Data for 2018

PM2.5 Air Pollution Exposure, 2018

Figures for 2018, as Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group published them · stored as published, never rewritten

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. A higher value is the worse result.

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	QatarQATWestern Asia	88.3	88.8	100.0	100.0
2	BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia	71.6	65.6	100.0	99.0
3	BahrainBHRWestern Asia	62.2	67.6	100.0	99.2
4	KuwaitKWTWestern Asia	59.4	57.1	100.0	100.0
5	PakistanPAKSouthern Asia	59.1	49.4	100.0	91.7
6	Saudi ArabiaSAUWestern Asia	58.0	45.5	100.0	89.4
7	IndiaINDSouthern Asia	56.6	46.0	100.0	84.1
8	United Arab EmiratesAREWestern Asia	56.4	58.2	100.0	99.8
9	NigerNERWestern Africa	54.9	52.5	100.0	99.6
10	OmanOMNWestern Asia	47.4	47.6	100.0	97.9
11	NepalNPLSouthern Asia	47.2	35.8	100.0	89.8
12	NigeriaNGAWestern Africa	46.3	49.2	100.0	71.1
13	MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa	45.2	49.6	100.0	98.7
14	ChadTCDMiddle Africa	45.0	50.4	100.0	74.6
15	CameroonCMRMiddle Africa	44.5	38.4	100.0	60.4
16	SudanSDNNorthern Africa	40.5	40.0	100.0	72.9
17	SenegalSENWestern Africa	39.7	41.4	100.0	74.8
18	ChinaCHNEastern Asia	38.4	25.7	100.0	53.1
19	IraqIRQWestern Asia	38.2	36.5	100.0	55.3
20	MaliMLIWestern Africa	37.2	43.8	100.0	60.7
21	EgyptEGYNorthern Africa	36.5	35.0	100.0	61.0
22	Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa	36.1	35.9	100.0	55.3
23	BeninBENWestern Africa	36.0	38.8	100.0	53.1
24	Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa	35.9	35.1	100.0	68.1
25	AfghanistanAFGSouthern Asia	35.7	37.6	100.0	42.2
26	BhutanBTNSouthern Asia	35.6	30.0	100.0	44.2
27	TogoTGOWestern Africa	35.5	36.5	100.0	60.1
28	YemenYEMWestern Asia	35.3	35.7	100.0	45.9
29	Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa	35.1	33.0	100.0	51.8
30	GambiaGMBWestern Africa	34.8	35.5	100.0	56.5
31	Guinea-BissauGNBWestern Africa	33.1	31.9	100.0	22.6
32	DR CongoCODMiddle Africa	33.0	32.2	100.0	37.5
33	RwandaRWAEastern Africa	32.3	30.9	100.0	28.8
34	DjiboutiDJIEastern Africa	32.1	30.8	100.0	19.5
35	LesothoLSOSouthern Africa	32.0	34.5	100.0	28.1
36	GhanaGHAWestern Africa	31.8	33.5	100.0	29.9
37	UzbekistanUZBCentral Asia	31.6	23.6	100.0	35.7
38	IranIRNSouthern Asia	31.5	34.0	100.0	21.5
39	MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia	31.4	27.4	100.0	22.5
40	GuineaGINWestern Africa	31.1	30.3	100.0	14.4
41	EritreaERIEastern Africa	30.9	33.5	100.0	25.5
42	TajikistanTJKCentral Asia	30.3	17.8	100.0	34.7
43	BurundiBDIEastern Africa	29.2	27.1	100.0	12.4
44	JordanJORWestern Asia	28.5	26.1	100.0	11.6
45	Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa	28.4	27.9	100.0	1.5
46	LebanonLBNWestern Asia	28.2	21.9	100.0	18.4
47	TurkmenistanTKMCentral Asia	27.7	27.9	100.0	3.9
48	UgandaUGAEastern Africa	27.5	23.9	100.0	6.8
49	EthiopiaETHEastern Africa	27.3	24.0	100.0	8.9
50	Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa	27.1	28.9	100.0	0.8
51	GabonGABMiddle Africa	26.2	27.1	100.0	15.1
52	SyriaSYRWestern Asia	25.8	27.1	100.0	5.1
=53	South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa	25.7	16.0	100.0	21.6
=53	VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia	25.7	23.4	100.0	14.0
55	ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia	25.4	24.9	100.0	0.0
