Data for 2017

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2017

Name: PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2017
Creator: Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis
License: https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/

Figures for 2017, 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, 2017 covers 220 countries on 4 measures. Qatar is highest, at 83.2; Greenland is lowest, at 1.8. The middle country reads 15.9. Against 2016, 213 values changed (102 up, 111 down), the same countries are covered.

Download CSV Cite this year

Share this page

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure · Data for 2017

HighestQatar

83.2

LowestGreenland

1.8

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

220countries
4measures per country
2017the year it describes
163distinct 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, 2017, 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.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 220 countries · select a heading to sort

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2017: every country, as published by Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis.
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	83.2	95.1	100.0	100.0
2	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	63.1	57.2	100.0	96.1
3	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	60.6	45.9	100.0	87.4
4	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	57.3	61.8	100.0	100.0
5	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	57.2	62.3	100.0	98.7
6	India`IND`Southern Asia	55.8	46.6	100.0	79.5
7	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	55.3	43.9	100.0	88.5
8	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	54.5	57.6	100.0	92.7
9	Niger`NER`Western Africa	50.3	49.6	100.0	98.6
10	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	48.0	52.4	100.0	98.4
11	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	47.7	35.6	100.0	84.8
12	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	46.6	49.4	100.0	69.2
13	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	45.6	50.2	100.0	84.4
14	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	44.4	33.4	100.0	59.2
15	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	43.8	27.4	100.0	68.8
16	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	43.3	40.9	100.0	96.8
17	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	42.8	43.0	100.0	64.0
18	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	42.6	46.5	100.0	96.1
19	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	42.2	39.3	100.0	66.2
20	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	41.2	32.6	100.0	79.7
21	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	40.4	39.8	100.0	92.5
22	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	39.1	38.5	100.0	78.8
23	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	38.8	38.8	100.0	73.8
24	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	36.6	37.1	100.0	62.1
25	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	36.5	38.8	100.0	50.5
26	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	36.1	33.7	100.0	35.7
27	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	35.7	27.5	100.0	36.2
28	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	35.2	33.5	100.0	60.1
29	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	34.4	32.5	100.0	42.7
30	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	33.5	34.1	100.0	34.6
31	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	33.3	31.1	100.0	29.9
32	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	33.1	33.7	100.0	39.2
=33	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	31.7	31.6	100.0	50.6
=33	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	31.7	23.9	100.0	33.4
=35	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	31.1	30.4	100.0	30.5
=35	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	31.1	31.0	100.0	23.8
37	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	30.5	17.2	100.0	41.3
38	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	30.3	27.0	100.0	21.6
=39	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	29.9	27.5	100.0	16.9
=39	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	29.9	30.8	100.0	21.0
41	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	29.6	23.8	100.0	18.3
42	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	29.5	28.2	100.0	6.9
43	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	29.2	28.1	100.0	12.1
44	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	28.9	23.4	100.0	22.2
45	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	28.3	21.0	99.9	30.6
46	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	28.0	24.7	100.0	27.8
47	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	27.6	26.3	100.0	18.1
=48	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	27.3	26.0	100.0	11.0
=48	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	27.3	27.6	100.0	5.6
50	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	27.1	30.3	100.0	19.1
51	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	27.0	28.6	100.0	0.5
52	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	25.7	22.7	100.0	4.3
53	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	25.5	13.9	100.0	16.4
=54	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	25.3	21.6	100.0	6.2
=54	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	25.3	24.5	100.0	0.0
=56	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	24.8	21.0	100.0	7.4
=56	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	24.8	21.9	100.0	6.6
58	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	24.4	25.9	100.0	1.5
59	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	24.2	24.2	100.0	0.0
60	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	24.1	22.7	100.0	0.0
61	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	23.9	19.0	100.0	2.6
62	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	23.7	23.0	100.0	0.3
63	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	23.4	19.6	100.0	2.0
64	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	22.9	21.7	100.0	2.3
65	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	22.1	21.6	100.0	0.0
66	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	22.0	22.2	100.0	0.0
67	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	21.5	18.6	100.0	10.5
68	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	21.4	13.0	99.8	17.2
69	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	21.0	18.6	100.0	1.0
=70	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	20.9	20.0	100.0	0.0
=70	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	20.9	13.9	100.0	0.0
72	Honduras`HND`Central America	20.7	16.7	100.0	0.2
73	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	20.6	19.5	100.0	0.0
74	Bolivia`BOL`South America	20.5	19.7	100.0	0.9
75	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	20.4	18.0	100.0	0.0
76	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	20.2	20.6	99.7	0.0
=77	Chile`CHL`South America	19.6	15.3	99.9	0.2
=77	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	19.6	22.2	100.0	0.1
79	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	19.5	13.9	100.0	1.3
80	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	19.4	18.4	100.0	0.0
81	Venezuela`VEN`South America	19.2	16.1	100.0	0.0
82	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	19.1	17.3	100.0	0.0
83	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	19.0	17.0	100.0	0.0
84	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	18.9	18.3	100.0	0.0
=85	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	18.8	17.5	100.0	0.0
=85	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	18.8	16.4	100.0	0.0
=85	Peru`PER`South America	18.8	16.7	100.0	6.1
=85	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	18.8	13.9	100.0	2.1
89	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	18.6	18.6	100.0	0.0
90	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	18.4	26.3	100.0	0.4
=91	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	18.0	17.2	100.0	0.0
=91	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	18.0	13.3	100.0	8.1
=93	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	17.4	16.9	100.0	0.0
=93	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	17.4	16.9	100.0	0.4
=95	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	17.3	16.2	100.0	0.0
=95	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	17.3	17.1	100.0	0.0
=97	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	17.2	15.9	100.0	0.0
=97	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	17.2	18.4	100.0	0.0
