The 2018 Cities with the Worst Air Pollution

According to the 2018 World Air Quality Report the worst air pollution in the world can be found in Delhi in India, followed closely by Dhaka in Bangladesh and Kabul, Afghanistan. The 2018 World Air Quality Report ranks the cities of the world based on their levels of air pollution. The report uses data from governments and from air quality monitors owned by individuals and organizations.

64% of the 3,229 cities covered by the report exceeded the WHO's annual exposure guidelines for fine particulate matter during 2018. The worst polluting cities according to the report are in Asia, followed by Africa and the Middle-East. Of individual countries Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan (in that order) have the worst air pollution. This is based on the average, estimated PM2.5 exposure weighted by population. You can view the scores for all the cities in the report on the World's Most Polluted Cities interactive map.


Cities around the world are colored on the map by their levels of PM2.5. If you click on a city you can view the actual average PM2.5 in 2018.You can also view where the country ranks in the 3,229 countries in the 2018 World Air Quality Report.

The World Air Quality Report is produced by IQAir. You can view near real-time air quality around the world on IQAir's Live Animated Air Quality Map. This map uses data from air monitors around the world. You can also view the real-time data of air quality on IQAir's animated globe AirVisual Earth.