Data for 2018

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2018

Name: PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2018
Creator: Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis
License: https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/

Figures for 2018, 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, 2018 covers 220 countries on 4 measures. Qatar is highest, at 88.3; Greenland is lowest, at 1.7. The middle country reads 15.3. Against 2017, 212 values changed (104 up, 108 down), the same countries are covered.

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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure · Data for 2018

HighestQatar

88.3

LowestGreenland

1.7

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

220countries
4measures per country
2018the year it describes
173distinct 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, 2018, 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, 2018: every country, as published by Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis.
derived
1	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	88.3	88.8	100.0	100.0
2	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	71.6	65.6	100.0	99.0
3	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	62.2	67.6	100.0	99.2
4	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	59.4	57.1	100.0	100.0
5	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	59.1	49.4	100.0	91.7
6	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	58.0	45.5	100.0	89.4
7	India`IND`Southern Asia	56.6	46.0	100.0	84.1
8	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	56.4	58.2	100.0	99.8
9	Niger`NER`Western Africa	54.9	52.5	100.0	99.6
10	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	47.4	47.6	100.0	97.9
11	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	47.2	35.8	100.0	89.8
12	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	46.3	49.2	100.0	71.1
13	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	45.2	49.6	100.0	98.7
14	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	45.0	50.4	100.0	74.6
15	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	44.5	38.4	100.0	60.4
16	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	40.5	40.0	100.0	72.9
17	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	39.7	41.4	100.0	74.8
18	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	38.4	25.7	100.0	53.1
19	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	38.2	36.5	100.0	55.3
20	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	37.2	43.8	100.0	60.7
21	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	36.5	35.0	100.0	61.0
22	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	36.1	35.9	100.0	55.3
23	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	36.0	38.8	100.0	53.1
24	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	35.9	35.1	100.0	68.1
25	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	35.7	37.6	100.0	42.2
26	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	35.6	30.0	100.0	44.2
27	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	35.5	36.5	100.0	60.1
28	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	35.3	35.7	100.0	45.9
29	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	35.1	33.0	100.0	51.8
30	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	34.8	35.5	100.0	56.5
31	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	33.1	31.9	100.0	22.6
32	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	33.0	32.2	100.0	37.5
33	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	32.3	30.9	100.0	28.8
34	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	32.1	30.8	100.0	19.5
35	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	32.0	34.5	100.0	28.1
36	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	31.8	33.5	100.0	29.9
37	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	31.6	23.6	100.0	35.7
38	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	31.5	34.0	100.0	21.5
39	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	31.4	27.4	100.0	22.5
40	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	31.1	30.3	100.0	14.4
41	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	30.9	33.5	100.0	25.5
42	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	30.3	17.8	100.0	34.7
43	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	29.2	27.1	100.0	12.4
44	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	28.5	26.1	100.0	11.6
45	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	28.4	27.9	100.0	1.5
46	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	28.2	21.9	100.0	18.4
47	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	27.7	27.9	100.0	3.9
48	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	27.5	23.9	100.0	6.8
49	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	27.3	24.0	100.0	8.9
50	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	27.1	28.9	100.0	0.8
51	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	26.2	27.1	100.0	15.1
52	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	25.8	27.1	100.0	5.1
=53	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	25.7	16.0	100.0	21.6
=53	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	25.7	23.4	100.0	14.0
55	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	25.4	24.9	100.0	0.0
56	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	25.3	24.2	100.0	0.0
=57	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	25.1	23.6	100.0	0.0
=57	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	25.1	26.3	100.0	0.2
59	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	25.0	24.3	100.0	0.0
60	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	24.1	17.6	100.0	14.5
61	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	23.9	23.7	100.0	0.0
62	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	23.8	16.9	100.0	26.1
63	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	23.7	20.4	100.0	0.0
64	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	23.5	25.9	100.0	0.0
65	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	23.1	19.9	100.0	0.7
66	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	22.1	22.9	100.0	0.1
67	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	22.0	29.3	100.0	1.5
68	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	21.9	16.5	100.0	0.0
69	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	21.4	12.9	100.0	14.4
=70	Bolivia`BOL`South America	21.3	19.1	100.0	0.4
=70	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	21.3	16.1	100.0	10.8
=72	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	21.1	23.6	100.0	0.0
=72	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	21.1	19.8	100.0	0.0
74	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	21.0	18.1	100.0	1.1
=75	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	20.6	18.3	100.0	0.0
=75	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	20.6	19.8	100.0	0.0
77	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	20.2	16.1	100.0	0.0
78	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	19.9	17.6	100.0	3.9
=79	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	19.5	18.9	100.0	0.0
=79	Peru`PER`South America	19.5	17.8	100.0	0.3
81	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	19.4	19.0	100.0	0.0
82	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	19.3	17.3	100.0	0.0
83	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	19.0	16.8	100.0	0.0
=84	Chile`CHL`South America	18.7	16.1	99.9	0.2
=84	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	18.7	13.7	100.0	0.0
86	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	18.2	17.4	100.0	0.0
=87	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	18.0	16.8	100.0	0.0
=87	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	18.0	12.6	100.0	7.7
89	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	17.6	15.9	100.0	0.0
90	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	17.5	16.7	100.0	0.0
91	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	17.2	17.1	100.0	0.0
92	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	17.0	14.7	100.0	0.0
93	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	16.8	13.0	100.0	0.2
94	Venezuela`VEN`South America	16.6	14.2	100.0	0.0
95	Honduras`HND`Central America	16.5	13.6	100.0	0.0
96	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	16.4	15.7	100.0	0.0
=97	Northern Cyprus`XNC`Western Asia	16.3	16.3	100.0	0.0
=97	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	16.3	15.2	100.0	0.0
99	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	16.2	16.7	100.0	0.0
