Data for 2005

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2005

Name: PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2005
Creator: Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis
License: https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/

Figures for 2005, 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, 2005 covers 220 countries on 4 measures. Qatar is highest, at 75.8; Greenland is lowest, at 2.0. The middle country reads 16.0. Against 2004, 211 values changed (130 up, 81 down), the same countries are covered.

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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure · Data for 2005

HighestQatar

75.8

LowestGreenland

2.0

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

220countries
4measures per country
2005the year it describes
165distinct 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, 2005, 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, 2005: every country, as published by Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis.
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	75.8	76.4	100.0	100.0
2	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	65.1	59.7	100.0	94.0
3	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	59.0	53.2	100.0	100.0
4	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	56.1	67.5	100.0	91.1
5	Niger`NER`Western Africa	53.6	47.1	100.0	98.8
6	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	53.0	53.9	100.0	100.0
7	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	52.6	43.8	100.0	82.0
8	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	45.2	34.7	100.0	57.9
=9	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	44.5	25.9	100.0	68.4
=9	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	44.5	34.1	100.0	54.8
11	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	42.6	43.5	100.0	50.5
12	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	41.8	47.9	100.0	83.1
=13	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	41.6	35.9	100.0	74.1
=13	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	41.6	39.1	100.0	59.8
15	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	40.7	44.3	100.0	53.4
16	India`IND`Southern Asia	40.3	34.8	100.0	53.6
17	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	39.9	42.1	100.0	72.3
18	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	39.3	37.1	100.0	68.2
19	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	35.9	35.2	100.0	55.7
20	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	34.0	32.3	100.0	36.6
21	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	33.9	30.8	100.0	41.1
22	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	32.6	26.2	100.0	41.7
23	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	32.2	32.7	100.0	26.8
24	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	31.8	29.9	100.0	20.1
25	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	31.4	34.6	100.0	32.8
26	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	30.7	28.1	100.0	14.7
27	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	30.6	26.1	100.0	28.1
28	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	30.1	33.8	100.0	16.7
29	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	29.9	30.2	100.0	20.3
30	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	29.6	29.5	100.0	21.8
31	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	29.1	27.3	100.0	17.5
32	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	28.5	27.2	100.0	0.6
33	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	28.4	27.3	100.0	4.7
34	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	28.2	21.0	100.0	21.7
35	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	28.1	25.1	100.0	8.2
36	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	27.8	26.6	100.0	9.7
37	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	26.9	28.8	100.0	14.0
38	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	26.7	25.7	100.0	10.4
=39	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	26.6	24.8	100.0	0.3
=39	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	26.6	19.1	99.2	25.1
=39	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	26.6	20.9	100.0	8.2
42	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	26.5	20.8	100.0	8.0
43	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	26.3	24.7	100.0	22.0
=44	Bolivia`BOL`South America	26.2	24.0	100.0	5.2
=44	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	26.2	23.5	100.0	20.2
46	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	25.6	21.7	100.0	5.5
47	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	25.4	21.2	100.0	5.7
48	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	25.3	24.8	100.0	1.3
49	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	25.0	23.6	100.0	1.2
50	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	24.5	23.6	100.0	13.4
51	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	24.4	20.8	100.0	12.6
=52	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	24.1	26.3	100.0	10.2
=52	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	24.1	24.0	100.0	3.6
=54	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	23.7	22.5	100.0	0.0
=54	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	23.7	23.1	100.0	0.5
56	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	23.5	19.7	100.0	5.0
57	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	23.4	20.5	100.0	4.1
58	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	23.1	22.3	100.0	0.0
=59	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	22.7	22.6	100.0	5.9
=59	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	22.7	14.1	100.0	3.7
=59	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	22.7	24.0	100.0	0.6
62	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	22.5	20.2	100.0	6.1
63	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	22.4	19.4	100.0	4.6
64	Honduras`HND`Central America	22.3	17.3	100.0	2.1
65	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	22.2	23.9	100.0	0.3
=66	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	21.9	21.0	100.0	0.0
=66	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	21.9	28.2	100.0	4.0
68	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	21.8	20.5	100.0	0.5
69	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	21.7	20.5	100.0	0.0
=70	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	21.3	14.2	99.5	11.8
=70	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	21.3	19.4	100.0	0.0
72	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	21.2	18.3	100.0	1.8
73	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	21.1	20.7	100.0	0.0
74	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	20.8	19.1	100.0	0.6
75	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	20.6	18.2	100.0	0.1
76	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	20.5	17.6	100.0	0.0
77	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	20.3	19.3	100.0	0.1
78	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	20.2	17.7	100.0	0.0
79	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	19.8	21.0	100.0	0.1
80	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	19.7	19.3	100.0	0.0
81	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	19.5	15.2	100.0	3.5
82	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	19.3	17.5	100.0	0.2
=83	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	19.2	19.2	100.0	0.0
=83	Peru`PER`South America	19.2	17.7	100.0	6.4
85	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	18.7	19.2	99.9	0.3
86	Ecuador`ECU`South America	18.6	17.3	99.9	0.1
87	Vatican City`VAT`Southern Europe	18.4	18.4	100.0	0.0
88	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	18.2	17.8	100.0	0.0
89	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	18.1	17.2	100.0	0.8
90	Chile`CHL`South America	18.0	17.5	99.9	0.7
91	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	17.9	14.0	100.0	0.0
=92	Mexico`MEX`Central America	17.7	10.6	99.9	0.0
=92	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	17.7	17.4	100.0	0.0
=94	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	17.5	14.2	100.0	0.0
=94	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	17.5	16.6	100.0	0.1
96	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	17.4	22.2	100.0	0.1
97	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	17.3	11.8	100.0	5.7
=98	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	17.2	15.8	100.0	0.0
=98	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	17.2	12.4	99.8	0.0
100	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	17.1	13.2	100.0	0.0
=101	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	16.9	16.4	100.0	0.0
=101	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	16.9	14.2	100.0	0.0
=103	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	16.8	15.9	100.0	0.0
=103	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	16.8	11.9	99.9	1.3
=103	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	16.8	16.3	100.0	0.3
=103	Paraguay`PRY`South America	16.8	16.4	100.0	0.0
107	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	16.3	13.4	100.0	0.0
108	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	16.2	14.9	100.0	0.0
=109	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	16.0	14.0	100.0	0.0
=109	San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	16.0	15.7	100.0	0.0
=111	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	15.9	13.4	99.7	0.2
=111	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	15.9	13.4	100.0	0.0
113	Colombia`COL`South America	15.8	16.0	100.0	0.0
=114	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	15.5	16.5	100.0	0.0
=114	Panama`PAN`Central America	15.5	14.7	100.0	0.0
116	Venezuela`VEN`South America	15.4	13.2	99.9	0.1
=117	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	15.3	15.4	100.0	0.3
=117	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	15.3	13.5	100.0	0.0
=119	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	14.9	13.8	100.0	0.0
=119	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	14.9	11.3	99.0	0.0
=119	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	14.9	19.2	100.0	0.0
122	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	14.7	14.2	100.0	0.0
123	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	14.6	15.1	100.0	0.0
124	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	14.5	12.9	100.0	0.0
=125	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	14.4	14.7	99.6	0.0
=125	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	14.4	12.5	100.0	0.7
=127	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	14.3	10.5	96.9	8.9
=127	Northern Cyprus`XNC`Western Asia	14.3	13.8	100.0	0.0
=129	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	14.2	13.3	100.0	0.0
=129	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	14.2	14.2	100.0	0.0
131	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	14.1	14.9	100.0	0.0
=132	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	14.0	23.7	100.0	0.4
=132	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	14.0	11.1	100.0	0.0
134	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	13.7	12.6	100.0	0.0
135	Argentina`ARG`South America	13.6	13.3	100.0	1.1
136	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	13.5	12.3	100.0	0.4
=137	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	13.3	12.0	100.0	0.0
=137	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	13.3	12.4	100.0	0.0
=139	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	13.1	12.5	100.0	0.0
=139	Brazil`BRA`South America	13.1	16.6	99.9	0.0
=141	France`FRA`Western Europe	12.8	11.1	100.0	0.0
=141	Liechtenstein`LIE`Western Europe	12.8	12.1	100.0	0.0
=143	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	12.7	11.4	100.0	0.0
=143	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	12.7	10.5	100.0	0.0
145	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	12.6	6.6	97.9	0.0
146	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	12.5	14.3	100.0	0.0
=147	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	12.4	12.6	100.0	0.0
=147	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	12.4	10.0	100.0	0.0
149	United States`USA`Northern America	12.2	8.0	99.1	0.0
150	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	12.1	9.0	100.0	0.0
=151	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	12.0	10.7	100.0	0.0
=151	Uruguay`URY`South America	12.0	11.3	100.0	0.0
153	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	11.7	11.0	100.0	0.0
154	Monaco`MCO`Western Europe	11.3	11.4	100.0	0.0
155	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	11.2	10.7	100.0	0.0
156	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	11.1	9.0	100.0	0.0
=157	Belize`BLZ`Central America	10.9	11.4	100.0	0.0
=157	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	10.9	11.4	99.7	0.0
=159	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	10.8	9.1	100.0	0.0
=159	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	10.8	8.6	99.8	0.0
161	Gibraltar`GIB`Southern Europe	10.5	10.7	100.0	0.0
162	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	10.3	8.8	100.0	0.0
163	Suriname`SUR`South America	10.1	11.5	100.0	0.0
164	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	9.9	8.7	99.9	0.0
=165	Cayman Islands`CYM`Caribbean	9.6	9.1	100.0	0.0
=165	Curaçao`CUW`Caribbean	9.6	8.7	96.8	0.0
167	Guyana`GUY`South America	9.4	11.4	100.0	0.0
=168	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	9.3	7.6	90.4	0.0
=168	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	9.3	9.3	100.0	0.0
170	Canada`CAN`Northern America	9.2	3.8	95.0	0.0
171	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	9.1	8.7	98.4	0.0
172	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	9.0	8.0	88.4	0.0
=173	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	8.7	7.6	100.0	0.0
=173	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	8.7	8.5	94.5	0.0
=175	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	8.3	7.3	98.0	0.0
=175	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	8.3	7.7	99.9	0.0
=177	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	8.1	7.6	99.8	0.0
=177	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	8.1	7.9	100.0	0.0
179	Andorra`AND`Southern Europe	7.8	6.5	95.6	0.0
180	Aruba`ABW`Caribbean	7.7	6.6	94.2	0.0
181	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	7.6	7.3	99.9	0.0
=182	Sint Maarten`SXM`Caribbean	7.5	7.1	98.8	0.0
=182	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	7.5	4.2	89.0	0.0
=182	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	7.5	7.2	98.8	0.0
185	Isle of Man`IMN`Northern Europe	7.4	6.5	95.7	0.0
186	Bermuda`BMU`Northern America	7.1	7.1	99.8	0.0
187	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	6.9	6.9	97.9	0.0
=188	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	6.7	6.6	99.2	0.0
=188	Saint Martin`MAF`Caribbean	6.7	6.6	95.2	0.0
190	Anguilla`AIA`Caribbean	6.5	6.5	99.0	0.0
191	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	6.3	5.9	85.2	0.0
=192	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	6.2	5.6	94.6	0.0
=192	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	6.2	6.1	98.9	0.0
194	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	6.1	3.6	71.0	0.0
195	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	6.0	4.2	75.3	0.0
196	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	5.6	5.2	77.3	0.0
=197	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	5.5	5.5	89.6	0.0
=197	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	5.5	5.8	55.7	0.0
199	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	5.3	5.7	64.4	0.0
200	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	4.6	4.0	29.4	0.0
=201	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	3.9	3.2	4.7	0.0
=201	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	3.9	4.1	0.7	0.0
=201	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	3.9	3.8	0.0	0.0
204	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	3.8	3.3	17.9	0.0
=205	Faroe Islands`FRO`Northern Europe	3.6	3.5	0.4	0.0
=205	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	3.6	3.5	0.0	0.0
=205	Northern Mariana Islands`MNP`Micronesia	3.6	3.7	0.0	0.0
=205	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	3.6	3.5	0.0	0.0
209	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	3.5	3.3	0.0	0.0
210	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	3.3	3.3	0.0	0.0
=211	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	3.1	3.0	0.0	0.0
=211	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	3.1	3.0	0.0	0.0
=213	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	3.0	2.9	0.0	0.0
=213	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	3.0	2.8	0.0	0.0
=215	American Samoa`ASM`Polynesia	2.8	2.6	0.0	0.0
=215	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	2.8	1.7	0.4	0.0
217	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	2.3	-1.8	0.0	0.0
218	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	2.2	2.3	0.0	0.0
219	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	2.1	2.2	0.0	0.0
220	Greenland`GRL`Northern America	2.0	0.9	0.0	0.0

02In 2005

At either end

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

Highest

1Qatar75.8
2Bangladesh65.1
3Kuwait59.0
4Lesotho56.1
5Niger53.6

Lowest

220Greenland2.0
219Cook Islands2.1
218Niue2.2
217French Polynesia2.3
215Marshall Islandsshared2.8

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 16.0. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

PM2.5, geographic mean (µg/m³)
HighestQatar76.4
LowestFrench Polynesia-1.8
Middle country: 14.2
People at or above 5 µg/m³, the WHO guideline (%)
Highest150 share it
Lowest15 share it
Middle country: 100.0
People at or above 35 µg/m³, the WHO's first interim target (%)
Highest3 share it
Lowest129 share it
Middle country: 0.0

032004 → 2005

Since 2004

+0 / −0countries joined / left
211values changed, of 220 in both
130 · 81rose · fell
9unchanged

Rose most

Guatemala18.4 → 26.5+8.1
Sudan34.5 → 41.6+7.1
Egypt45.8 → 52.6+6.8
Kuwait52.4 → 59.0+6.6
El Salvador22.3 → 28.1+5.8

Fell most

United Arab Emirates51.9 → 41.8−10.1
Pakistan51.2 → 41.6−9.6
Burundi37.0 → 27.8−9.2
Rwanda37.2 → 28.4−8.8
Oman37.6 → 30.1−7.5

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

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

165 distinct values among 220
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 4 countries share 16.8. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 220 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

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.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-2005-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
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 (2005). PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2005 [data set], describing 2005. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/pm25-exposure/2005

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2004
220 countries
The year after ›
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2006
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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