Islamabad, Mar 11, 2025: In 2024, only seven nations successfully met the air quality standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a recent report.
This alarming revelation sheds light on the deteriorating state of global air pollution and the widening gap in monitoring data following the discontinuation of the United States’ international air quality tracking program.
A yearly analysis conducted by the Swiss air monitoring organization IQAir identified Chad and Bangladesh as the most polluted countries, with their air pollution levels surpassing WHO’s recommended threshold by over 15 times.
In contrast, only Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Estonia, and Iceland achieved the globally recognized air quality benchmark.
The report also highlights critical data shortages, especially across Asia and Africa, where numerous countries depended on air quality sensors installed at U.S. embassies and consulates.
However, due to financial constraints, the U.S. State Department recently terminated this initiative, erasing over 17 years of valuable air quality data from its official platform, airnow.gov.
Experts warn that this decision will severely hamper air quality assessments, particularly in Africa, where real-time pollution tracking was predominantly reliant on the U.S. system.
Christi Chester-Schroeder, IQAir’s air quality science expert, acknowledged that while some nations have alternative data sources, the impact of this loss will be deeply felt across the continent.
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Chad, omitted from IQAir’s 2023 rankings due to data limitations, has resurfaced as the most polluted nation in 2024, recording an average PM2.5 concentration of 91.8 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³), slightly surpassing its 2022 levels.
The country’s high pollution levels are attributed to dust from the Sahara Desert and extensive agricultural burning.
The WHO recommends a PM2.5 concentration not exceeding 5 µg/m³, yet only 17% of cities worldwide adhered to this guideline last year.
South Asia continues to be a major pollution hotspot. Pakistan ranked fourth among the most polluted nations, following Chad, Bangladesh, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
India, ranking fifth, experienced a 7% reduction in its annual PM2.5 levels but still recorded an average of 50.6 µg/m³—ten times higher than WHO’s safe limit.
Notably, twelve of the world’s twenty most polluted cities were in India, with Byrnihat, an industrial hub in the northeast, ranking as the most polluted city with an average PM2.5 level of 128 µg/m³.
Environmental specialists emphasize that climate change is further exacerbating air pollution, as rising temperatures contribute to prolonged and severe wildfires.
Last year, forest fires in Southeast Asia and South America significantly deteriorated air quality.
Christa Hasenkopf, director of the Clean Air Program at the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute (EPIC), stressed that the discontinuation of the U.S. air monitoring program will leave at least 34 countries without access to reliable pollution data.
She noted that the initiative directly improved air quality where they deployed monitors and even reduced health hazard compensations for U.S. diplomats stationed in heavily polluted regions.
“The termination of this program marks a major setback for global air quality efforts,” she cautioned.