100	Colombia`COL`South America	16.1	16.9	100.0	0.0
101	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	15.9	13.7	100.0	0.0
=102	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	15.8	14.7	100.0	0.0
=102	Mexico`MEX`Central America	15.8	9.3	99.8	0.0
=104	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	15.7	14.0	100.0	0.0
=104	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	15.7	13.7	100.0	0.0
106	Ecuador`ECU`South America	15.6	15.1	99.9	0.0
=107	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	15.4	12.7	100.0	0.0
=107	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	15.4	13.8	100.0	0.0
=107	Vatican City`VAT`Southern Europe	15.4	15.4	100.0	0.0
=110	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	15.3	13.2	100.0	0.4
=110	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	15.3	18.1	100.0	2.0
112	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	14.9	14.7	100.0	0.0
113	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	14.8	13.5	100.0	0.0
114	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	14.7	14.3	100.0	0.0
115	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	14.5	11.9	100.0	0.0
116	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	14.3	13.1	100.0	0.0
=117	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	14.2	19.0	99.9	0.1
=117	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	14.2	13.0	100.0	0.0
=119	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	14.1	11.1	100.0	0.0
=119	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	14.1	14.9	100.0	0.0
=119	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	14.1	12.0	100.0	0.0
122	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	14.0	10.2	100.0	0.0
123	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	13.9	11.8	100.0	0.0
124	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	13.8	11.3	100.0	0.0
125	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	13.7	13.1	100.0	0.0
126	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	13.5	12.8	100.0	0.0
127	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	13.3	15.9	100.0	0.1
=128	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	13.1	30.7	100.0	1.5
=128	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	13.1	11.9	100.0	0.0
=128	Brazil`BRA`South America	13.1	14.9	100.0	0.0
=128	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	13.1	12.6	100.0	0.0
132	Panama`PAN`Central America	13.0	12.3	100.0	0.0
133	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	12.8	14.1	100.0	0.0
=134	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	12.7	11.5	100.0	0.0
=134	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	12.7	12.5	100.0	0.0
=134	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	12.7	7.5	97.4	0.0
=134	San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	12.7	12.5	100.0	0.0
138	Suriname`SUR`South America	12.6	12.1	100.0	0.0
139	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	12.5	10.5	100.0	0.0
140	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	12.4	13.5	100.0	0.0
141	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	12.3	11.9	100.0	0.0
=142	Argentina`ARG`South America	12.2	13.4	100.0	0.0
=142	Curaçao`CUW`Caribbean	12.2	10.1	100.0	0.0
144	Paraguay`PRY`South America	12.1	12.4	100.0	0.0
145	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	12.0	11.7	100.0	0.0
=146	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	11.9	10.7	100.0	0.0
=146	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	11.9	11.0	100.0	0.0
148	Uruguay`URY`South America	11.7	8.7	100.0	0.0
=149	Gibraltar`GIB`Southern Europe	11.6	11.7	100.0	0.0
=149	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	11.6	10.8	100.0	0.0
=149	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	11.6	11.2	99.8	0.0
=152	Monaco`MCO`Western Europe	11.1	11.1	100.0	0.0
=152	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	11.1	10.6	100.0	0.0
=154	Aruba`ABW`Caribbean	11.0	10.4	100.0	0.0
=154	Belize`BLZ`Central America	11.0	11.3	100.0	0.0
=154	Guyana`GUY`South America	11.0	12.1	100.0	0.0
=154	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	11.0	9.9	100.0	0.0
158	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	10.7	8.7	100.0	0.0
159	Cayman Islands`CYM`Caribbean	10.5	9.9	100.0	0.0
160	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	10.3	9.2	100.0	0.0
161	France`FRA`Western Europe	10.2	8.4	99.9	0.0
=162	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	10.1	9.0	100.0	0.0
=162	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	10.1	7.3	89.1	0.0
=164	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	10.0	10.1	100.0	0.0
=164	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	10.0	7.9	100.0	0.0
=166	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	9.9	9.2	100.0	0.0
=166	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	9.9	9.1	100.0	0.0
168	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	9.8	7.6	99.9	0.0
169	Liechtenstein`LIE`Western Europe	9.5	9.2	100.0	0.0
170	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	9.3	8.0	98.1	0.0
171	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	9.0	8.5	96.7	0.0
172	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	8.7	8.7	100.0	0.0
173	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	8.4	8.3	99.7	0.0
174	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	8.3	7.8	100.0	0.0
175	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	8.2	8.1	100.0	0.0
176	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	8.1	7.3	100.0	0.0
=177	United States`USA`Northern America	8.0	5.6	98.4	0.0
=177	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	8.0	7.7	100.0	0.0
=179	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	7.8	7.6	99.5	0.0
=179	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	7.8	7.7	100.0	0.0
=179	Sint Maarten`SXM`Caribbean	7.8	7.7	100.0	0.0
182	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	7.7	7.0	100.0	0.0
183	Isle of Man`IMN`Northern Europe	7.3	6.9	100.0	0.0
=184	Anguilla`AIA`Caribbean	7.2	7.3	100.0	0.0
=184	Canada`CAN`Northern America	7.2	4.1	91.2	0.0
186	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	7.1	6.9	99.4	0.0
=187	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	7.0	6.8	99.7	0.0
=187	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	7.0	4.1	88.4	0.0
=189	Andorra`AND`Southern Europe	6.8	6.2	98.0	0.0
=189	Saint Martin`MAF`Caribbean	6.8	6.7	100.0	0.0
191	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	6.5	7.4	100.0	0.0
192	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	6.4	6.4	96.8	0.0
=193	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	6.2	6.5	100.0	0.0
=193	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	6.2	5.7	94.8	0.0
=195	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	6.1	4.1	65.6	0.0
=195	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	6.1	5.5	96.5	0.0
197	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	5.9	6.0	100.0	0.0
=198	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	5.5	5.2	86.7	0.0
=198	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	5.5	5.7	73.5	0.0
200	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	5.4	3.4	60.9	0.0
201	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	5.2	5.1	72.9	0.0
202	Bermuda`BMU`Northern America	4.9	4.8	53.3	0.0
203	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	4.8	4.7	32.4	0.0
204	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	4.3	4.4	5.3	0.0
=205	Faroe Islands`FRO`Northern Europe	4.2	4.1	0.0	0.0
=205	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	4.2	4.0	1.2	0.0
207	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	4.0	4.0	0.0	0.0
=208	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	3.8	2.9	9.2	0.0
=208	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	3.8	3.7	0.0	0.0
=210	American Samoa`ASM`Polynesia	3.4	3.1	0.0	0.0
=210	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	3.4	3.3	0.0	0.0
212	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	3.3	3.3	0.0	0.0
213	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	3.2	3.4	0.0	0.0
214	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	3.1	2.0	0.1	0.0
=215	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	3.0	2.9	0.4	0.0
=215	Northern Mariana Islands`MNP`Micronesia	3.0	3.0	0.0	0.0
217	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	2.9	2.9	0.0	0.0
218	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	2.5	2.5	0.0	0.0
219	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	2.4	-1.7	0.0	0.0
220	Greenland`GRL`Northern America	1.7	0.8	0.0	0.0

