Data for 2016

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2016

Name: PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2016
Creator: Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis
License: https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/

Figures for 2016, 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, 2016 covers 220 countries on 4 measures. Qatar is highest, at 82.0; Greenland is lowest, at 1.7. The middle country reads 16.0. Against 2015, 213 values changed (83 up, 130 down), the same countries are covered.

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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure · Data for 2016

HighestQatar

82.0

LowestGreenland

1.7

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

220countries
4measures per country
2016the year it describes
167distinct 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, 2016, 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, 2016: every country, as published by Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis.
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	82.0	94.6	100.0	99.9
2	Niger`NER`Western Africa	64.0	58.1	100.0	99.9
3	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	62.5	57.3	100.0	98.6
4	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	58.4	46.0	100.0	92.1
5	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	56.2	43.5	100.0	79.3
6	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	55.5	52.0	100.0	100.0
7	India`IND`Southern Asia	55.2	44.2	100.0	76.5
=8	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	54.6	60.9	100.0	97.6
=8	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	54.6	35.2	100.0	93.5
10	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	51.6	53.2	100.0	76.2
11	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	47.3	37.3	100.0	93.0
12	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	47.2	47.5	100.0	97.3
13	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	47.0	54.0	100.0	98.5
14	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	46.6	52.7	100.0	87.7
15	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	46.4	29.2	100.0	69.4
16	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	44.7	34.4	100.0	62.0
17	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	44.0	51.3	100.0	62.5
18	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	43.3	41.1	100.0	99.9
19	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	41.3	41.1	100.0	88.1
20	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	39.1	36.1	100.0	65.4
21	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	38.7	41.1	100.0	76.2
22	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	38.3	36.6	100.0	69.1
23	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	37.9	38.0	100.0	62.7
24	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	37.7	39.9	100.0	65.7
25	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	37.2	32.5	100.0	46.9
26	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	36.3	35.4	100.0	48.6
27	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	34.9	28.5	100.0	32.7
28	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	34.7	34.4	100.0	42.4
=29	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	33.7	32.8	100.0	45.8
=29	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	33.7	33.6	100.0	41.0
31	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	33.0	31.2	100.0	19.1
32	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	32.8	31.8	100.0	47.0
33	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	32.4	31.0	100.0	31.3
=34	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	32.0	34.0	100.0	25.2
=34	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	32.0	28.0	100.0	24.4
36	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	31.8	30.3	100.0	22.4
37	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	30.5	18.6	100.0	36.1
38	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	30.4	28.2	100.0	16.6
39	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	30.1	23.4	100.0	28.9
40	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	29.6	28.4	100.0	2.4
41	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	29.2	27.1	100.0	10.7
42	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	29.0	29.3	100.0	14.5
=43	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	28.6	30.2	100.0	15.4
=43	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	28.6	24.5	100.0	7.3
45	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	28.5	26.2	100.0	29.2
46	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	28.4	29.1	100.0	15.4
=47	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	27.8	23.9	100.0	13.9
=47	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	27.8	28.1	100.0	7.9
49	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	27.7	25.0	100.0	0.8
50	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	27.4	21.6	100.0	11.2
51	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	27.0	25.8	100.0	13.7
=52	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	26.4	17.8	100.0	33.9
=52	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	26.4	25.7	100.0	9.7
=54	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	26.1	24.2	100.0	0.9
=54	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	26.1	19.1	100.0	27.4
56	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	26.0	26.8	100.0	6.6
57	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	25.8	23.4	100.0	14.0
58	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	25.6	23.0	100.0	0.7
59	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	24.9	24.2	100.0	0.7
60	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	24.8	21.0	100.0	3.6
61	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	24.7	25.7	100.0	0.1
62	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	24.3	20.9	100.0	6.5
63	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	24.2	24.3	100.0	0.0
64	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	23.8	13.1	100.0	15.3
=65	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	23.1	20.2	100.0	6.3
=65	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	23.1	27.6	100.0	2.6
67	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	22.9	22.7	100.0	0.4
68	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	22.6	19.2	100.0	12.0
69	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	22.5	19.0	100.0	0.1
70	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	22.3	21.5	100.0	1.5
71	Chile`CHL`South America	21.7	17.4	99.9	0.2
=72	Bolivia`BOL`South America	21.5	20.7	100.0	0.0
=72	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	21.5	21.9	99.8	1.4
74	Honduras`HND`Central America	21.3	16.8	100.0	0.0
75	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	21.1	14.7	100.0	16.1
76	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	20.9	20.1	100.0	0.0
77	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	20.8	19.4	100.0	0.0
=78	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	20.3	18.2	100.0	0.0
=78	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	20.3	18.5	100.0	0.4
=80	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	20.2	20.2	100.0	2.0
=80	Venezuela`VEN`South America	20.2	17.1	100.0	0.0
82	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	19.5	19.4	100.0	0.0
83	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	19.4	22.9	100.0	0.2
=84	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	19.0	17.8	100.0	0.1
=84	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	19.0	13.8	100.0	0.0
=86	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	18.8	14.2	100.0	3.7
=86	Peru`PER`South America	18.8	17.7	100.0	7.7
88	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	18.6	14.1	100.0	0.0
89	Ecuador`ECU`South America	18.4	17.4	100.0	0.0
90	Colombia`COL`South America	18.2	18.3	99.9	0.0
91	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	18.1	16.9	100.0	0.0
=92	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	18.0	16.9	100.0	0.0
=92	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	18.0	15.5	100.0	0.0
=92	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	18.0	16.5	100.0	0.0
95	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	17.9	13.1	100.0	4.5
96	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	17.7	12.8	100.0	0.4
=97	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	17.3	16.5	100.0	0.0
=97	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	17.3	16.3	100.0	0.0
=97	Vatican City`VAT`Southern Europe	17.3	17.3	100.0	0.0
=100	Mexico`MEX`Central America	17.1	9.8	99.7	0.0
