Data for 1998

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 1998

Name: PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 1998
Creator: Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis
License: https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/

Figures for 1998, as Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group published them · stored as published, never rewritten

PM2.5 is the dust, soot and smoke in the air fine enough to reach deep into the lungs. This is the yearly average concentration the typical resident breathes: the country's pollution map weighted by where its people live, estimated from satellites, a chemical model and ground monitors.

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 1998 covers 220 countries on 4 measures. Qatar is highest, at 62.8; 2 countries share the lowest reading, 1.5. The middle country reads 14.1.

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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure · Data for 1998

HighestQatar

62.8

Lowest2 countries share it

1.5

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end.

220countries
4measures per country
1998the year it describes
153distinct values1 decimal, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 1998, as published. Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

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Showing 25 of 220 countries · select a heading to sort

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 1998: every country, as published by Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis.
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	62.8	67.8	100.0	100.0
2	Niger`NER`Western Africa	50.3	47.0	100.0	98.3
3	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	48.9	48.0	100.0	99.9
4	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	47.1	50.6	100.0	63.7
5	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	44.9	42.6	100.0	97.1
6	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	44.1	44.7	100.0	71.6
7	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	43.7	49.4	100.0	58.4
8	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	43.4	34.8	100.0	77.2
9	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	42.5	34.3	100.0	54.1
10	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	42.4	37.9	100.0	92.8
11	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	42.2	38.1	100.0	79.8
12	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	41.4	30.2	100.0	49.9
13	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	40.8	36.6	100.0	65.2
14	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	40.4	46.4	100.0	70.3
15	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	37.2	37.1	100.0	54.6
16	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	37.0	43.9	100.0	43.9
=17	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	34.2	38.2	100.0	43.4
=17	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	34.2	32.8	100.0	39.5
=17	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	34.2	35.8	100.0	45.7
20	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	33.5	32.9	100.0	25.0
21	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	31.4	25.2	99.9	27.4
22	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	31.2	31.9	100.0	25.7
23	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	30.5	30.0	100.0	15.7
24	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	29.9	20.4	100.0	29.8
25	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	29.1	30.4	100.0	13.8
26	India`IND`Southern Asia	28.6	24.0	100.0	30.2
27	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	27.4	32.5	100.0	8.9
28	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	27.1	23.2	100.0	12.4
29	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	26.7	25.6	100.0	6.5
30	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	26.6	28.8	100.0	14.3
31	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	26.0	25.5	100.0	0.0
32	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	25.6	21.3	100.0	15.6
=33	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	25.3	27.2	100.0	0.2
=33	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	25.3	23.0	100.0	5.5
35	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	25.2	21.8	100.0	10.8
36	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	24.7	23.1	100.0	0.1
37	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	23.9	28.7	100.0	9.3
38	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	23.8	23.0	100.0	0.0
39	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	23.5	16.6	98.5	19.7
40	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	23.4	18.7	100.0	0.8
=41	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	22.7	21.6	100.0	0.3
=41	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	22.7	19.4	100.0	1.8
=43	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	22.6	19.6	100.0	2.0
=43	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	22.6	22.5	100.0	3.0
45	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	22.4	21.1	100.0	0.0
46	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	22.3	21.6	100.0	0.0
47	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	22.2	20.7	100.0	6.2
48	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	22.1	24.1	100.0	0.0
49	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	22.0	21.6	100.0	0.1
=50	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	21.7	19.5	100.0	0.1
=50	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	21.7	20.6	100.0	0.0
=52	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	21.5	19.8	100.0	0.2
=52	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	21.5	18.8	100.0	0.5
54	Vatican City`VAT`Southern Europe	21.4	21.4	100.0	0.0
55	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	21.3	20.0	100.0	0.0
=56	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	20.2	17.2	100.0	0.5
=56	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	20.2	17.9	100.0	0.0
=56	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	20.2	18.7	100.0	0.0
59	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	19.8	15.7	100.0	4.0
=60	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	19.7	18.6	100.0	7.3
=60	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	19.7	17.4	100.0	0.0
=60	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	19.7	16.6	100.0	0.5