02In 2018

At either end

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

Highest

1Qatar88.3
2Bangladesh71.6
3Bahrain62.2
4Kuwait59.4
5Pakistan59.1

Lowest

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 15.3. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

PM2.5, geographic mean (µg/m³)
HighestQatar88.8
LowestFrench Polynesia-1.7
Middle country: 13.7
People at or above 5 µg/m³, the WHO guideline (%)
Highest174 share it
Lowest12 share it
Middle country: 100.0
People at or above 35 µg/m³, the WHO's first interim target (%)
Highest2 share it
Lowest146 share it
Middle country: 0.0

032017 → 2018

Since 2017

+0 / −0countries joined / left
212values changed, of 220 in both
104 · 108rose · fell
8unchanged

Rose most

Oman38.8 → 47.4+8.6
Bangladesh63.1 → 71.6+8.5
United Arab Emirates48.0 → 56.4+8.4
Liberia18.8 → 25.1+6.3
Nepal41.2 → 47.2+6.0

Fell most

Lesotho54.5 → 32.0−22.5
Egypt47.7 → 36.5−11.2
Gambia40.4 → 34.8−5.6
El Salvador24.8 → 19.3−5.5
Barbados17.4 → 12.0−5.4

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

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

173 distinct values among 220
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 4 countries share 13.1. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 220 countries has every column.

05The files

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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-2018-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 (2018). PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2018 [data set], describing 2018. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/pm25-exposure/2018

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2017
220 countries
The year after ›
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2019
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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