latvia | 12.6µg/m³ |
| 125 | Malta | 12.5µg/m³ |
| 126 | Comoros | 12.1µg/m³ |
| 127 | Trinidad and Tobago | 12.1µg/m³ |
| 128 | Papua New Guinea | 12.0µg/m³ |
| 129 | Russian Federation | 11.9µg/m³ |
| 130 | Lithuania | 11.8µg/m³ |
| 131 | Japan | 11.7µg/m³ |
| 132 | France | 11.6µg/m³ |
| 133 | Mauritius | 11.2µg/m³ |
| 134 | Cyprus | 11.1µg/m³ |
| 135 | Maldives | 10.7µg/m³ |
| 136 | Denmark | 10.6µg/m³ |
| 137 | United Kingdom | 10.6µg/m³ |
| 138 | Uruguay | 10.4µg/m³ |
| 139 | Switzerland | 10.3µg/m³ |
| 140 | Luxembourg | 10.2µg/m³ |
| 141 | Spain | 10.1µg/m³ |
| 142 | New Caledonia | 10.0µg/m³ |
| 143 | Portugal | 9.8µg/m³ |
| 144 | Eritrea | 9.1µg/m³ |
| 145 | Cape Verde | 8.8µg/m³ |
| 146 | Ireland | 8.8µg/m³ |
| 147 | Suriname | 8.2µg/m³ |
| 148 | United States of America | 7.6µg/m³ |
| 149 | Estonia | 7.5µg/m³ |
| 150 | Norway | 7.0µg/m³ |
| 151 | Australia | 7.0µg/m³ |
| 152 | Canada | 6.6µg/m³ |
| 153 | New Zealand | 6.2µg/m³ |
| 154 | Sweden | 6.2µg/m³ |
| 155 | Finland | 6.0µg/m³ |
| 156 | Iceland | 5.2µg/m³ |
| 157 | Solomon Islands | 4.6µg/m³ |
Showing 157 of 157 countries
Topics
Data Source
This data comes from World Health Organization (WHO) (2019).
View Original Source