=97	Ecuador`ECU`South America	17.2	15.3	99.9	0.0
=97	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	17.2	14.4	100.0	0.0
=97	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	17.2	15.2	100.0	0.0
102	Vatican City`VAT`Southern Europe	17.1	17.1	100.0	0.0
103	Mexico`MEX`Central America	17.0	9.7	99.8	0.0
104	Colombia`COL`South America	16.8	16.6	100.0	0.0
105	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	16.6	12.9	100.0	0.0
106	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	16.5	12.8	100.0	0.0
107	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	16.4	15.0	100.0	0.0
108	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	16.3	12.2	100.0	0.0
109	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	16.2	15.9	100.0	0.0
110	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	16.0	13.6	100.0	0.0
=111	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	15.8	16.8	100.0	0.0
=111	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	15.8	13.6	100.0	0.0
=113	Northern Cyprus`XNC`Western Asia	15.7	15.5	100.0	0.0
=113	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	15.7	16.7	100.0	0.0
=113	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	15.7	13.3	100.0	0.1
116	Panama`PAN`Central America	15.3	14.4	100.0	0.0
117	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	15.2	13.8	100.0	0.0
=118	Suriname`SUR`South America	14.8	14.6	100.0	0.0
=118	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	14.8	13.7	100.0	0.0
=120	Argentina`ARG`South America	14.5	13.5	100.0	1.2
=120	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	14.5	12.8	100.0	0.0
122	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	14.4	14.2	100.0	0.1
123	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	14.1	26.8	100.0	1.0
=124	Guyana`GUY`South America	14.0	14.2	100.0	0.0
=124	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	14.0	13.5	100.0	0.0
=126	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	13.8	12.6	100.0	0.3
=126	Paraguay`PRY`South America	13.8	15.1	100.0	0.0
=128	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	13.7	13.9	100.0	0.0
=128	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	13.7	12.5	100.0	0.0
=130	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	13.4	12.3	100.0	0.0
=130	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	13.4	11.8	100.0	0.0
=130	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	13.4	13.2	100.0	0.0
=133	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	13.3	15.3	100.0	0.1
=133	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	13.3	15.9	100.0	0.0
135	Brazil`BRA`South America	13.1	16.5	99.9	0.0
=136	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	13.0	12.1	100.0	0.0
=136	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	13.0	9.9	100.0	0.0
=136	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	13.0	7.4	97.6	0.0
=136	San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	13.0	12.6	100.0	0.0
140	Belize`BLZ`Central America	12.9	13.5	100.0	0.0
141	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	12.8	11.9	99.9	0.0
142	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	12.7	14.3	100.0	0.0
=143	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	12.5	12.3	100.0	0.0
=143	Uruguay`URY`South America	12.5	9.7	100.0	0.0
=143	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	12.5	11.9	100.0	0.0
146	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	12.1	9.9	99.9	0.0
=147	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	12.0	11.7	100.0	0.0
=147	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	12.0	11.6	100.0	0.0
=149	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	11.6	10.5	100.0	0.0
=149	Curaçao`CUW`Caribbean	11.6	11.4	100.0	0.0
151	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	11.5	9.6	96.2	3.6
=152	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	11.3	10.5	100.0	0.0
=152	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	11.3	11.2	100.0	0.0
=152	Monaco`MCO`Western Europe	11.3	11.2	100.0	0.0
155	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	11.2	9.7	99.8	0.0
156	Aruba`ABW`Caribbean	11.0	11.2	100.0	0.0
157	Cayman Islands`CYM`Caribbean	10.8	9.6	100.0	0.0
=158	Sint Maarten`SXM`Caribbean	10.6	10.3	100.0	0.0
=158	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	10.6	9.9	100.0	0.0
=160	Gibraltar`GIB`Southern Europe	10.5	10.9	100.0	0.0
=160	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	10.5	9.5	100.0	0.0
162	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	10.4	8.5	99.9	0.0
=163	France`FRA`Western Europe	10.3	8.5	99.8	0.0
=163	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	10.3	9.3	100.0	0.0
=163	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	10.3	10.2	97.8	0.0
=163	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	10.3	10.0	100.0	0.0
167	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	10.0	8.4	98.4	0.0
168	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	9.9	8.9	100.0	0.0
=169	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	9.8	9.5	100.0	0.0
=169	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	9.8	7.5	99.6	0.0
171	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	9.7	7.9	99.3	0.0
172	Saint Martin`MAF`Caribbean	9.6	9.5	100.0	0.0
173	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	9.5	8.4	100.0	0.0
174	Liechtenstein`LIE`Western Europe	9.4	9.1	100.0	0.0
175	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	9.0	7.3	100.0	0.0
=176	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	8.9	8.2	99.9	0.0
=176	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	8.9	8.6	100.0	0.0
178	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	8.7	6.3	85.2	0.0
179	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	8.6	8.1	100.0	0.0
=180	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	8.5	8.1	99.6	0.0
=180	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	8.5	8.2	100.0	0.0
182	Anguilla`AIA`Caribbean	8.1	8.2	100.0	0.0
183	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	8.0	7.5	100.0	0.0
184	United States`USA`Northern America	7.9	5.6	98.2	0.0
185	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	7.6	7.0	99.4	0.0
186	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	7.2	6.3	96.9	0.0
187	Canada`CAN`Northern America	7.0	5.0	93.0	0.0
188	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	6.8	6.5	98.6	0.0
189	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	6.6	6.4	99.3	0.0
190	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	6.3	6.1	99.9	0.0
=191	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	6.2	6.4	90.3	0.0
=191	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	6.2	5.7	92.6	0.0
=191	Isle of Man`IMN`Northern Europe	6.2	5.9	92.8	0.0
=194	Andorra`AND`Southern Europe	6.0	5.3	65.8	0.0
=194	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	6.0	6.0	100.0	0.0
196	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	5.5	5.6	73.8	0.0
=197	Bermuda`BMU`Northern America	5.4	5.4	76.9	0.0
=197	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	5.4	3.6	54.3	0.0
199	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	5.3	3.5	56.8	0.0
=200	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	5.2	4.7	60.1	0.0
=200	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	5.2	4.8	56.1	0.0
202	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	4.9	5.0	19.2	0.0
203	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	4.8	4.5	28.4	0.0
204	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	4.6	3.4	31.3	0.0
=205	American Samoa`ASM`Polynesia	4.5	4.1	8.5	0.0
=205	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	4.5	3.6	26.9	0.0
=207	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	4.0	4.4	7.4	0.0
=207	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	4.0	4.0	0.3	0.0
209	Faroe Islands`FRO`Northern Europe	3.9	3.8	0.1	0.0
=210	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	3.4	3.5	0.0	0.0
=210	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	3.4	3.5	0.0	0.0
212	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	3.3	3.2	0.0	0.0
=213	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	3.0	1.8	0.1	0.0
=213	Northern Mariana Islands`MNP`Micronesia	3.0	3.2	0.0	0.0
=215	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	2.9	3.0	0.0	0.0
=215	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	2.9	2.9	0.0	0.0
=217	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	2.7	2.6	0.0	0.0
=217	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	2.7	2.9	0.4	0.0
219	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	2.5	-1.6	0.0	0.0
220	Greenland`GRL`Northern America	1.8	1.6	0.0	0.0

