Data for 2003

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2003

Name: PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2003
Creator: Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis
License: https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/

Figures for 2003, 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, 2003 covers 220 countries on 4 measures. Qatar is highest, at 83.9; 3 countries share the lowest reading, 2.1. The middle country reads 15.8. Against 2002, 214 values changed (109 up, 105 down), the same countries are covered.

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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure · Data for 2003

HighestQatar

83.9

Lowest3 countries share it

2.1

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

220countries
4measures per country
2003the year it describes
159distinct 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, 2003, 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, 2003: every country, as published by Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis.
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	83.9	89.0	100.0	100.0
2	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	65.7	76.8	100.0	89.2
3	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	62.6	57.1	100.0	100.0
4	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	56.2	44.2	100.0	87.3
5	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	55.5	50.3	100.0	93.9
6	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	55.1	58.3	100.0	99.0
7	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	50.7	42.2	100.0	91.6
8	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	50.4	53.7	100.0	99.7
9	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	44.1	41.9	100.0	79.4
10	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	43.8	41.4	100.0	74.9
11	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	42.7	27.9	100.0	64.6
12	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	40.6	41.9	100.0	82.3
13	India`IND`Southern Asia	39.8	33.8	100.0	48.8
14	Niger`NER`Western Africa	39.2	42.2	100.0	64.0
15	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	38.6	34.8	100.0	54.9
16	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	38.3	29.4	100.0	45.1
17	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	36.3	43.5	100.0	33.5
18	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	35.4	36.3	100.0	50.8
19	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	34.9	28.9	100.0	53.0
20	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	34.5	31.6	100.0	44.2
21	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	34.2	34.6	100.0	42.0
22	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	34.1	36.4	100.0	43.3
23	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	33.1	31.0	100.0	43.2
24	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	33.0	36.6	100.0	35.1
25	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	31.7	31.1	100.0	17.2
26	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	30.6	28.8	100.0	1.0
27	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	29.3	27.7	100.0	11.1
28	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	28.9	24.7	100.0	18.2
29	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	28.7	31.0	100.0	13.5
30	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	28.6	26.7	100.0	13.5
=31	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	28.4	29.0	100.0	8.8
=31	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	28.4	27.3	100.0	11.5
33	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	28.1	24.0	100.0	24.0
34	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	27.7	22.1	100.0	20.4
35	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	27.5	26.4	100.0	7.0
=36	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	27.1	24.3	100.0	9.3
=36	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	27.1	21.2	100.0	11.7
38	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	26.7	28.2	100.0	9.2
39	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	26.4	24.7	100.0	0.0
=40	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	26.2	20.5	100.0	9.1
=40	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	26.2	19.9	100.0	12.4
=42	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	26.1	20.6	100.0	10.6
=42	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	26.1	23.0	100.0	14.0
44	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	25.7	24.6	100.0	0.0
45	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	25.6	25.9	100.0	2.0
46	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	25.1	26.6	100.0	12.3
=47	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	24.8	21.3	100.0	4.3
=47	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	24.8	15.2	100.0	11.4
49	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	24.7	29.0	100.0	2.2
=50	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	24.6	23.0	100.0	0.0
=50	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	24.6	20.6	100.0	4.8
52	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	24.1	23.5	100.0	0.4
53	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	23.8	21.8	100.0	3.5
54	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	23.6	24.0	100.0	2.0
55	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	23.1	23.7	100.0	6.6
56	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	22.9	30.4	100.0	8.1
57	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	22.8	20.7	100.0	0.8
58	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	22.7	22.1	100.0	0.0
59	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	22.6	17.4	98.9	18.9
60	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	22.4	20.2	100.0	5.6
61	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	22.1	20.7	100.0	0.0
=62	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	21.8	21.2	100.0	0.0
=62	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	21.8	20.6	100.0	6.4
64	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	21.6	19.8	100.0	1.2
=65	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	21.5	18.7	100.0	0.0
=65	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	21.5	18.6	100.0	2.7
=65	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	21.5	23.5	100.0	1.2
68	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	21.4	19.1	100.0	0.3
=69	Honduras`HND`Central America	21.3	16.5	100.0	2.9
=69	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	21.3	18.3	100.0	0.0
71	Vatican City`VAT`Southern Europe	21.1	21.1	100.0	0.0
=72	Bolivia`BOL`South America	21.0	20.2	100.0	1.6
=72	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	21.0	20.3	100.0	0.0
74	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	20.8	18.6	100.0	0.0
75	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	20.6	19.9	100.0	0.0
76	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	20.5	17.8	100.0	0.0
77	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	20.4	19.1	100.0	0.1
=78	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	19.8	18.7	100.0	0.0
=78	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	19.8	18.9	100.0	0.1
80	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	19.4	17.4	100.0	0.0
81	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	19.2	19.5	100.0	2.1
82	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	19.0	15.3	100.0	0.0
=83	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	18.9	23.7	100.0	0.0
=83	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	18.9	18.7	100.0	0.2
85	Chile`CHL`South America	18.6	13.1	99.9	1.2
86	San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	18.0	17.7	100.0	0.0
87	Mexico`MEX`Central America	17.6	11.3	100.0	0.0
=88	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	17.4	16.6	100.0	0.0
=88	Venezuela`VEN`South America	17.4	14.8	100.0	0.1
90	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	17.3	16.8	100.0	0.0
91	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	17.2	13.9	100.0	0.0
92	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	16.9	15.0	100.0	0.0
=93	Ecuador`ECU`South America	16.8	14.2	99.9	0.0
=93	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	16.8	14.4	100.0	0.4
95	Peru`PER`South America	16.7	15.7	100.0	3.9
=96	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	16.4	12.7	100.0	0.0
=96	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	16.4	16.6	100.0	0.0
98	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	16.3	14.9	100.0	0.0
=99	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	16.2	15.2	100.0	0.0
=99	Colombia`COL`South America	16.2	15.6	100.0	0.0