56	LaosLAOSouth-eastern Asia	25.3	24.2	100.0	0.0
=57	LiberiaLBRWestern Africa	25.1	23.6	100.0	0.0
=57	South SudanSSDEastern Africa	25.1	26.3	100.0	0.2
59	CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia	25.0	24.3	100.0	0.0
60	ArmeniaARMWestern Asia	24.1	17.6	100.0	14.5
61	Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia	23.9	23.7	100.0	0.0
62	KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia	23.8	16.9	100.0	26.1
63	South KoreaKOREastern Asia	23.7	20.4	100.0	0.0
64	Equatorial GuineaGNQMiddle Africa	23.5	25.9	100.0	0.0
65	North KoreaPRKEastern Asia	23.1	19.9	100.0	0.7
66	PalestinePSEWestern Asia	22.1	22.9	100.0	0.1
67	LibyaLBYNorthern Africa	22.0	29.3	100.0	1.5
68	KenyaKENEastern Africa	21.9	16.5	100.0	0.0
69	MongoliaMNGEastern Asia	21.4	12.9	100.0	14.4
=70	BoliviaBOLSouth America	21.3	19.1	100.0	0.4
=70	IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia	21.3	16.1	100.0	10.8
=72	IsraelISRWestern Asia	21.1	23.6	100.0	0.0
=72	TürkiyeTURWestern Asia	21.1	19.8	100.0	0.0
74	Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe	21.0	18.1	100.0	1.1
=75	SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe	20.6	18.3	100.0	0.0
=75	SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia	20.6	19.8	100.0	0.0
77	GuatemalaGTMCentral America	20.2	16.1	100.0	0.0
78	North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe	19.9	17.6	100.0	3.9
=79	KosovoXKXSouthern Europe	19.5	18.9	100.0	0.0
=79	PeruPERSouth America	19.5	17.8	100.0	0.3
81	AngolaAGOMiddle Africa	19.4	19.0	100.0	0.0
82	El SalvadorSLVCentral America	19.3	17.3	100.0	0.0
83	PolandPOLEastern Europe	19.0	16.8	100.0	0.0
=84	ChileCHLSouth America	18.7	16.1	99.9	0.2
=84	MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia	18.7	13.7	100.0	0.0
86	AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia	18.2	17.4	100.0	0.0
=87	BulgariaBGREastern Europe	18.0	16.8	100.0	0.0
=87	KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia	18.0	12.6	100.0	7.7
89	RomaniaROUEastern Europe	17.6	15.9	100.0	0.0
90	TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa	17.5	16.7	100.0	0.0
91	ZambiaZMBEastern Africa	17.2	17.1	100.0	0.0
92	CzechiaCZEEastern Europe	17.0	14.7	100.0	0.0
93	PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia	16.8	13.0	100.0	0.2
94	VenezuelaVENSouth America	16.6	14.2	100.0	0.0
95	HondurasHNDCentral America	16.5	13.6	100.0	0.0
96	HungaryHUNEastern Europe	16.4	15.7	100.0	0.0
=97	Northern CyprusXNCWestern Asia	16.3	16.3	100.0	0.0
=97	SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe	16.3	15.2	100.0	0.0
99	CyprusCYPWestern Asia	16.2	16.7	100.0	0.0
100	ColombiaCOLSouth America	16.1	16.9	100.0	0.0
101	Costa RicaCRICentral America	15.9	13.7	100.0	0.0
=102	CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe	15.8	14.7	100.0	0.0
=102	MexicoMEXCentral America	15.8	9.3	99.8	0.0
=104	AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe	15.7	14.0	100.0	0.0
=104	SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe	15.7	13.7	100.0	0.0
106	EcuadorECUSouth America	15.6	15.1	99.9	0.0
=107	GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia	15.4	12.7	100.0	0.0
=107	GreeceGRCSouthern Europe	15.4	13.8	100.0	0.0
=107	Vatican CityVATSouthern Europe	15.4	15.4	100.0	0.0
=110	BotswanaBWASouthern Africa	15.3	13.2	100.0	0.4
=110	SomaliaSOMEastern Africa	15.3	18.1	100.0	2.0
112	MoldovaMDAEastern Europe	14.9	14.7	100.0	0.0
