Data for 2019

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2019

Name: PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2019
Creator: Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis
License: https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/

Figures for 2019, 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, 2019 covers 220 countries on 4 measures. Bangladesh is highest, at 77.1; Greenland is lowest, at 2.4. The middle country reads 14.9. Against 2018, 216 values changed (91 up, 125 down), the same countries are covered.

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PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure · Data for 2019

HighestBangladesh

77.1

LowestGreenland

2.4

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

220countries
4measures per country
2019the year it describes
168distinct 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, 2019, 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, 2019: every country, as published by Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis.
derived
1	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	77.1	68.5	100.0	97.5
2	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	72.0	72.4	100.0	99.8
3	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	59.1	65.9	100.0	89.7
4	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	57.3	42.9	100.0	78.2
5	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	56.6	55.6	100.0	100.0
6	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	51.8	58.7	100.0	97.3
7	India`IND`Southern Asia	51.4	42.7	100.0	77.8
8	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	50.5	33.3	100.0	91.7
9	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	46.4	37.8	100.0	77.0
10	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	46.0	54.8	100.0	98.1
11	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	44.2	33.4	100.0	83.9
12	Niger`NER`Western Africa	42.7	39.9	100.0	66.0
13	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	41.2	41.4	100.0	51.3
14	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	38.2	37.7	100.0	44.9
15	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	37.7	24.6	100.0	51.8
16	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	37.0	32.9	100.0	46.9
17	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	36.5	39.6	100.0	42.7
18	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	36.3	33.0	100.0	46.1
19	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	35.2	26.8	100.0	31.8
20	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	34.7	36.2	100.0	43.2
21	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	34.3	30.9	100.0	46.3
22	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	34.2	33.8	100.0	66.2
23	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	32.8	32.1	100.0	37.0
=24	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	32.7	29.9	100.0	24.0
=24	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	32.7	29.1	100.0	30.4
26	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	32.6	30.4	100.0	33.4
27	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	32.5	31.3	100.0	26.8
28	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	31.8	29.1	100.0	30.9
29	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	31.4	26.6	100.0	26.8
30	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	30.8	27.3	100.0	18.9
31	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	30.7	25.7	100.0	29.0
32	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	30.4	21.5	100.0	36.2
33	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	30.3	29.2	100.0	10.7
34	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	30.0	26.7	100.0	20.4
35	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	29.8	29.8	100.0	27.3
36	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	29.6	28.6	100.0	19.4
=37	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	29.2	29.3	100.0	7.3
=37	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	29.2	16.9	99.7	30.7
39	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	28.8	19.5	100.0	41.2
40	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	27.9	30.2	100.0	12.2
41	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	27.7	24.3	99.7	28.2
42	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	27.4	26.7	100.0	0.3
43	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	27.2	22.9	100.0	6.7
44	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	26.9	25.5	100.0	12.3
=45	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	26.3	23.5	100.0	8.3
=45	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	26.3	16.1	100.0	17.1
=45	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	26.3	22.8	100.0	13.3
48	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	26.2	24.0	100.0	8.4
49	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	25.7	24.7	100.0	0.7
50	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	25.5	20.1	100.0	12.3
51	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	25.2	25.7	100.0	4.0
52	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	24.9	21.7	100.0	0.7
=53	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	24.6	23.1	100.0	0.7
=53	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	24.6	21.5	100.0	8.0
=55	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	24.3	21.6	100.0	10.3
=55	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	24.3	21.8	100.0	0.0
57	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	23.7	24.3	100.0	0.7
=58	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	23.3	23.5	100.0	0.9
=58	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	23.3	22.5	100.0	0.0
=60	Bolivia`BOL`South America	23.0	21.0	100.0	0.8
=60	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	23.0	23.5	100.0	4.8
62	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	22.7	20.7	100.0	0.0
63	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	22.2	23.9	100.0	2.9
64	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	22.0	18.7	100.0	0.3
65	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	21.9	22.4	100.0	0.1
66	Honduras`HND`Central America	21.8	16.7	100.0	1.2
=67	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	21.6	24.7	100.0	0.3
=67	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	21.6	23.5	100.0	0.0
69	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	21.3	21.3	100.0	0.3
70	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	21.1	18.4	100.0	7.2
71	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	20.9	15.0	100.0	6.7
72	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	20.7	15.1	100.0	2.3
73	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	20.6	20.6	100.0	0.0
74	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	20.5	14.7	99.2	4.2
75	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	20.3	17.6	100.0	6.4
76	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	20.1	17.2	100.0	1.9
77	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	19.7	19.0	100.0	0.0
78	Ecuador`ECU`South America	19.5	18.2	99.9	0.0
79	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	19.3	25.7	100.0	1.7
80	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	19.2	14.8	100.0	5.2
81	Peru`PER`South America	18.6	17.5	99.4	2.7
=82	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	18.5	16.2	100.0	0.1
=82	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	18.5	16.4	100.0	0.0
=82	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	18.5	17.5	100.0	0.0
=82	Venezuela`VEN`South America	18.5	15.8	100.0	0.0
86	Colombia`COL`South America	18.4	18.5	100.0	0.0
=87	Chile`CHL`South America	18.3	16.0	99.9	0.1
=87	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	18.3	13.3	99.6	8.2
89	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	18.1	16.4	100.0	0.0
90	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	18.0	15.8	100.0	0.0
91	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	17.7	16.7	100.0	0.0
92	Mexico`MEX`Central America	17.4	9.9	99.4	0.0
=93	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	17.2	16.3	100.0	0.0
=93	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	17.2	15.2	100.0	0.0
95	Panama`PAN`Central America	16.5	16.7	100.0	0.0
96	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	16.3	16.4	100.0	0.0
=97	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	16.1	11.7	100.0	0.0
=97	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	16.1	14.7	100.0	0.0
=99	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	16.0	14.9	100.0	0.0