=99	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	16.2	12.8	100.0	0.4
=102	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	16.1	16.3	100.0	0.0
=102	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	16.1	12.3	100.0	0.0
=104	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	16.0	16.4	100.0	0.0
=104	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	16.0	15.3	100.0	0.0
=104	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	16.0	11.9	100.0	0.7
=104	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	16.0	16.6	100.0	0.0
=108	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	15.9	14.4	100.0	0.0
=108	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	15.9	14.4	100.0	0.0
=110	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	15.8	15.2	100.0	0.0
=110	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	15.8	10.5	95.7	12.1
112	Northern Cyprus`XNC`Western Asia	15.7	15.5	100.0	0.0
=113	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	15.6	16.3	100.0	0.0
=113	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	15.6	15.3	100.0	0.0
115	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	15.5	15.3	100.0	0.0
116	Paraguay`PRY`South America	15.3	15.8	100.0	0.0
=117	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	15.2	12.3	100.0	0.0
=117	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	15.2	17.8	100.0	0.1
119	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	15.1	14.0	100.0	0.0
=120	Liechtenstein`LIE`Western Europe	14.9	14.0	100.0	0.0
=120	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	14.9	13.3	100.0	0.0
=122	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	14.6	23.9	100.0	0.6
=122	France`FRA`Western Europe	14.6	12.5	100.0	0.0
=122	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	14.6	10.6	99.9	0.0
=125	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	14.5	12.0	100.0	0.1
=125	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	14.5	14.2	100.0	0.0
=127	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	14.4	13.1	100.0	0.0
=127	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	14.4	9.6	98.0	1.0
=127	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	14.4	14.3	100.0	0.0
130	Panama`PAN`Central America	14.2	13.6	100.0	0.0
=131	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	14.1	12.9	100.0	0.0
=131	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	14.1	10.4	99.9	0.6
=133	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	13.8	13.3	100.0	0.0
=133	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	13.8	10.1	100.0	0.0
135	Monaco`MCO`Western Europe	13.7	13.7	100.0	0.0
=136	Argentina`ARG`South America	13.5	11.4	99.4	0.5
=136	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	13.5	12.1	100.0	0.0
=136	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	13.5	10.9	100.0	0.0
139	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	13.0	12.3	100.0	0.0
=140	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	12.9	11.1	100.0	0.0
=140	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	12.9	11.6	100.0	0.0
142	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	12.8	10.6	99.6	0.0
143	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	12.7	10.9	100.0	0.1
=144	Brazil`BRA`South America	12.5	15.3	99.5	0.0
=144	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	12.5	10.9	100.0	0.0
=144	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	12.5	10.3	100.0	0.0
147	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	12.3	14.2	100.0	0.0
148	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	12.2	12.4	100.0	0.0
=149	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	11.7	11.4	100.0	0.0
=149	United States`USA`Northern America	11.7	6.9	99.3	0.0
=151	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	11.5	9.4	100.0	0.0
=151	Uruguay`URY`South America	11.5	10.0	100.0	0.0
=153	Suriname`SUR`South America	11.3	11.1	100.0	0.0
=153	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	11.3	10.1	100.0	0.0
155	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	11.2	10.8	100.0	0.0
156	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	11.1	8.6	100.0	0.0
157	Gibraltar`GIB`Southern Europe	10.9	11.0	100.0	0.0
158	Belize`BLZ`Central America	10.8	11.1	100.0	0.0
159	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	10.6	11.0	100.0	0.0
=160	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	10.5	9.5	100.0	0.0
=160	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	10.5	10.1	100.0	0.0
162	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	10.4	9.9	100.0	0.0
163	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	10.3	9.2	100.0	0.0
164	Guyana`GUY`South America	10.1	11.1	100.0	0.0
=165	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	9.6	9.3	100.0	0.0
=165	Curaçao`CUW`Caribbean	9.6	9.5	100.0	0.0
=165	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	9.6	9.5	100.0	0.0
=165	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	9.6	9.2	100.0	0.0
=165	Isle of Man`IMN`Northern Europe	9.6	8.9	100.0	0.0
=170	Aruba`ABW`Caribbean	9.2	9.4	99.3	0.0
=170	Cayman Islands`CYM`Caribbean	9.2	8.9	100.0	0.0
=172	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	9.0	9.5	99.0	0.0
=172	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	9.0	8.3	100.0	0.0
174	Canada`CAN`Northern America	8.9	4.0	97.1	0.0
175	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	8.5	7.3	100.0	0.0
176	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	8.4	7.7	97.0	0.0
177	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	8.2	4.6	89.3	0.0
178	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	7.9	7.7	99.8	0.0
=179	Andorra`AND`Southern Europe	7.6	6.3	100.0	0.0
=179	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	7.6	7.1	85.7	0.0
181	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	7.5	7.2	100.0	0.0
182	Sint Maarten`SXM`Caribbean	7.3	6.6	96.1	0.0
183	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	7.2	5.5	91.0	0.0
=184	Bermuda`BMU`Northern America	7.1	7.0	100.0	0.0
=184	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	7.1	6.8	99.6	0.0
=184	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	7.1	7.0	98.6	0.0
187	Saint Martin`MAF`Caribbean	7.0	6.6	89.3	0.0
188	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	6.9	6.8	99.8	0.0
=189	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	6.8	4.1	74.6	0.0
=189	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	6.8	6.9	88.0	0.0
191	Anguilla`AIA`Caribbean	6.5	6.4	91.5	0.0
=192	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	6.4	6.3	98.5	0.0
=192	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	6.4	4.4	78.7	0.0
194	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	6.3	5.8	97.4	0.0
=195	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	6.1	5.2	67.1	0.0
=195	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	6.1	6.8	83.0	0.0
=197	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	5.2	4.6	56.8	0.0
=197	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	5.2	5.4	77.5	0.0
199	Faroe Islands`FRO`Northern Europe	5.1	5.0	64.5	0.0
200	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	4.9	5.0	41.0	0.0
201	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	4.3	3.7	19.0	0.0
202	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	4.0	4.1	0.4	0.0
=203	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	3.9	4.0	0.0	0.0
=203	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	3.9	3.8	0.0	0.0
205	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	3.8	3.7	0.0	0.0
206	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	3.7	3.7	0.1	0.0
207	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	3.2	3.2	0.0	0.0
=208	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	3.1	2.9	0.0	0.0
=208	Northern Mariana Islands`MNP`Micronesia	3.1	3.1	0.0	0.0
210	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	2.9	2.8	0.0	0.0
211	American Samoa`ASM`Polynesia	2.8	2.8	0.0	0.0
212	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	2.7	2.8	0.0	0.0
=213	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	2.6	1.4	0.0	0.0
=213	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	2.6	2.6	0.0	0.0
215	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	2.5	2.5	0.0	0.0
216	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	2.4	2.4	0.0	0.0
217	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	2.2	2.3	0.0	0.0
=218	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	2.1	2.1	0.0	0.0
=218	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	2.1	-2.0	0.0	0.0
=218	Greenland`GRL`Northern America	2.1	1.3	0.0	0.0