113	JamaicaJAMCaribbean	14.8	13.5	100.0	0.0
114	EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa	14.7	14.3	100.0	0.0
115	ItalyITASouthern Europe	14.5	11.9	100.0	0.0
116	UkraineUKREastern Europe	14.3	13.1	100.0	0.0
=117	TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa	14.2	19.0	99.9	0.1
=117	ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa	14.2	13.0	100.0	0.0
=119	Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean	14.1	11.1	100.0	0.0
=119	MalawiMWIEastern Africa	14.1	14.9	100.0	0.0
=119	NicaraguaNICCentral America	14.1	12.0	100.0	0.0
122	NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa	14.0	10.2	100.0	0.0
123	JapanJPNEastern Asia	13.9	11.8	100.0	0.0
124	AustriaAUTWestern Europe	13.8	11.3	100.0	0.0
125	MaltaMLTSouthern Europe	13.7	13.1	100.0	0.0
126	Papua New GuineaPNGMelanesia	13.5	12.8	100.0	0.0
127	MoroccoMARNorthern Africa	13.3	15.9	100.0	0.1
=128	AlgeriaDZANorthern Africa	13.1	30.7	100.0	1.5
=128	BelarusBLREastern Europe	13.1	11.9	100.0	0.0
=128	BrazilBRASouth America	13.1	14.9	100.0	0.0
=128	São Tomé and PríncipeSTPMiddle Africa	13.1	12.6	100.0	0.0
132	PanamaPANCentral America	13.0	12.3	100.0	0.0
133	MaldivesMDVSouthern Asia	12.8	14.1	100.0	0.0
=134	HaitiHTICaribbean	12.7	11.5	100.0	0.0
=134	MontenegroMNESouthern Europe	12.7	12.5	100.0	0.0
=134	RussiaRUSEastern Europe	12.7	7.5	97.4	0.0
=134	San MarinoSMRSouthern Europe	12.7	12.5	100.0	0.0
138	SurinameSURSouth America	12.6	12.1	100.0	0.0
139	BruneiBRNSouth-eastern Asia	12.5	10.5	100.0	0.0
140	Cabo VerdeCPVWestern Africa	12.4	13.5	100.0	0.0
141	NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe	12.3	11.9	100.0	0.0
=142	ArgentinaARGSouth America	12.2	13.4	100.0	0.0
=142	CuraçaoCUWCaribbean	12.2	10.1	100.0	0.0
144	ParaguayPRYSouth America	12.1	12.4	100.0	0.0
145	BarbadosBRBCaribbean	12.0	11.7	100.0	0.0
=146	BelgiumBELWestern Europe	11.9	10.7	100.0	0.0
=146	GermanyDEUWestern Europe	11.9	11.0	100.0	0.0
148	UruguayURYSouth America	11.7	8.7	100.0	0.0
=149	GibraltarGIBSouthern Europe	11.6	11.7	100.0	0.0
=149	LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe	11.6	10.8	100.0	0.0
=149	MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa	11.6	11.2	99.8	0.0
=152	MonacoMCOWestern Europe	11.1	11.1	100.0	0.0
=152	Timor-LesteTLSSouth-eastern Asia	11.1	10.6	100.0	0.0
=154	ArubaABWCaribbean	11.0	10.4	100.0	0.0
=154	BelizeBLZCentral America	11.0	11.3	100.0	0.0
=154	GuyanaGUYSouth America	11.0	12.1	100.0	0.0
=154	LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe	11.0	9.9	100.0	0.0
158	SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe	10.7	8.7	100.0	0.0
159	Cayman IslandsCYMCaribbean	10.5	9.9	100.0	0.0
160	LatviaLVANorthern Europe	10.3	9.2	100.0	0.0
161	FranceFRAWestern Europe	10.2	8.4	99.9	0.0
=162	CubaCUBCaribbean	10.1	9.0	100.0	0.0
=162	MadagascarMDGEastern Africa	10.1	7.3	89.1	0.0
=164	Saint LuciaLCACaribbean	10.0	10.1	100.0	0.0
=164	SpainESPSouthern Europe	10.0	7.9	100.0	0.0
=166	DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe	9.9	9.2	100.0	0.0
=166	Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean	9.9	9.1	100.0	0.0
168	United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe	9.8	7.6	99.9	0.0
169	LiechtensteinLIEWestern Europe	9.5	9.2	100.0	0.0
170	PortugalPRTSouthern Europe	9.3	8.0	98.1	0.0
171	MauritiusMUSEastern Africa	9.0	8.5	96.7	0.0
