Bangladesh ranks second in air pollution in the world in 2024
In 2024, Bangladesh was ranked second as a country in terms of air pollution. And Dhaka was the third top city in the world as a city.
In 2023, Bangladesh was at the top as a country and Dhaka was at the second position as a city. This time, the top country in terms of air pollution is the African country, Chad. And the top city is the Indian capital Delhi.
This information was presented in the ‘Global Air Quality Report 2024’ of the Swiss-based organization IQAir on March 21. The live IQAir index gives real-time information about air quality in cities, alerting people to pollution levels.
This report assesses air quality based on PM 2.5, a type of particulate matter that contributes to air pollution. It was seen that in 2024, the presence of particulate matter (PM 2.5) per cubic meter of air in Bangladesh was 78 micrograms. And last year it was 79.9 micrograms.
This is at least 15 times higher than the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Pakistan is the second worst country after Bangladesh. In 2023, the presence of PM 2.5 in the country’s air was 73.7 micrograms.
The Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS) conducts continuous research on air pollution in various cities across the country.
CAPS Chairman Professor Ahmed Kamruzzaman Majumder stated that Bangladesh’s second-highest rank in air pollution is concerning.
It seems that we have not improved much compared to last year. This report is about the situation in 2024. But we have seen that January and February of this year were more polluted than the previous nine years. Air pollution is increasing further this year.
In 2022, Bangladesh was in fifth place in the list of countries with polluted air in the world, and India was in eighth place. And in 2022, the presence of PM 2.5 in the air of Bangladesh was 65.8.
Dhaka ranks third in terms of pollution as a city. The presence of PM 2.5 in the air of this city was 78 micrograms. In 2023, its level was 80.2 micrograms.
And the presence of PM 2.5 in the air of New Delhi, which is at the top of the list, is 91.8. In 2023, it was 92.7 micrograms. That is, the air quality of this most polluted city has improved to some extent.
The IQAir report has been prepared based on data from about 40,000 monitoring stations in 138 countries and regions.