=100	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	17.1	14.9	100.0	0.0
=100	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	17.1	17.5	100.0	0.0
103	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	17.0	17.8	100.0	0.0
104	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	16.9	16.1	100.0	0.0
105	Panama`PAN`Central America	16.6	15.7	100.0	0.0
106	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	16.5	14.3	100.0	0.0
107	Suriname`SUR`South America	16.4	13.9	100.0	0.0
108	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	16.2	15.0	100.0	0.0
=109	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	16.1	12.1	100.0	0.0
=109	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	16.1	13.3	100.0	0.0
=111	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	15.9	14.8	100.0	0.0
=111	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	15.9	16.6	100.0	0.0
=113	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	15.8	12.6	100.0	0.0
=113	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	15.8	18.0	100.0	0.0
=113	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	15.8	23.7	100.0	2.8
116	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	15.6	14.1	100.0	0.0
117	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	15.5	15.2	100.0	0.0
=118	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	15.2	15.1	100.0	0.0
=118	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	15.2	13.7	100.0	0.0
120	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	14.9	15.2	100.0	0.0
121	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	14.8	13.6	100.0	0.0
122	Paraguay`PRY`South America	14.7	14.9	100.0	0.0
123	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	14.5	28.5	100.0	2.1
=124	Guyana`GUY`South America	14.4	14.5	100.0	0.0
=124	Northern Cyprus`XNC`Western Asia	14.4	14.3	100.0	0.0
126	Brazil`BRA`South America	14.3	16.3	100.0	0.0
127	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	14.2	13.0	100.0	0.0
=128	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	14.1	12.4	100.0	0.2
=128	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	14.1	14.4	100.0	0.1
=130	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	14.0	12.2	100.0	0.0
=130	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	14.0	12.5	100.0	0.0
=130	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	14.0	14.7	100.0	0.0
=133	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	13.9	12.5	100.0	0.0
=133	San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	13.9	13.6	100.0	0.0
=135	Argentina`ARG`South America	13.7	14.4	100.0	0.1
=135	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	13.7	9.1	98.5	0.0
=137	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	13.6	9.7	100.0	0.0
=137	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	13.6	13.5	100.0	0.0
=139	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	13.2	10.8	99.7	0.0
=139	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	13.2	13.5	100.0	0.0
141	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	13.1	12.3	100.0	0.0
142	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	12.9	12.1	100.0	0.0
143	Aruba`ABW`Caribbean	12.8	12.4	100.0	0.0
144	Uruguay`URY`South America	12.5	10.1	100.0	0.0
=145	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	12.3	11.8	100.0	0.0
=145	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	12.3	11.5	100.0	0.0
=145	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	12.3	11.5	99.8	0.0
148	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	12.2	11.7	100.0	0.0
=149	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	12.1	10.9	100.0	0.0
=149	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	12.1	11.2	100.0	0.0
=151	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	12.0	11.3	100.0	0.0
=151	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	12.0	13.6	100.0	0.0
=153	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	11.7	11.4	100.0	0.0
=153	Monaco`MCO`Western Europe	11.7	11.8	100.0	0.0
155	Belize`BLZ`Central America	11.4	11.9	100.0	0.0
156	France`FRA`Western Europe	11.0	9.1	99.9	0.0
=157	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	10.9	10.0	100.0	0.0
=157	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	10.9	9.9	100.0	0.0
=157	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	10.9	11.1	97.0	0.0
160	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	10.8	8.9	96.8	3.0
161	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	10.5	8.2	99.6	0.0
162	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	10.4	8.8	100.0	0.0
163	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	10.2	7.9	99.9	0.0
=164	Gibraltar`GIB`Southern Europe	10.1	10.2	100.0	0.0
=164	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	10.1	8.2	99.9	0.0
166	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	10.0	9.9	100.0	0.0
167	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	9.9	8.8	100.0	0.0
168	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	9.6	9.0	100.0	0.0
=169	Curaçao`CUW`Caribbean	9.5	10.7	100.0	0.0
=169	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	9.5	9.3	100.0	0.0
=169	Liechtenstein`LIE`Western Europe	9.5	9.0	100.0	0.0
=169	Sint Maarten`SXM`Caribbean	9.5	9.3	100.0	0.0
173	Cayman Islands`CYM`Caribbean	9.4	9.2	100.0	0.0
174	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	9.3	9.3	100.0	0.0
175	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	9.2	7.9	96.8	0.0
=176	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	9.1	8.5	100.0	0.0
=176	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	9.1	7.3	89.5	0.0
178	Saint Martin`MAF`Caribbean	8.8	8.7	100.0	0.0
179	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	8.4	8.2	100.0	0.0
180	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	8.3	8.6	100.0	0.0
181	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	8.0	7.4	99.9	0.0
182	Anguilla`AIA`Caribbean	7.9	8.0	100.0	0.0
183	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	7.5	7.3	98.6	0.0
184	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	7.4	6.8	99.5	0.0
185	United States`USA`Northern America	7.3	4.8	92.3	0.0
186	Isle of Man`IMN`Northern Europe	7.0	6.5	100.0	0.0
187	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	6.9	7.0	100.0	0.0
=188	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	6.3	5.7	99.0	0.0
=188	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	6.3	6.1	99.0	0.0
=188	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	6.3	6.0	94.6	0.0
191	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	6.2	6.3	94.7	0.0
=192	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	6.1	5.8	97.0	0.0
=192	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	6.1	6.1	100.0	0.0
194	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	6.0	3.6	80.7	0.0
195	Canada`CAN`Northern America	5.9	3.4	74.6	0.0
196	Andorra`AND`Southern Europe	5.6	5.0	57.0	0.0
197	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	5.5	5.3	71.3	0.0
=198	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	5.4	3.7	49.3	0.0
=198	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	5.4	3.3	59.5	0.0
=200	Bermuda`BMU`Northern America	5.1	5.1	71.0	0.0
=200	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	5.1	4.8	47.7	0.0
=200	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	5.1	5.1	49.8	0.0
203	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	5.0	4.8	43.6	0.0
204	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	4.5	4.3	7.5	0.0
205	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	4.4	4.5	1.0	0.0
206	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	4.3	4.4	4.4	0.0
207	American Samoa`ASM`Polynesia	4.0	3.9	0.0	0.0
208	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	3.9	3.4	8.9	0.0
209	Faroe Islands`FRO`Northern Europe	3.7	3.6	0.0	0.0
=210	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	3.5	3.4	0.0	0.0
=210	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	3.5	3.5	0.0	0.0
=210	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	3.5	3.5	0.0	0.0
213	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	3.4	3.6	0.4	0.0
214	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	3.3	3.3	0.0	0.0
215	Northern Mariana Islands`MNP`Micronesia	3.1	3.0	0.0	0.0
216	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	2.9	2.9	0.0	0.0
217	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	2.8	2.9	0.0	0.0
=218	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	2.7	-1.5	0.0	0.0
=218	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	2.7	1.5	0.0	0.0
220	Greenland`GRL`Northern America	1.7	1.2	0.0	0.0