=60	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	19.7	18.7	100.0	1.2
=64	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	19.5	17.5	100.0	2.0
=64	Honduras`HND`Central America	19.5	15.5	100.0	0.0
=66	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	19.2	18.7	100.0	0.0
=66	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	19.2	16.5	100.0	0.0
68	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	19.0	17.9	100.0	0.0
=69	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	18.9	18.9	100.0	0.0
=69	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	18.9	19.6	100.0	0.0
71	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	18.7	20.5	100.0	2.3
72	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	18.6	17.7	100.0	0.0
73	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	18.4	17.9	100.0	0.0
74	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	18.3	17.8	100.0	0.0
=75	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	18.2	13.8	100.0	9.3
=75	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	18.2	18.1	100.0	0.0
77	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	18.1	17.1	100.0	0.0
78	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	18.0	14.2	100.0	0.0
79	Mexico`MEX`Central America	17.8	11.9	99.6	0.0
80	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	17.2	9.8	99.1	0.0
=81	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	17.1	16.5	100.0	0.0
=81	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	17.1	17.0	100.0	0.2
83	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	17.0	15.3	100.0	0.0
=84	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	16.8	15.6	100.0	0.0
=84	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	16.8	16.1	100.0	0.0
=84	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	16.8	15.8	100.0	0.0
87	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	16.7	12.8	100.0	0.0
88	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	16.6	12.3	99.7	8.4
89	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	16.4	15.8	100.0	0.0
=90	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	16.2	15.0	100.0	0.0
=90	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	16.2	16.0	100.0	0.0
=90	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	16.2	15.9	100.0	0.0
93	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	16.1	22.4	100.0	1.3
94	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	16.0	14.5	100.0	0.0
=95	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	15.8	14.8	100.0	0.0
=95	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	15.8	19.7	100.0	0.0
97	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	15.7	13.6	100.0	0.0
=98	San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	15.6	15.2	100.0	0.0
=98	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	15.6	18.6	100.0	0.1
100	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	15.5	12.8	100.0	0.0
=101	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	15.3	12.6	100.0	0.0
=101	Paraguay`PRY`South America	15.3	13.8	100.0	0.0
103	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	14.7	13.5	100.0	0.0
104	Bolivia`BOL`South America	14.6	14.7	100.0	0.1
=105	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	14.5	11.7	100.0	0.1
=105	France`FRA`Western Europe	14.5	12.3	100.0	0.0
=105	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	14.5	14.2	100.0	0.0
=108	Chile`CHL`South America	14.2	11.4	99.8	0.0
=108	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	14.2	13.1	100.0	0.0
=108	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	14.2	9.7	94.8	8.9
=111	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	14.1	14.7	100.0	0.0
=111	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	14.1	11.7	100.0	0.2
=111	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	14.1	12.8	100.0	0.0
=114	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	14.0	13.3	100.0	0.0
=114	Northern Cyprus`XNC`Western Asia	14.0	14.0	100.0	0.0
=114	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	14.0	11.3	100.0	0.0
117	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	13.9	10.0	99.4	0.3
=118	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	13.3	25.7	100.0	0.8
=118	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	13.3	12.1	100.0	0.0
=118	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	13.3	12.9	100.0	0.0
=118	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	13.3	10.8	100.0	0.0
=122	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	13.2	11.4	99.5	0.5
=122	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	13.2	10.7	99.6	0.0
124	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	13.1	7.9	97.5	0.6
=125	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	12.9	12.3	100.0	0.0
=125	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	12.9	9.8	99.9	0.0
=125	United States`USA`Northern America	12.9	7.5	98.9	0.0
128	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	12.8	12.9	100.0	0.0
129	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	12.6	9.2	98.0	0.0
=130	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	12.4	12.2	100.0	0.0
=130	Colombia`COL`South America	12.4	9.6	99.4	0.0
=130	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	12.4	12.3	100.0	0.0
133	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	12.3	13.0	100.0	0.0
134	Liechtenstein`LIE`Western Europe	12.2	11.6	100.0	0.0
=135	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	11.8	8.8	99.6	0.0
=135	Panama`PAN`Central America	11.8	11.2	100.0	0.0
=135	Venezuela`VEN`South America	11.8	8.8	100.0	0.0
=138	Monaco`MCO`Western Europe	11.7	11.5	100.0	0.0
=138	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	11.7	9.3	100.0	0.0
=140	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	11.3	8.5	100.0	0.0
=140	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	11.3	10.4	100.0	0.0
142	Peru`PER`South America	11.1	8.8	99.9	0.1
=143	Argentina`ARG`South America	11.0	9.5	99.3	0.6
=143	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	11.0	9.4	100.0	0.0
=145	Belize`BLZ`Central America	10.9	11.6	100.0	0.0
=145	Gibraltar`GIB`Southern Europe	10.9	11.1	100.0	0.0
=147	Ecuador`ECU`South America	10.7	9.7	99.9	0.0
=147	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	10.7	10.5	99.2	0.0
=147	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	10.7	9.5	99.9	0.0