02In 2017

At either end

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

Highest

1Qatar83.2
2Bangladesh63.1
3Saudi Arabia60.6
4Kuwait57.3
5Bahrain57.2

Lowest

220Greenland1.8
219French Polynesia2.5
217Kiribatishared2.7
217Cook Islandsshared2.7
215Naurushared2.9

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 15.9. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

PM2.5, geographic mean (µg/m³)
HighestQatar95.1
LowestFrench Polynesia-1.6
Middle country: 14.3
People at or above 5 µg/m³, the WHO guideline (%)
Highest163 share it
Lowest9 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

032016 → 2017

Since 2016

+0 / −0countries joined / left
213values changed, of 220 in both
102 · 111rose · fell
7unchanged

Rose most

Sudan34.7 → 42.8+8.1
Lesotho46.6 → 54.5+7.9
Senegal37.9 → 43.3+5.4
Guinea-Bissau30.4 → 35.2+4.8
Saudi Arabia56.2 → 60.6+4.4

Fell most

Niger64.0 → 50.3−13.7
Burkina Faso43.3 → 36.1−7.2
Egypt54.6 → 47.7−6.9
São Tomé and Príncipe20.8 → 14.0−6.8
Nepal47.3 → 41.2−6.1

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

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

163 distinct values among 220
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 5 countries share 17.2. 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-2017-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 (2017). PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2017 [data set], describing 2017. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/pm25-exposure/2017

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2016
220 countries
The year after ›
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2018
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

This edition

The same ranking, cut differently

Behind the number

Browse

By continent

Much-read profiles

Every subject

The numbers

Reading the data