02In 2016

At either end

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

Highest

1Qatar82.0
2Niger64.0
3Bangladesh62.5
4Pakistan58.4
5Saudi Arabia56.2

Lowest

220Greenland1.7
218French Polynesiashared2.7
218Marshall Islandsshared2.7
217Cook Islands2.8
216Micronesia2.9

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)
HighestQatar94.6
LowestFrench Polynesia-1.5
Middle country: 14.6
People at or above 5 µg/m³, the WHO guideline (%)
Highest169 share it
Lowest12 share it
Middle country: 100.0
People at or above 35 µg/m³, the WHO's first interim target (%)
HighestKuwait100.0
Lowest134 share it
Middle country: 0.0

032015 → 2016

Since 2015

+0 / −0countries joined / left
213values changed, of 220 in both
83 · 130rose · fell
7unchanged

Rose most

Lesotho34.8 → 46.6+11.8
Tajikistan23.2 → 30.5+7.3
Afghanistan29.5 → 36.3+6.8
El Salvador20.0 → 25.6+5.6
Egypt49.3 → 54.6+5.3

Fell most

Singapore30.3 → 15.9−14.4
Sudan44.7 → 34.7−10.0
Niger73.1 → 64.0−9.1
Chad52.4 → 44.0−8.4
Malaysia26.3 → 18.6−7.7

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

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

167 distinct values among 220
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 4 countries share 9.5. 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-2016-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 (2016). PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2016 [data set], describing 2016. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/pm25-exposure/2016

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2015
220 countries
The year after ›
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2017
220 countries
All of them
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure: every year
26 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

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