=99	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	16.0	17.2	100.0	0.0
=99	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	16.0	15.5	100.0	0.0
=102	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	15.7	13.6	99.7	0.0
=102	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	15.7	13.2	99.9	0.0
=104	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	15.4	13.2	100.0	0.8
=104	Paraguay`PRY`South America	15.4	16.3	100.0	0.0
=104	Suriname`SUR`South America	15.4	14.7	100.0	0.0
107	Vatican City`VAT`Southern Europe	15.2	15.2	100.0	0.0
108	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	15.0	13.0	100.0	0.0
=109	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	14.9	16.0	100.0	0.0
=109	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	14.9	14.8	100.0	0.0
111	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	14.8	13.9	100.0	0.0
112	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	14.6	14.0	100.0	0.0
113	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	14.5	15.2	100.0	0.0
=114	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	14.4	11.4	99.9	0.0
=114	Northern Cyprus`XNC`Western Asia	14.4	14.4	100.0	0.0
116	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	14.3	14.8	100.0	0.2
=117	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	14.1	15.4	100.0	0.0
=117	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	14.1	13.3	100.0	0.0
119	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	14.0	13.2	100.0	0.0
=120	Argentina`ARG`South America	13.9	13.2	100.0	0.2
=120	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	13.9	12.8	100.0	0.0
=122	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	13.7	13.4	100.0	0.0
=122	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	13.7	12.7	100.0	0.0
124	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	13.6	12.5	100.0	0.0
125	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	13.5	13.3	100.0	0.0
=126	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	13.4	12.0	100.0	0.0
=126	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	13.4	15.1	100.0	0.0
=128	Brazil`BRA`South America	13.3	16.2	99.8	0.0
=128	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	13.3	11.4	100.0	0.0
=128	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	13.3	11.3	100.0	0.0
131	Guyana`GUY`South America	13.2	14.2	100.0	0.0
132	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	13.1	11.1	98.6	0.0
=133	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	13.0	19.8	100.0	0.1
=133	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	13.0	13.4	100.0	0.0
135	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	12.9	11.8	100.0	0.0
136	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	12.8	12.0	100.0	0.0
=137	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	12.7	12.2	100.0	0.0
=137	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	12.7	9.7	100.0	0.0
139	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	12.6	12.4	100.0	0.0
=140	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	12.5	10.5	97.2	4.2
=140	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	12.5	11.6	100.0	0.0
142	Uruguay`URY`South America	12.4	10.0	100.0	0.0
143	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	12.1	14.1	100.0	0.0
144	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	12.0	11.4	100.0	0.0
=145	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	11.9	13.3	100.0	0.0
=145	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	11.9	11.8	100.0	0.0
=147	San Marino`SMR`Southern Europe	11.7	11.4	100.0	0.0
=147	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	11.7	11.2	100.0	0.0
149	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	11.5	11.9	100.0	0.0
150	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	11.0	10.7	100.0	0.0
151	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	10.9	10.6	100.0	0.0
152	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	10.7	9.6	100.0	0.0
=153	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	10.6	8.6	99.3	0.0
=153	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	10.6	9.5	100.0	0.0
=155	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	10.4	8.6	99.3	0.0
=155	Gibraltar`GIB`Southern Europe	10.4	10.7	100.0	0.0
157	Belize`BLZ`Central America	10.3	10.8	100.0	0.0
158	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	10.2	7.9	92.2	0.0
=159	Aruba`ABW`Caribbean	10.1	9.3	100.0	0.0
=159	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	10.1	7.8	99.8	0.0
161	Monaco`MCO`Western Europe	10.0	9.8	100.0	0.0
162	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	9.9	7.9	99.9	0.0
163	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	9.6	8.9	100.0	0.0
164	Curaçao`CUW`Caribbean	9.5	9.2	99.7	0.0
=165	Cayman Islands`CYM`Caribbean	9.4	8.9	100.0	0.0
=165	France`FRA`Western Europe	9.4	7.8	99.7	0.0
=167	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	9.3	7.7	99.3	0.0
=167	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	9.3	7.7	100.0	0.0
=169	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	9.2	6.4	97.6	0.0
=169	Saint Martin`MAF`Caribbean	9.2	8.7	100.0	0.0
171	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	9.1	8.7	100.0	0.0
=172	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	8.9	8.3	100.0	0.0
=172	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	8.9	8.4	100.0	0.0
=174	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	8.8	8.0	100.0	0.0
=174	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	8.8	7.5	99.4	0.0
=176	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	8.7	8.0	100.0	0.0
=176	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	8.7	6.8	98.1	0.0
178	Liechtenstein`LIE`Western Europe	8.6	8.3	100.0	0.0
179	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	8.1	8.6	95.6	0.0
180	Sint Maarten`SXM`Caribbean	7.9	7.5	100.0	0.0
=181	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	7.8	7.0	98.1	0.0
=181	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	7.8	8.0	99.0	0.0
=183	Puerto Rico`PRI`Caribbean	7.4	7.1	99.9	0.0
=183	United States`USA`Northern America	7.4	5.4	96.0	0.0
185	Isle of Man`IMN`Northern Europe	7.3	6.7	99.9	0.0
186	Anguilla`AIA`Caribbean	7.0	6.9	96.8	0.0
187	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	6.8	6.0	98.1	0.0
=188	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	6.5	5.7	89.7	0.0
=188	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	6.5	6.5	100.0	0.0
=188	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	6.5	6.3	99.3	0.0
=188	United States Virgin Islands`VIR`Caribbean	6.5	6.3	89.9	0.0
192	Canada`CAN`Northern America	6.4	4.5	86.8	0.0
193	Andorra`AND`Southern Europe	6.3	5.7	85.2	0.0
194	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	5.9	5.1	78.1	0.0
195	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	5.8	3.8	74.6	0.0
196	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	5.7	5.3	68.0	0.0
197	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	5.6	5.5	97.8	0.0
198	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	5.5	3.6	63.7	0.0
199	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	5.4	4.7	57.8	0.1
200	Bermuda`BMU`Northern America	5.2	5.2	73.9	0.0
201	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	5.1	3.9	47.1	0.0
=202	Faroe Islands`FRO`Northern Europe	4.9	4.6	41.9	0.0
=202	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	4.9	5.1	47.4	0.0
204	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	4.8	4.7	27.9	0.0
205	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	4.7	4.1	32.4	0.0
206	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	4.5	4.3	7.9	0.0
=207	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	4.3	4.3	0.0	0.0
=207	New Caledonia`NCL`Melanesia	4.3	4.6	9.8	0.0
209	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	4.0	3.6	14.9	0.0
210	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	3.9	3.6	0.0	0.0
211	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	3.6	3.1	1.2	0.0
=212	American Samoa`ASM`Polynesia	3.5	3.3	0.0	0.0
=212	Guam`GUM`Micronesia	3.5	3.4	0.0	0.0
=214	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	3.2	2.0	0.1	0.0
=214	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	3.2	3.1	0.0	0.0
=214	Northern Mariana Islands`MNP`Micronesia	3.2	3.3	0.0	0.0
217	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	3.1	3.3	0.0	0.0
218	French Polynesia`PYF`Polynesia	2.6	-1.6	0.0	0.0
219	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	2.5	2.5	0.0	0.0
220	Greenland`GRL`Northern America	2.4	1.4	0.0	0.0