150	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	10.6	12.0	100.0	0.0
151	Brazil`BRA`South America	10.4	10.3	94.1	0.0
=152	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	10.3	9.2	100.0	0.0
=152	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	10.3	7.0	97.1	0.2
=152	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	10.3	10.4	100.0	0.0
155	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	10.2	7.3	99.4	0.0
=156	Suriname`SUR`South America	10.0	7.4	100.0	0.0
=156	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	10.0	9.2	100.0	0.0
158	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	9.7	9.0	100.0	0.0
=159	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	9.6	9.4	100.0	0.0
=159	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	9.6	7.4	99.7	0.0
=161	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	9.5	8.4	100.0	0.0
=161	Uruguay`URY`South America	9.5	8.1	100.0	0.0
=161	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	9.5	9.6	100.0	0.0
164	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	9.3	8.9	100.0	0.0
165	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	9.2	8.7	100.0	0.0
166	Canada`CAN`Northern America	9.1	4.3	96.8	0.0
167	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	8.8	8.1	99.7	0.0
168	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	8.7	8.6	98.3	0.0
=169	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	8.6	7.7	100.0	0.0
=169	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	8.6	7.2	100.0	0.0
171	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	8.5	10.7	94.2	0.0
172	Curaçao`CUW`Caribbean	8.4	8.8	100.0	0.0
=173	Cayman Islands`CYM`Caribbean	8.2	8.3	100.0	0.0
=173	Sint Maarten`SXM`Caribbean	8.2	7.9	100.0	0.0
=175	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	8.1	8.0	100.0	0.0
=175	Isle of Man`IMN`Northern Europe	8.1	7.3	100.0	0.0
=175	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	8.1	8.1	99.5	0.0
178	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	8.0	4.3	88.1	0.0
179	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	7.7	7.4	100.0	0.0
180	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	7.6	6.9	93.1	0.0
=181	Guyana`GUY`South America	7.4	6.2	99.9	0.0
=181	Saint Martin`MAF`Caribbean	7.4	7.1	99.4	0.0
183	Aruba`ABW`Caribbean	7.3	7.1	80.7	0.0
184	Anguilla`AIA`Caribbean	7.2	7.0	99.6	0.0
185	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	7.0	6.9	99.4	0.0
186	Andorra`AND`Southern Europe	6.9	6.1	92.7	0.0
187	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	6.8	6.8	82.4	0.0
188	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	6.6	3.7	68.6	0.0
189	Bermuda`BMU`Northern America	6.4	6.4	98.8	0.0
190	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	6.3	4.4	81.9	0.0
191	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	6.2	7.2	100.0	0.0
192	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	6.1	6.1	95.4	0.0
193	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	6.0	5.0	92.9	0.0
194	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	5.8	5.7	95.8	0.0
195	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	5.2	4.2	52.9	0.0
196	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	4.9	4.3	33.9	0.0
197	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	4.7	4.2	26.2	0.0
198	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	4.1	4.1	1.0	0.0
199	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	3.7	3.1	4.5	0.0
=200	Faroe Islands`FRO`Northern Europe	3.4	3.3	0.2	0.0
=200	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	3.4	3.1	0.0	0.0
202	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	3.1	3.2	0.0	0.0
=203	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	3.0	2.8	0.0	0.0
=203	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	3.0	2.9	0.0	0.0
205	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	2.9	2.8	0.0	0.0
=206	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	2.6	2.5	0.0	0.0
=206	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	2.6	2.6	0.0	0.0
208	American Samoa`ASM`Polynesia	2.5	2.3	0.0	0.0
=209	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	2.2	2.1	0.0	0.0
=209	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	2.2	2.2	0.0	0.0
=211	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	2.1	2.1	0.0	0.0
=211	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	2.1	2.1	0.0	0.0
213	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	2.0	1.9	0.0	0.0
=214	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	1.9	1.9	0.0	0.0
=214	Northern Mariana Islands`MNP`Micronesia	1.9	2.0	0.0	0.0
216	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	1.8	1.7	0.0	0.0
=217	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	1.7	1.7	0.0	0.0
=217	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	1.7	0.6	0.0	0.0
=219	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	1.5	-2.4	0.0	0.0
=219	Greenland`GRL`Northern America	1.5	1.2	0.0	0.0

02In 1998

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

1Qatar62.8
2Niger50.3
3Mauritania48.9
4Nigeria47.1
5Senegal44.9

Lowest

219French Polynesiashared1.5
219Greenlandshared1.5
217Marshall Islandsshared1.7
217Cook Islandsshared1.7
216Guam1.8

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 14.1. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

PM2.5, geographic mean (µg/m³)
HighestQatar67.8
LowestFrench Polynesia-2.4
Middle country: 12.7
People at or above 5 µg/m³, the WHO guideline (%)
Highest149 share it
Lowest20 share it
Middle country: 100.0
People at or above 35 µg/m³, the WHO's first interim target (%)
HighestQatar100.0
Lowest150 share it
Middle country: 0.0

03Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

153 distinct values among 220
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 4 countries share 19.7. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 220 countries has every column.

04The files

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.csv
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Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group’s own file, on its own site.
e673hbmsl75gechxnrjotenel6k4hdfc

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis (1998). PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 1998 [data set], describing 1998. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/pm25-exposure/1998

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