Mapped: Most Air-Polluted Cities in the World

Kayla Zhu
2025-04-18 11:36:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

Cities With the Worst Air Pollution in 2024

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Air pollution remains one of the deadliest environmental threats, contributing to millions of premature deaths each year.

In 2024, only 17% of cities worldwide met the World Health Organization’s annual PM2.5 guideline of less than 5 µg/m3, indicating that the vast majority of urban populations are exposed to unhealthy air.

This map visualizes the 20 most air-polluted cities in 2024, based on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) data from IQAir.

Which Cities Have the Worst Air Pollution?

Below, we show the top 20 cities with the worst PM2.5 levels in 2024.

Rank	City	Country	2024 PM2.5 (µg/m³)
1	Byrnihat	India	128.2
2	Delhi	India	108.3
3	Karaganda	Kazakhstan	104.8
4	Mullanpur	India	102.3
5	Lahore	Pakistan	102.1
6	Faridabad	India	101.2
7	Dera Ismail Khan	Pakistan	93.0
8	N’Djamena	Chad	91.8
9	Loni	India	91.7
10	New Delhi	India	91.6
11	Multan	Pakistan	91.4
12	Peshawar	Pakistan	91.0
13	Faisalabad	Pakistan	88.8
14	Sialkot	Pakistan	88.8
15	Gurugram	India	87.4
16	Ganganagar	India	86.6
17	Hotan	China	84.5
18	Greater Noida	India	83.5
19	Bhiwadi	India	83.1
20	Muzaffarnagar	India	83.1

India is home to some of the world’s most air-polluted cities, accounting for 11 of the top 20 in 2024.

Byrnihat, a city in northeastern India, recorded the worst air pollution globally last year, with a PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 micrograms per cubic meter—over 25 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended limit.

Delhi, a metropolis of over 30 million people and the capital territory of India, recorded the second-worst air pollution levels in 2024.

The city experiences the worst winter air pollution of any major city, driven by crop burning in nearby states, stagnant cold air, and weak wind patterns that trap and concentrate smog over the capital.

Many Indian cities struggle with severe air pollution due to a mix of industrial emissions, vehicle exhaust, and reliance on fossil fuels, all worsened by weak regulation and seasonal weather patterns.

Most of the cities with the worst air pollution in 2024 are located in India, Pakistan, or other parts of Asia. N’Djamena, Chad, was the only non-Asian city to rank among the top 20.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To see which countries have the worst air pollution, check out this graphic that visualizes the world’s most polluted countries by their annual average PM2.5 concentration.

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