Pallavi Rao
2023-10-07 17:02:21
www.visualcapitalist.com
Comparing Air Quality and Pollution in 50 Capital Cities
We know bad air quality when we breathe it in—but how does it measure and compare across different cities?
To assess air quality, agencies measure the amount of particulate matter in an area to arrive at a number the resident population is breathing in over a period of time.
In this case, Planet Anomaly visualized the concentration of PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) in 50 select capital cities across the globe, using data from IQAir’s 2022 World Air Quality Report.
The report applied population-based adjustments to standardize its results and calculated an annual average of the data. If a city exceeded the WHO safety guideline of 5 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) for annual average PM2.5 levels, it implied potential health risks for its residents.
Ranked: Capital Cities With the Best and Worst Air Quality
At the top of the list with the best air quality, Canberra, the capital of Australia, had an average PM2.5 level of 2.8 μg/m³ in 2022. Vehicle emissions and dust storms are the few sources of air pollutants in the city.
However, while Canberra did well in 2022, it had some of the worst air quality in 2020 when bushfire smoke blackened the skies.
Here’s the full list of all 116 capital cities measured by IQAir’s report, ranked by air quality from best to worst.
Rank | City | Country | Region | 2022 Average PM2.5 Concentration |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Canberra | Australia | Oceania | 2.8 |
2 | Hamilton | Bermuda | North America | 3.0 |
3 | Reykjavik | Iceland | Europe | 3.3 |
4 | San Juan | Puerto Rico | North America | 3.3 |
5 | Noumea | New Caledonia | Oceania | 3.5 |
6 | Saint George’s | Grenada | Central America | 3.8 |
7 | Tallinn | Estonia | Europe | 4.8 |
8 | Port of Spain | Trinidad & Tobago | Central America | 5.0 |
9 | Helsinki | Finland | Europe | 5.5 |
10 | Cape Town | South Africa | Africa | 6.7 |
11 | Ottawa | Canada | North America | 6.8 |
12 | Stockholm | Sweden | Europe | 6.8 |
13 | Oslo | Norway | Europe | 6.9 |
14 | Paramaribo | Suriname | South America | 7.0 |
15 | Dublin | Ireland | Europe | 7.1 |
16 | La Paz | Bolivia | South America | 7.3 |
17 | Lisbon | Portugal | Europe | 7.5 |
18 | San Jose | Costa Rica | Central America | 7.9 |
19 | Phnom Penh | Cambodia | Asia | 8.3 |
20 | Vaduz | Liechtenstein | Europe | 8.3 |
21 | Copenhagen | Denmark | Europe | 8.7 |
22 | Luanda | Angola | Africa | 8.8 |
23 | Managua | Nicaragua | Central America | 8.9 |
24 | Panama | Panama | Central America | 9.0 |
25 | Tokyo | Japan | Asia | 9.2 |
26 | Madrid | Spain | Europe | 9.5 |
27 | Kyiv | Ukraine | Europe | 9.5 |
28 | London | UK | Europe | 9.6 |
29 | Washington | U.S. | North America | 9.8 |
30 | Taipei | Taiwan | Asia | 9.9 |
31 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | Europe | 10.1 |
32 | Tegucigalpa | Honduras | Central America | 10.2 |
33 | Vienna | Austria | Europe | 10.5 |
34 | Bern | Switzerland | Europe | 10.5 |
35 | Brussels | Belgium | Europe | 10.6 |
36 | Moscow | Russia | Europe | 10.8 |
37 | Budapest | Hungary | Europe | 11.2 |
38 | Montevideo | Uruguay | South America | 11.3 |
39 | Nairobi | Kenya | Africa | 11.5 |
40 | Podgorica | Montenegro | Europe | 11.8 |
41 | Prague | Czech Republic | Europe | 11.9 |
42 | Berlin | Germany | Europe | 12.6 |
43 | Rome | Italy | Europe | 12.6 |
44 | Paris | France | Europe | 12.7 |
45 | Georgetown | Guyana | South America | 12.7 |
46 | Singapore | Singapore | Asia | 13.3 |
47 | San Salvador | El Salvador | Central America | 13.4 |
48 | Bratislava | Slovakia | Europe | 13.4 |
49 | Pristina | Kosovo | Europe | 13.7 |
50 | Ankara | Türkiye | Asia | 14.0 |
51 | Buenos Aires | Argentina | South America | 14.2 |
52 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong SAR | Asia | 14.4 |
53 | Tirana | Albania | Europe | 14.5 |
54 | Vilnius | Lithuania | Europe | 14.5 |
55 | Metro Manila | Philippines | Asia | 14.6 |
56 | Bogota | Colombia | South America | 15.1 |
57 | Warsaw | Poland | Europe | 15.3 |
58 | Kinshasa | DRC | Africa | 15.5 |
59 | Ljubljana | Slovenia | Europe | 16.2 |
60 | Tbilisi | Georgia | Europe | 16.3 |
61 | Nicosia | Cyprus | Europe | 16.4 |
62 | Bucharest | Romania | Europe | 17.1 |
63 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | Asia | 17.6 |
64 | Algiers | Algeria | Africa | 17.8 |
65 | Bangkok | Thailand | Asia | 18.0 |
66 | Seoul | South Korea | Asia | 18.3 |
67 | Guatemala City | Guatemala | Central America | 18.5 |
68 | Baku | Azerbaijan | Asia | 18.9 |
69 | Sofia | Bulgaria | Europe | 19.1 |
70 | Athens | Greece | Europe | 19.2 |
71 | Tel Aviv-Yafo | Israel | Middle East | 19.5 |
72 | Dakar | Senegal | Africa | 20.4 |
73 | Colombo | Sri Lanka | Asia | 20.9 |
74 | Astana | Kazakhstan | Asia | 21.4 |
75 | Ashgabat | Turkmenistan | Asia | 21.6 |
76 | Mexico City | Mexico | North America | 22.1 |
77 | Belgrade | Serbia | Europe | 22.1 |
78 | Zagreb | Croatia | Europe | 22.4 |
79 | Abidjan | Ivory Coast | Africa | 22.5 |
80 | Chisinau | Moldova | Europe | 22.6 |
81 | Antananarivo | Madagascar | Africa | 23.7 |
82 | Yangon | Myanmar | Asia | 24.3 |
83 | Lusaka | Zambia | Africa | 24.6 |
84 | Lima | Peru | South America | 25.6 |
85 | Santiago | Chile | South America | 25.8 |
86 | Skopje | North Macedonia | Europe | 26.6 |
87 | Vientiane | Laos | Asia | 27.6 |
88 | Bishkek | Kyrgyzstan | Asia | 29.0 |
89 | Beijing | China | Asia | 29.8 |
90 | Accra | Ghana | Africa | 30.1 |
91 | Ulaanbaatar | Mongolia | Asia | 30.6 |
92 | Addis Ababa | Ethiopia | Africa | 31.3 |
93 | Yerevan | Armenia | Asia | 31.4 |
94 | Sarajevo | Bosnia Herzegovina | Europe | 32.4 |
95 | Tashkent | Uzbekistan | Asia | 33.5 |
96 | Tehran | Iran | Asia | 36.1 |
97 | Jakarta | Indonesia | Asia | 36.2 |
98 | Kampala | Uganda | Africa | 39.6 |
99 | Hanoi | Vietnam | Asia | 40.1 |
100 | Islamabad | Pakistan | Asia | 40.6 |
101 | Kathmandu | Nepal | Asia | 40.7 |
102 | Doha | Qatar | Middle East | 41.8 |
103 | Kigali | Rwanda | Africa | 44.0 |
104 | Khartoum | Sudan | Africa | 44.6 |
105 | Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | Middle East | 46.2 |
106 | Abuja | Nigeria | Africa | 46.5 |
107 | Cairo | Egypt | Africa | 47.4 |
108 | Dushanbe | Tajikistan | Asia | 47.7 |
109 | Abu Dhabi | UAE | Middle East | 48.0 |
110 | Kuwait City | Kuwait | Middle East | 57.5 |
111 | Ougadougou | Burkina Faso | Africa | 63.0 |
112 | Dhaka | Bangladesh | Asia | 65.8 |
113 | Manama | Bahrain | Middle East | 66.6 |
114 | Baghdad | Iraq | Asia | 86.7 |
115 | New Delhi | India | Asia | 89.1 |
116 | N’Djamena | Chad | Africa | 89.7 |
Hamilton, Bermuda (3.8 μg/m³) and Reykjavik, Iceland (3.3 μg/m³) rank second and third respectively, followed by three more capitals on island nations. In fact, nine of the top 10 capitals are situated directly on a coastline and take advantage of ocean breezes that can act as air filters.
Ranked 8th, the Port of Spain (capital of Trinidad & Tobago) is the last city whose air quality is considered safe (5.0 μg/m³) by the WHO.
From a broader perspective, fewer than 10% of all countries have air quality that meets safety guidelines.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the list with the worst air quality, Chad’s capital city N’Djamena, recorded a PM2.5 concentration of nearly 90 μg/m³ per day in 2022—almost 18x the recommended WHO safety guideline.
Air Quality Correlates With Countries’ Income Levels
Perhaps the most striking feature of the rankings is how air quality worsens with countries that are in the low and middle-income categories and improves in high income countries.
As an example, compare the distribution of the ranks of capital cities in Asia (generally lower and middle income countries) versus capitals in Europe (general high income countries).
Air Quality Ranks | Cities in Asia | Cities in Europe |
---|---|---|
Top 20 | 3.33% | 20.51% |
20–40 | 6.67% | 28.21% |
40–60 | 13.33% | 28.21% |
60–80 | 23.33% | 17.95% |
80–100 | 36.67% | 5.13% |
100–116 | 16.67% | 0.00% |
The majority of European capital cities are ranked 20–60 versus Asian capitals which are mostly ranked 60–100.
Lower and middle income countries have larger structural economic concerns and many of them are still in the process of transitioning away from polluting materials that affect air quality.
The post Visualized: Air Quality and Pollution in 50 Capital Cities appeared first on Visual Capitalist.