172	Puerto RicoPRICaribbean	8.7	8.7	100.0	0.0
173	Antigua and BarbudaATGCaribbean	8.4	8.3	99.7	0.0
174	Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesVCTCaribbean	8.3	7.8	100.0	0.0
175	GrenadaGRDCaribbean	8.2	8.1	100.0	0.0
176	EstoniaESTNorthern Europe	8.1	7.3	100.0	0.0
=177	United StatesUSANorthern America	8.0	5.6	98.4	0.0
=177	United States Virgin IslandsVIRCaribbean	8.0	7.7	100.0	0.0
=179	DominicaDMACaribbean	7.8	7.6	99.5	0.0
=179	Saint Kitts and NevisKNACaribbean	7.8	7.7	100.0	0.0
=179	Sint MaartenSXMCaribbean	7.8	7.7	100.0	0.0
182	IrelandIRLNorthern Europe	7.7	7.0	100.0	0.0
183	Isle of ManIMNNorthern Europe	7.3	6.9	100.0	0.0
=184	AnguillaAIACaribbean	7.2	7.3	100.0	0.0
=184	CanadaCANNorthern America	7.2	4.1	91.2	0.0
186	Solomon IslandsSLBMelanesia	7.1	6.9	99.4	0.0
=187	BahamasBHSCaribbean	7.0	6.8	99.7	0.0
=187	SwedenSWENorthern Europe	7.0	4.1	88.4	0.0
=189	AndorraANDSouthern Europe	6.8	6.2	98.0	0.0
=189	Saint MartinMAFCaribbean	6.8	6.7	100.0	0.0
191	MontserratMSRCaribbean	6.5	7.4	100.0	0.0
192	AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand	6.4	6.4	96.8	0.0
=193	British Virgin IslandsVGBCaribbean	6.2	6.5	100.0	0.0
=193	Turks and Caicos IslandsTCACaribbean	6.2	5.7	94.8	0.0
=195	FinlandFINNorthern Europe	6.1	4.1	65.6	0.0
=195	New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand	6.1	5.5	96.5	0.0
197	ComorosCOMEastern Africa	5.9	6.0	100.0	0.0
=198	FijiFJIMelanesia	5.5	5.2	86.7	0.0
=198	VanuatuVUTMelanesia	5.5	5.7	73.5	0.0
200	NorwayNORNorthern Europe	5.4	3.4	60.9	0.0
201	SeychellesSYCEastern Africa	5.2	5.1	72.9	0.0
202	BermudaBMUNorthern America	4.9	4.8	53.3	0.0
203	PalauPLWMicronesia	4.8	4.7	32.4	0.0
204	New CaledoniaNCLMelanesia	4.3	4.4	5.3	0.0
=205	Faroe IslandsFRONorthern Europe	4.2	4.1	0.0	0.0
=205	TongaTONPolynesia	4.2	4.0	1.2	0.0
207	TuvaluTUVPolynesia	4.0	4.0	0.0	0.0
=208	IcelandISLNorthern Europe	3.8	2.9	9.2	0.0
=208	SamoaWSMPolynesia	3.8	3.7	0.0	0.0
=210	American SamoaASMPolynesia	3.4	3.1	0.0	0.0
=210	GuamGUMMicronesia	3.4	3.3	0.0	0.0
212	NauruNRUMicronesia	3.3	3.3	0.0	0.0
213	MicronesiaFSMMicronesia	3.2	3.4	0.0	0.0
214	Marshall IslandsMHLMicronesia	3.1	2.0	0.1	0.0
=215	KiribatiKIRMicronesia	3.0	2.9	0.4	0.0
=215	Northern Mariana IslandsMNPMicronesia	3.0	3.0	0.0	0.0
217	NiueNIUPolynesia	2.9	2.9	0.0	0.0
218	Cook IslandsCOKPolynesia	2.5	2.5	0.0	0.0
219	French PolynesiaPYFPolynesia	2.4	-1.7	0.0	0.0
220	GreenlandGRLNorthern 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

What changed between 2017 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+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. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

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.
The position is ours
Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.
Which end is better
A higher value is the worse result.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 220 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

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-2018-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group’s own file, on its own site.
e673hbmsl75gechxnrjotenel6k4hdfc

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 4.0. Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.

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.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions