Which country has the cleanest air in the world?

The countries with the cleanest air in the world have been ranked in a new report. We take a look at the results

The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico has the world’s cleanest air according to the latest World Air Quality Report by IQAir. The report ranks 106 countries and territories by the level of fine particulate matter present in the air.

Air pollution continues to pose one of the biggest threats to human health, causing the death of seven million people every year. Billions more suffer the effects of poor air quality. In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 92% of the global population breathes toxic air.

Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, has the cleanest air in the world, followed by the French territory of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean with the territory of the US Virgin Islands in third.

The highest-ranked sovereign states are Sweden (4th), Finland (5th), Norway (6th), Estonia (7th) and New Zealand (8th).

At the other end of the spectrum, Bangladesh has the worst air quality followed by Pakistan, India, Mongolia and Afghanistan respectively.

Air Quality Index

The report analyses results from over 60,000 monitoring stations located across the globe, making it the world’s largest centralised platform for measuring air quality.

It also draws on data collected from thousands of clean air initiatives administered by governments, non-profit organisations, citizens, communities and private companies.

The report focuses on PM2.5 concentrations as this is the pollutant widely regarded as most harmful to human health. PM2.5 is defined as ambient airborne particles measuring up to 2.5 microns in size. A micron (or micrometre) is one-millionth of a metre or one-thousandth of a millimetre.

Its microscopic size allows the particles to enter the bloodstream via the respiratory system and travel through the body, causing a range of health problems including asthma, lung cancer and heart disease.

Air pollution is also associated with low birth weight, increased acute respiratory infections and stroke.

The WHO’s Air Quality Guideline value for PM2.5 exposure – which has been proven to be free of health impacts – is 10µg/m³ or 10 micrograms of air pollutant per cubic meter of air.

There are only 25 countries or territories, out of the 106 assessed, which pass these guidelines.

most polluted cities

The report also produces a ranking for thousands of the world’s cities. Delhi famously hit the headlines in 2020 when the city witnessed drastically improved air quality when restrictions were introduced due to the pandemic.

However, the city soon returned to “normal” when pollution hit “emergency” levels in November 2020 and the city became enveloped in thick toxic smog.

Bangladesh, China, India, and Pakistan share 49 of the 50 of the most polluted cities worldwide with nine of the 10 most polluted in India alone. Hotan in China is the world’s most polluted city while Delhi is the world’s most polluted capital.

COUNTRY RANKING: Cleanest air in the world

The World Air Quality Report ranks 106 countries and territories. States that have been omitted lacked sufficient ground-based PM2.5 monitoring stations.

Rank	Country	Ave. PM2.5
1	Puerto Rico	3.7
2	New Caledonia	3.7
3	US Virgin Islands	3.7
4	Sweden	5.0
5	Finland	5.0
6	Norway	5.7
7	Estonia	5.9
8	New Zealand	7.0
9	Iceland	7.2
10	Canada	7.3
11	Andorra	7.4
12	Australia	7.6
13	Ecuador	7.6
14	Costa Rica	8.2
15	UK	8.3
16	Ireland	8.6
17	Belgium	8.9
18	Switzerland	9.0
19	Luxembourg	9.0
20	Portugal	9.1
21	Russia	9.3
22	Denmark	9.4
23	USA	9.6
24	Netherlands	9.7
25	Japan	9.8
26	Germany	10.1
27	Spain	10.4
28	Curacao	10.5
29	Austria	10.9
30	France	11.1
31	Senegal	11.2
32	Latvia	11.3
33	Lithuania	11.7
34	Singapore	11.8
35	Malta	11.8
36	Czech Rep.	12.3
37	Philippines	12.8
38	Angola	13.0
39	Brazil	14.2
40	Kenya	14.2
41	Argentina	14.2
42	Hungary	14.3
43	Ethiopia	14.7
44	Jordan	14.9
45	Taiwan	15.0
46	Slovakia	15.3
47	Hong Kong SAR	15.4
48	Colombia	15.6
49	Malaysia	15.6
50	Romania	15.8
51	Cyprus	15.8
52	Albania	16.0
53	Israel	16.9
54	Poland	16.9
55	Turkmenistan	17.0
56	Macao SAR	17.8
57	Peru	17.9
58	South Africa	18.0
59	Greece	18.4
60	Italy	18.5
61	Turkey	18.7
62	Mexico	18.9
63	Ukraine	19.2
64	Guatemala	19.2
65	Chile	19.3
66	South Korea	19.5
67	Kosovo	20.0
68	Madagascar	20.0
69	Algeria	20.2
70	Georgia	20.4
71	Cambodia	21.1
72	Croatia	21.2
73	Thailand	21.4
74	Kazakhstan	21.9
75	Ivory Coast	21.9
76	Sri Lanka	22.4
77	Laos	22.4
78	Saudi Arabia	23.3
79	Serbia	24.3
80	Armenia	24.9
81	Uganda	26.1
82	Montenegro	26.1
83	Ghana	26.9
84	Iran	27.2
85	Bulgaria	27.5
86	Vietnam	28.0
87	UAE	29.2
88	Myanmar	29.4
89	Uzbekistan	29.9
90	North Macedonia	30.6
91	Tajikistan	30.9
92	Kuwait	34.0
93	China	34.7
94	Mali	37.9
95	Nepal	39.2
96	Bahrain	39.7
97	Bosnia & Herz.	40.6
98	Indonesia	40.7
99	Kyrgyzstan	43.5
100	Qatar	44.3
101	Oman	44.4
102	Afghanistan	46.5
103	Mongolia	46.6
104	India	51.9
105	Pakistan	59.0
106	Bangladesh	77.1

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Lead image: Blue Planet Studio/Shutterstock