02In 2019

At either end

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

Highest

1Bangladesh77.1
2Qatar72.0
3Lesotho59.1
4Saudi Arabia57.3
5Kuwait56.6

Lowest

220Greenland2.4
219Cook Islands2.5
218French Polynesia2.6
217Micronesia3.1
214Niueshared3.2

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 14.9. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

PM2.5, geographic mean (µg/m³)
HighestQatar72.4
LowestFrench Polynesia-1.6
Middle country: 14.3
People at or above 5 µg/m³, the WHO guideline (%)
Highest155 share it
Lowest10 share it
Middle country: 100.0
People at or above 35 µg/m³, the WHO's first interim target (%)
HighestKuwait100.0
Lowest137 share it
Middle country: 0.0

032018 → 2019

Since 2018

+0 / −0countries joined / left
216values changed, of 220 in both
91 · 125rose · fell
4unchanged

Rose most

Lesotho32.0 → 59.1+27.1
Egypt36.5 → 50.5+14.0
Bangladesh71.6 → 77.1+5.5
Honduras16.5 → 21.8+5.3
El Salvador19.3 → 24.6+5.3

Fell most

Qatar88.3 → 72.0−16.3
Pakistan59.1 → 46.4−12.7
Oman47.4 → 34.7−12.7
Niger54.9 → 42.7−12.2
Sudan40.5 → 29.6−10.9

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

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

168 distinct values among 220
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 4 countries share 18.5. 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-2019-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 (2019). PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2019 [data set], describing 2019. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/pm25-exposure/2019

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2018
220 countries
The year after ›
PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2020
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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