Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, is once again near the top of the world’s most polluted cities. According to a report by Swiss-based IQAir, the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was 207 at 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday, classified as “very unhealthy.”
India’s Delhi tops the pollution chart with an AQI of 342, categorized as “hazardous,” followed by Kolkata (225) and Lahore, Pakistan. Dhaka ranks fourth, also falling in the “very unhealthy” category.
The main contributor to Dhaka’s pollution is fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), which this morning measured 26 times above the World Health Organization’s standard.
Five areas of the capital recorded even worse air quality—Mirpur Eastern Housing (254), South Pallabi (243), Kallyanpur (221), Madani Sarani (209), and Becharam Deuri (207)—all classified as “very unhealthy.”
According to IQAir’s scale, an AQI of 201–300 is “very unhealthy,” while above 301 is considered “hazardous.”