Survey Shows No Countries Meet WHO Air Quality Standards In 2021

Illustration of air pollution. (Unsplash/Photoholgic)

JAKARTA - Not a single country has managed to meet the World Health Organization's (WHO) air quality standards by 2021, a survey of pollution data in 6,475 cities showed on Tuesday.

Ironically, the smog has even returned to 'recover' in some areas, after the decline in COVID-19-related figures.

The WHO recommends that the average annual reading of the tiny and dangerous particulate in the air, known as PM2.5, should be no more than 5 micrograms per cubic metre, after changing its guidelines last year, saying even low concentrations pose a significant health risk.

But only 3.4 percent of the cities surveyed met the standard by 2021, according to data compiled by IQAir, a Swiss pollution technology company that monitors air quality. A total of 93 cities experienced PM2.5 levels 10 times the recommended level.

"There are a lot of countries that are making big strides in abatement," said Christi Schroeder, manager of air quality science at IQAir.

"China started off with some really big numbers and has continued to decline over time. But there are also places in the world that are getting significantly worse."

India's overall pollution levels worsened in 2021, with New Delhi remaining the world's most polluted capital city, data shows.

Bangladesh was the most polluted country, also unchanged from the previous year. Meanwhile, Chad is in second place after the African country's data was entered for the first time.

China, which has been battling pollution since 2014, dropped to 22 in the PM2.5 rating in 2021, slumping from 14 a year earlier, with average readings increasing slightly over the year to 32.6 micrograms, the data said. IQAir.

Hotan in the northwestern region of Xinjiang was the worst performing city in China, with an average PM2.5 reading of over 100 micrograms. Most of these figures are due to sandstorms.

The city 'dropped' to the third position on the list of the fastest cities in the world, after being 'taken over' by Bhiwadi and Ghaziabad, two cities located in India.