Data for 2009

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2009

Name: PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2009
Creator: Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis
License: https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/

Figures for 2009, 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, 2009 covers 220 countries on 4 measures. Qatar is highest, at 88.6; Greenland is lowest, at 2.0. The middle country reads 16.4. Against 2008, 216 values changed (123 up, 93 down), the same countries are covered.

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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure · Data for 2009

HighestQatar

88.6

LowestGreenland

2.0

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

220countries
4measures per country
2009the 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, 2009, 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, 2009: every country, as published by Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis.
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	88.6	99.1	100.0	100.0
2	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	69.3	63.0	100.0	97.8
3	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	68.0	64.3	100.0	100.0
4	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	67.6	73.2	100.0	91.2
5	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	61.9	53.7	100.0	79.3
6	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	59.8	61.3	100.0	100.0
7	Niger`NER`Western Africa	53.0	47.2	100.0	98.6
8	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	51.0	34.4	100.0	89.1
9	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	48.5	56.0	100.0	95.6
10	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	47.7	46.1	100.0	97.8
11	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	47.2	28.1	100.0	73.5
12	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	46.8	37.9	100.0	76.3
13	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	46.6	45.2	100.0	97.5
14	India`IND`Southern Asia	46.0	38.3	100.0	61.9
15	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	44.1	41.9	100.0	74.7
16	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	42.2	32.6	100.0	75.5
17	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	40.9	42.8	100.0	51.4
18	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	40.2	29.7	100.0	45.2
19	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	39.6	40.4	100.0	58.1
20	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	37.0	42.3	100.0	32.5
21	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	36.8	30.2	100.0	53.8
22	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	36.2	28.6	100.0	28.4
23	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	35.1	33.8	100.0	45.6
24	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	34.7	39.3	100.0	40.1
25	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	33.9	33.7	100.0	35.9
26	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	33.8	32.9	100.0	39.8
27	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	33.0	29.7	100.0	32.8
28	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	32.3	34.2	100.0	22.3
29	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	31.6	30.7	100.0	16.2
30	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	31.2	33.0	100.0	21.2
31	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	31.1	30.5	100.0	8.0
32	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	30.6	26.9	100.0	25.4
33	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	30.5	27.0	100.0	20.3
=34	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	30.3	28.9	100.0	9.5
=34	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	30.3	26.9	100.0	21.0
36	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	29.2	28.5	100.0	27.8
=37	Bolivia`BOL`South America	27.2	22.2	100.0	9.8
=37	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	27.2	23.4	100.0	4.3
39	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	27.1	23.6	100.0	25.8
40	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	27.0	26.2	100.0	15.0
41	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	26.9	27.9	100.0	2.8
42	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	26.7	25.4	100.0	16.2
=43	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	26.6	21.7	100.0	14.8
=43	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	26.6	23.3	100.0	3.4
45	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	26.5	25.9	100.0	0.4
=46	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	26.3	25.6	100.0	8.8
=46	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	26.3	28.1	100.0	4.4
=48	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	26.1	25.1	100.0	8.9
=48	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	26.1	23.9	100.0	14.6
=50	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	25.9	21.8	100.0	11.5
=50	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	25.9	24.7	100.0	0.0
=50	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	25.9	29.6	100.0	2.5
53	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	25.8	23.1	100.0	13.6
54	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	25.6	25.5	100.0	0.4
55	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	25.5	13.7	100.0	24.1
56	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	25.3	27.8	100.0	9.5
57	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	25.1	23.4	100.0	0.5
58	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	24.9	24.3	100.0	0.8
59	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	24.5	22.9	100.0	0.1
60	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	24.4	29.4	100.0	5.3
61	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	24.1	22.7	100.0	0.2
62	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	24.0	19.7	100.0	2.6
63	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	23.5	24.7	100.0	0.0
64	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	22.8	14.4	100.0	14.1
65	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	22.6	20.1	100.0	0.7
=66	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	22.1	15.2	100.0	12.2
=66	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	22.1	19.5	100.0	0.6
68	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	22.0	21.4	100.0	0.0
=69	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	21.7	19.7	100.0	0.0
=69	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	21.7	19.9	100.0	0.0
=69	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	21.7	20.5	100.0	2.2
72	Honduras`HND`Central America	21.5	17.6	100.0	0.0
73	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	20.9	18.8	99.9	0.3
74	Vatican City`VAT`Southern Europe	20.8	20.8	100.0	0.0
75	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	20.1	19.9	100.0	0.0
76	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	20.0	19.5	100.0	0.0
77	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	19.9	19.2	100.0	0.0
=78	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	19.8	19.4	100.0	0.0
=78	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	19.8	17.8	100.0	0.2
=80	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	19.7	18.0	100.0	0.0
=80	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	19.7	19.1	100.0	0.3
=82	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	19.3	17.0	100.0	0.0
=82	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	19.3	18.0	100.0	0.0
=84	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	19.2	20.1	100.0	0.0
=84	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	19.2	18.5	100.0	0.0
86	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	19.1	22.4	100.0	0.0
87	Peru`PER`South America	19.0	17.4	100.0	1.6
88	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	18.5	16.6	100.0	3.2
89	Chile`CHL`South America	18.4	15.9	99.9	1.3
=90	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	18.2	15.8	100.0	0.0
=90	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	18.2	14.8	99.9	0.0
92	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	18.1	14.4	100.0	0.8
=93	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	18.0	14.3	100.0	0.0
=93	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	18.0	16.9	100.0	0.0
95	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	17.9	16.2	100.0	0.0
=96	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	17.8	15.4	100.0	2.2
=96	Northern Cyprus`XNC`Western Asia	17.8	17.5	100.0	0.0
=98	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	17.6	18.0	100.0	0.0
=98	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	17.6	15.0	100.0	0.0
