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Most places in the world have pollutants above the appropriate standard, according to IQAir’s latest global air quality report. Credit-Getty Images
The rules of survival are simple: humans can live weeks without food, days without water, but only a few minutes without air. Air is the most important resource for human life, and yet most of the planet we breathe every day is dirty. .
According to the 2023 Global Air Quality Report released Tuesday by IQAir, a Swiss company that monitors global air quality in real-time and has published an annual assessment since 2018, last year 10 countries or territories had air quality that met global standards. Standard for Clean Air.
IQAir used as the main indicator of air quality in each country or territory the average concentration of PM2. 5, or waste with a diameter of 2. 5 micrometers or less, measured in cities with publicly available data. PM2. 5 is a destructive component of air pollutants that comes from a variety of sources, including emissions from burning coal and oil, as well as dust storms and wildfires. The WHO says PM2. 5 “can enter the lungs and body through the bloodstream. “affecting all primary organs” and that exposure to PM2. 5 can cause cardiovascular and respiratory problems, such as stroke or lung cancer. It is estimated that air pollutants are linked to 7 million premature deaths each year.
WHO standards establish an exposure to an average annual PM2. 5 concentration of no more than five micrograms per cubic meter (five μg/m3). Of the 134 countries and territories IQAir was able to assess, only Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius, and French Polynesia reached this threshold in 2023.
These are the key findings at the regional level from IQAir’s Global Air Quality Report 2023.
According to IQAir’s report, all of the world’s most air-polluted cities are in Asia, adding 83 in India. Each of those cities had PM2. 5 degrees that exceeded the WHO average by 10 times or more. The most polluted city, Begusarai, an Indian city of more than a million people in the western state of Bihar, had PM2. 5 degrees of 118. 9 μg/m3 last year, 23 times the WHO average.
Central and South Asia is home to the four most polluted countries in the world (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Tajikistan) and 31% of cities in the region reported PM2. 5 degrees, more than 10 times higher than the WHO standard, a higher proportion. than any other city or region in the report.
IQAir cited several reasons for Asia’s air pollutant problem, ranging from the gigantic amount of greenhouse fuel emissions from coal-fired power plants and peatland burning to the El Niño weather phenomenon, which delays the start of the rainy season. which would have mitigated the impact effect on air pollutants in Asia. PM2. 5 levels.
Oceania, which comprises Australia, New Zealand, and French Polynesia, remained the region with the cleanest air in 2023, according to the IQAir report, with some of its countries and territories managing to meet the WHO standard. The region also has the largest share, 55%. of cities reported meeting WHO standards.
Of the 43 countries monitored in Europe, the annual average of PM2. 5 degrees was reduced to the minimum in 36 of them, higher in six of them and remained constant in one. Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the most polluted country in the region, with an annual average of PM2. 5. Croatia showed the greatest improvement, with its annual average PM2. 5 points. decreased by more than 40% until 2022, while 39% of European cities with an annual average PM2. 5 of 10 μg/m3 or less in 2022, 54% were below this threshold in 2023.
With 3,242 cities analyzed, or 40% of the total cities in the report, North America was the most monitored region, while Latin America and the Caribbean continued a trend of particularly expanding their region’s air quality monitoring network as new and unmanaged by the government. Networks sprang up in many cities and countries, adding the Bahamas and Ecuador, which in the past were not represented in IQAir reports.
In North America, Canada overtook the U. S. The U. S. Air Pollutants have been released for the first time in terms of air pollutants since IQAir’s annual report was created, thanks in large part to the gigantic wildfires that raged last year from May to October. The report says that in May last year, the monthly average of air pollutants in Alberta will be nearly nine times higher compared to the same time in 2022.
The U. S. also saw an increase in air pollution, from a national average of 8. 9 μg/m3 in 2022 to 9. 1 in 2023, and that’s partly to blame for wildfire smoke in Canada drifting south. Columbus, Ohio, ranked as the most polluted primary city. U. S. City The U. S. economy ranked for the second year in a row with an average PM2. 5 of 13. 9 μg/m3, while Las Vegas, Nevada, ranked as the top U. S. city. The U. S. is the least polluted with an average PM2. 5 of 13. 9 μg/m3. PM2. 5 points of 4. 9 μg/m3.
The only non-Asian city among the world’s top 100 most polluted cities in 2023 is Benoni, South Africa, with a PM2. 5 level of 54. 9 μg/m3, 11 times the WHO standard. But more generally. Africa faces a major challenge in the fight against air pollution: a lack of data.
Although the continent’s urban population is developing rapidly, 24 out of 54 countries, representing 66% of the population, have enough knowledge about air quality to be included in the IQAir report.
The country of Chad, which is ranked number one for pollution globally in the 2022 IQAir report, is not included due to a lack of publicly available tracking data.
“A lack of knowledge about air quality delays decisive action and perpetuates human suffering,” said Frank Hammes, global CEO of IQAir. “Knowledge about air quality saves lives. When air quality is reported, action is taken and air quality improves.
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