Worst countries for air pollution – ranked

A global ranking of the worst countries for air pollution, measured by the number of deaths per 100,000 people.

Air pollution is one of the world’s leading health and environmental problems and one of the world’s leading risk factors for death.

Typically, air pollution falls into two categories: indoor (or household) and outdoor air pollution.

Indoor air pollution is usually caused by burning solid fuels such as firewood, crop waste and dung for cooking and heating. This creates air pollution that causes respiratory diseases which often results in premature death.

Indoor air pollution is typically worse in poorer households.

Outdoor air pollution is typically worse in countries becoming industrialised and transitioning from low to middle incomes.

The ranking below is an aggregate of deaths from air pollution – both indoor and outdoor. The data and report are from Our World in Data.

Key findings from the analysis

• Air pollution is attributed to 5 million global deaths each year, representing 9% (nearly one-in-10) of all deaths globally.
• This ranges from 2% across high-income countries, to nearly 15% across many countries in South and East Asia.
• Globally, death rates from air pollution have been falling, mainly as a result of progress made with tackling indoor pollution.
• Death rates tend to be highest across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
• Since 1990, the number of deaths per 100,000 people has nearly halved.
• 95% of the world’s population is exposed to concentrations of particulate matter which exceed the WHO recommended limit of 10 micrograms per cubic meter.
• Papua New Guinea has the highest death rate of 245.3 deaths per 100,000 people.
• Finland has the lowest death rate of 8.5.
• New Zealand is the highest-ranked country in Oceania in 2nd place, followed by Australia in 6th.
• Japan is the highest-ranked Asian country in 8th place.
• Canada is the highest-ranked country in the Americas in 5th place.
• Seychelles is the highest-ranked African nation in 71st place.

Worst countries for air pollution – complete ranking

The table ranks the world’s countries and territories by the number of deaths per 100,000 people.

Some countries have been omitted due to insufficient data.

Rank	Country	Death rate
1	Finland	8.50
2	New Zealand	8.60
3	Sweden	9.40
4	Iceland	9.90
5	Canada	10.70
6	Australia	10.80
7	Norway	10.90
8	Japan	11.40
9	Switzerland	11.70
10	France	11.80
11	Spain	14.50
12	Ireland	14.70
13	Portugal	15.50
14	Andorra	15.60
15	Estonia	15.70
16	Luxembourg	16.00
17	Italy	16.80
18	Puerto Rico	17.00
19	Austria	17.60
20	Bermuda	17.60
21	UK	17.80
22	Netherlands	18.60
23	USA	18.80
24	Belgium	19.10
25	Denmark	19.30
26	Slovenia	19.70
27	Germany	19.80
28	Singapore	20.00
29	Brunei	20.30
30	Uruguay	20.40
31	Costa Rica	21.20
32	Israel	21.30
33	Panama	21.30
34	Maldives	21.40
35	South Korea	21.70
36	Colombia	22.10
37	Malta	23.60
38	Chile	24.30
39	Greece	25.70
40	Cyprus	26.00
41	Ecuador	27.10
42	Peru	30.10
43	Czech Rep.	30.20
44	Brazil	30.30
45	Argentina	31.10
46	Bahamas	32.20
47	Antigua & Barbuda	32.40
48	Cuba	32.50
49	Greenland	32.70
50	Taiwan	32.70

51	Thailand	32.80
52	Lithuania	33.20
53	Nicaragua	33.40
54	Croatia	33.60
55	Latvia	34.30
56	Poland	34.30
57	Venezuela	34.70
58	Kuwait	34.80
59	Barbados	35.10
60	Slovakia	35.40
61	Dominican Rep.	37.00
62	Dominica	37.70
63	Sri Lanka	38.50
64	Hungary	39.20
65	Saint Lucia	39.20
66	Jordan	39.40
67	Romania	40.40
68	Albania	40.50
69	Jamaica	41.90
70	Paraguay	42.00
71	Seychelles	42.30
72	Iraq	42.70
73	Russia	42.70
74	Algeria	43.70
75	Belize	44.20
76	Guam	44.20
77	Mexico	44.40
78	El Salvador	45.90
79	Iran	46.20
80	Caribbean	46.40
81	Turkey	46.80
82	Montenegro	47.50
83	Mauritius	48.70
84	Saint Vincent & Gren.	48.70
85	Suriname	48.70
86	Grenada	49.20
87	Lebanon	49.80
88	Moldova	49.90
89	Macedonia	50.00
90	Malaysia	50.40
91	Belarus	50.70
92	Cape Verde	50.80
93	Bulgaria	51.40
94	Honduras	51.40
95	Tunisia	51.60
96	Trinidad & Tobago	51.80
97	Kazakhstan	52.10
98	Palestine	52.60
99	Oman	53.70
100	Bolivia	53.90

101	South Africa	57.90
102	Bosnia & Herz.	58.10
103	Vietnam	60.30
104	Qatar	61.80
105	Serbia	62.60
106	Bahrain	62.90
107	Guyana	63.10
108	Ukraine	63.90
109	Saudi Arabia	64.10
110	Syria	64.20
111	Armenia	64.80
112	Guatemala	66.00
113	Indonesia	66.20
114	Morocco	67.30
115	Turkmenistan	67.30
116	Botswana	69.80
117	Kyrgyzstan	70.20
118	Georgia	70.50
119	Tonga	70.70
120	Gabon	72.10
121	China	72.70
122	Libya	72.80
123	Bhutan	73.10
124	Namibia	75.60
125	Samoa	76.80
126	UAE	77.80
127	Equatorial Guinea	78.40
128	Azerbaijan	80.20
129	Djibouti	80.70
130	Nigeria	81.20
131	Mongolia	81.60
132	Mauritania	83.80
133	Ethiopia	88.80
134	Micronesia	90.20
135	Kenya	90.30
136	Marshall Islands	93.00
137	Uganda	93.70
138	Comoros	94.00
139	Tajikistan	94.30
140	Angola	95.20
141	Sudan	95.70
142	Tanzania	96.50
143	Yemen	96.50
144	Rwanda	97.10
145	Timor	97.70
146	Zambia	98.90
147	Fiji	100.60
148	Malawi	104.90
149	Uzbekistan	105.10
150	Ghana	105.40

151	Senegal	106.10
152	Swaziland	106.30
153	Philippines	106.90
154	Mali	107.10
155	Cambodia	108.00
156	Bangladesh	108.50
157	Sao Tome & Principe	110.10
158	Congo	113.00
159	Benin	113.20
160	Liberia	113.20
161	Egypt	113.40
162	Cameroon	114.00
163	Togo	115.20
164	Myanmar	118.10
165	Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	118.80
166	Laos	119.70
167	Haiti	121.40
168	Pakistan	123.20
169	Zimbabwe	125.00
170	Mozambique	125.90
171	India	132.00
172	Eritrea	132.70
173	Burkina Faso	133.20
174	Nepal	133.30
175	Gambia	134.40
176	Niger	138.50
177	Vanuatu	139.70
178	North Korea	140.40
179	DR Congo	142.70
180	Burundi	142.80
181	Sierra Leone	149.60
182	Lesotho	152.00
183	Kiribati	153.70
184	Madagascar	155.10
185	South Sudan	156.20
186	Chad	159.10
187	Guinea	160.50
188	Guinea-Bissau	161.80
189	Somalia	165.80
190	Afghanistan	183.90
191	Solomon Islands	187.30
192	Central African Rep.	199.70
193	Papua New Guinea	245.30

Source: Our World in Data