100	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	17.5	16.9	100.0	0.0
=101	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	17.4	18.0	100.0	0.0
=101	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	17.4	22.9	100.0	0.1
103	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	17.0	15.3	100.0	0.0
=104	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	16.9	15.5	100.0	0.0
=104	Ecuador`ECU`South America	16.9	16.3	100.0	0.3
=104	Venezuela`VEN`South America	16.9	13.8	100.0	0.0
=107	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	16.7	12.6	100.0	2.5
=107	Mexico`MEX`Central America	16.7	10.9	99.9	0.0
=109	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	16.4	15.3	100.0	0.0
=109	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	16.4	16.1	100.0	0.0
=111	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	16.3	15.6	100.0	0.0
=111	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	16.3	13.8	100.0	0.0
113	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	16.2	13.4	100.0	1.3
=114	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	15.8	23.6	100.0	0.5
=114	Argentina`ARG`South America	15.8	14.1	100.0	2.2
=114	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	15.8	14.4	100.0	0.0
=114	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	15.8	13.3	100.0	0.0
118	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	15.7	14.3	100.0	0.0
=119	Colombia`COL`South America	15.6	15.5	100.0	0.0
=119	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	15.6	15.1	100.0	0.0
121	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	15.3	15.2	100.0	0.0
122	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	14.9	11.0	100.0	0.0
123	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	14.8	13.5	100.0	0.0
=124	France`FRA`Western Europe	14.7	12.6	99.9	0.0
=124	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	14.7	13.5	100.0	0.0
=124	Panama`PAN`Central America	14.7	14.5	100.0	0.0
=124	Paraguay`PRY`South America	14.7	16.2	100.0	0.0
=124	San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	14.7	14.3	100.0	0.0
=129	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	14.4	12.3	100.0	0.0
=129	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	14.4	13.3	100.0	0.0
=129	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	14.4	14.5	100.0	0.0
132	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	14.3	13.2	100.0	0.0
133	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	14.2	12.5	100.0	0.0
=134	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	14.0	11.2	100.0	0.0
=134	Gibraltar`GIB`Southern Europe	14.0	14.3	100.0	0.0
136	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	13.9	13.4	100.0	0.0
137	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	13.6	13.1	100.0	0.0
=138	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	13.5	12.9	100.0	0.0
=138	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	13.5	6.7	98.2	0.0
=140	Brazil`BRA`South America	13.4	14.8	100.0	0.0
=140	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	13.4	12.1	100.0	0.2
142	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	13.3	12.2	100.0	0.0
=143	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	13.2	12.5	100.0	0.0
=143	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	13.2	10.7	100.0	0.0
=145	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	13.0	9.4	97.2	2.8
=145	Suriname`SUR`South America	13.0	12.9	100.0	0.0
147	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	12.9	12.3	100.0	0.0
=148	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	12.7	13.5	100.0	0.0
=148	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	12.7	10.5	100.0	0.0
=148	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	12.7	13.4	100.0	0.0
=148	Uruguay`URY`South America	12.7	10.7	100.0	0.0
152	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	12.5	11.8	100.0	0.0
153	Monaco`MCO`Western Europe	12.4	12.3	100.0	0.0
154	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	12.2	14.2	100.0	0.0
=155	Liechtenstein`LIE`Western Europe	12.0	11.6	100.0	0.0
=155	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	12.0	9.6	99.8	0.0
157	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	11.4	9.4	100.0	0.0
158	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	11.2	11.1	100.0	0.0
159	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	11.0	10.8	100.0	0.0
=160	Belize`BLZ`Central America	10.5	11.2	100.0	0.0
=160	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	10.5	10.5	96.9	0.0
162	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	10.3	9.6	100.0	0.0
=163	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	10.2	8.9	99.9	0.0
=163	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	10.2	9.8	100.0	0.0
=165	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	10.1	9.9	100.0	0.0
=165	Guyana`GUY`South America	10.1	11.5	100.0	0.0
=165	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	10.1	8.9	98.6	0.0
168	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	10.0	7.6	83.8	0.0
=169	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	9.8	8.4	99.7	0.0
=169	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	9.8	8.3	98.6	0.0
=171	Cayman Islands`CYM`Caribbean	9.7	8.9	100.0	0.0
=171	Curaçao`CUW`Caribbean	9.7	9.5	100.0	0.0
173	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	9.6	9.1	100.0	0.0
174	United States`USA`Northern America	9.3	6.4	99.0	0.0
175	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	9.2	8.0	100.0	0.0
176	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	9.0	8.5	99.9	0.0
177	Aruba`ABW`Caribbean	8.4	8.1	93.7	0.0
178	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	8.3	8.2	100.0	0.0
179	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	8.0	7.6	100.0	0.0
180	Isle of Man`IMN`Northern Europe	7.8	7.4	100.0	0.0
181	Saint Martin`MAF`Caribbean	7.3	7.1	99.4	0.0
=182	Canada`CAN`Northern America	7.2	3.8	91.0	0.0
=182	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	7.2	7.0	99.8	0.0
184	Sint Maarten`SXM`Caribbean	7.1	6.8	100.0	0.0
185	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	6.9	6.0	96.7	0.0
=186	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	6.8	6.2	99.5	0.0
=186	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	6.8	4.1	86.6	0.0
188	Anguilla`AIA`Caribbean	6.6	6.6	99.1	0.0
=189	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	6.5	5.9	98.0	0.0
=189	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	6.5	6.3	91.2	0.0
=191	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	6.4	4.5	85.6	0.0
=191	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	6.4	3.4	69.2	0.0
=191	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	6.4	6.4	99.9	0.0
194	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	6.3	6.3	99.9	0.0
195	Andorra`AND`Southern Europe	6.1	5.0	60.9	0.0
=196	Bermuda`BMU`Northern America	5.9	5.9	83.8	0.0
=196	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	5.9	5.9	99.5	0.0
=198	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	5.8	5.2	77.3	0.0
=198	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	5.8	5.5	81.2	0.0
200	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	5.4	5.3	70.1	0.0
=201	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	5.0	5.0	56.5	0.0
=201	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	5.0	4.8	49.2	0.0
203	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	4.7	4.7	12.7	0.0
204	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	4.5	4.3	3.2	0.0
=205	Faroe Islands`FRO`Northern Europe	4.4	4.4	3.0	0.0
=205	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	4.4	3.7	22.9	0.0
207	American Samoa`ASM`Polynesia	4.3	3.9	6.6	0.0
208	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	4.2	4.2	3.9	0.0
209	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	4.0	3.4	21.0	0.0
210	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	3.9	3.9	0.2	0.0
211	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	3.5	3.4	0.2	0.0
=212	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	3.4	3.3	0.0	0.0
=212	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	3.4	3.4	0.0	0.0
=212	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	3.4	3.3	0.0	0.0
215	Northern Mariana Islands`MNP`Micronesia	3.2	3.2	0.0	0.0
216	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	2.9	2.9	0.0	0.0
=217	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	2.7	2.6	0.0	0.0
=217	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	2.7	1.6	0.1	0.0
219	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	2.3	-1.8	0.0	0.0
220	Greenland`GRL`Northern America	2.0	1.1	0.0	0.0

02In 2009

At either end

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

Highest

1Qatar88.6
2Bangladesh69.3
3Kuwait68.0
4Lesotho67.6
5Saudi Arabia61.9

Lowest

220Greenland2.0
219French Polynesia2.3
217Marshall Islandsshared2.7
217Cook Islandsshared2.7
216Micronesia2.9

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 16.4. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

PM2.5, geographic mean (µg/m³)
HighestQatar99.1
LowestFrench Polynesia-1.8
Middle country: 14.7
People at or above 5 µg/m³, the WHO guideline (%)
Highest164 share it
Lowest8 share it
Middle country: 100.0
People at or above 35 µg/m³, the WHO's first interim target (%)
Highest3 share it
Lowest138 share it
Middle country: 0.0

032008 → 2009

Since 2008

+0 / −0countries joined / left
216values changed, of 220 in both
123 · 93rose · fell
4unchanged

Rose most

Rwanda31.3 → 47.7+16.4
Burundi30.9 → 46.6+15.7
Bangladesh61.0 → 69.3+8.3
Singapore14.1 → 22.0+7.9
Bolivia19.4 → 27.2+7.8

Fell most

Togo42.7 → 31.1−11.6
Benin42.2 → 32.3−9.9
Ghana36.2 → 26.9−9.3
Nigeria48.8 → 40.9−7.9
Kyrgyzstan22.4 → 16.7−5.7

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 14.7. 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
For a spreadsheet or code
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-2009-nations-inquiry.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 (2009). PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2009 [data set], describing 2009. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/pm25-exposure/2009

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2008
220 countries
The year after ›
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2010
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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