02In 2003

At either end

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

Highest

1Qatar83.9
2Lesotho65.7
3Kuwait62.6
4Saudi Arabia56.2
5Bangladesh55.5

Lowest

218French Polynesiashared2.1
218Greenlandshared2.1
218Cook Islandsshared2.1
217Nauru2.2
216Tuvalu2.4

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 15.8. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

PM2.5, geographic mean (µg/m³)
HighestQatar89.0
LowestFrench Polynesia-2.0
Middle country: 14.4
People at or above 5 µg/m³, the WHO guideline (%)
Highest164 share it
Lowest17 share it
Middle country: 100.0
People at or above 35 µg/m³, the WHO's first interim target (%)
Highest2 share it
Lowest139 share it
Middle country: 0.0

032002 → 2003

Since 2002

+0 / −0countries joined / left
214values changed, of 220 in both
109 · 105rose · fell
6unchanged

Rose most

Lesotho26.6 → 65.7+39.1
Egypt28.6 → 50.7+22.1
Kuwait47.4 → 62.6+15.2
Bangladesh40.7 → 55.5+14.8
Bahrain42.6 → 55.1+12.5

Fell most

Burkina Faso41.1 → 27.5−13.6
Mali41.6 → 28.7−12.9
Niger50.7 → 39.2−11.5
Nigeria44.0 → 34.2−9.8
Guinea31.0 → 21.8−9.2

Changes in value, not in places: a country’s place also moves when others do.

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

159 distinct values among 220
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 5 countries share 9.6. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 220 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

.csv
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220 rows · 8.0 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download pm25-exposure-2003-nations-inquiry.csv
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The publisher’s original
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 (2003). PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2003 [data set], describing 2003. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/pm25-exposure/2003

0626 held

Other years

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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2002
220 countries
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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2004
220 countries
All of them
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure: every year
26 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
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