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Environment

PM2.5 air pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO guideline value (% of total)

Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the WHO guideline value is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 10 micrograms per cubic meter, the guideline value recommended by the World Health Organization as the lower end of the range of concentrations over which adverse health effects due to PM2.5 exposure have been observed.

World Bank code: EN.ATM.PM25.MC.ZS • Data available for 194 countries • Latest year: 2017

In , Zimbabwe led PM2.5 air pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO guideline value (% of total) at 100.00.

The world median across 194 reporting countries was 100.00.

What this measures: Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the WHO guideline value is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 10 micrograms per cubic meter, the guideline value recommended by the World Health Organization as the lower end of the range of concentrations over which adverse health effects due to PM2.5 exposure have been observed.

How "Environment" indicators are measured

Environmental indicators cover emissions, land use, biodiversity, and natural resources. Emissions data is often produced by international scientific consortia (EDGAR, Global Carbon Project) and typically lags 2–3 years due to the complexity of fuel- and process-level accounting. Per-capita metrics reveal a different story than absolute totals — small wealthy countries can have high per-capita emissions while contributing little to the global total.

Distribution — 2017

Reporting
194 countries
Median
100.00
Mean
88.75
25th percentile
98.32
75th percentile
100.00
Range
0.00 – 100.00

World at a Glance — 2017

Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).

East Asia & PacificAmerican Samoa: 100.00ASAustralia: 24.89AUBrunei Darussalam: 0.00BNCambodia: 100.00KHChina: 100.00CNFiji: 82.80FJGuam: 83.33GUIndonesia: 95.57IDJapan: 76.76JPKiribati: 100.00KIKorea, Dem. People's Rep.: 100.00KPKorea, Rep.: 100.00KRLao PDR: 100.00LAMalaysia: 90.54MYMarshall Islands: 100.00MHMicronesia, Fed. Sts.: 100.00FMMongolia: 97.01MNMyanmar: 100.00MMNew Zealand: 0.00NZNorthern Mariana Islands: 26.92MPPapua New Guinea: 100.00PGPhilippines: 96.37PHSamoa: 100.00WSSingapore: 100.00SGSolomon Islands: 99.92SBThailand: 100.00THTimor-Leste: 100.00TLTonga: 99.81TOVanuatu: 100.00VUViet Nam: 100.00VNEurope & Central AsiaAlbania: 100.00ALAndorra: 17.82ADArmenia: 100.00AMAustria: 85.05ATAzerbaijan: 100.00AZBelarus: 99.93BYBelgium: 91.95BEBosnia and Herzegovina: 99.96BABulgaria: 99.89BGCroatia: 99.78HRCyprus: 100.00CYCzechia: 99.68CZDenmark: 56.91DKEstonia: 0.00EEFinland: 0.00FIFrance: 78.21FRGeorgia: 100.00GEGermany: 89.17DEGreece: 100.00GRGreenland: 80.02GLHungary: 100.00HUIceland: 10.29ISIreland: 0.27IEItaly: 94.78ITKazakhstan: 87.41KZKyrgyz Republic: 97.43KGLatvia: 89.01LVLithuania: 96.00LTLuxembourg: 68.78LUMoldova: 100.00MDMontenegro: 100.00MENetherlands: 99.60NLNorth Macedonia: 100.00MKNorway: 2.04NOPoland: 99.97PLPortugal: 16.01PTRomania: 98.02RORussian Federation: 91.61RUSerbia: 100.00RSSlovak Republic: 100.00SKSlovenia: 99.49SISpain: 41.12ESSweden: 3.64SESwitzerland: 49.30CHTajikistan: 100.00TJTurkiye: 100.00TRTurkmenistan: 100.00TMUkraine: 100.00UAUnited Kingdom: 66.53GBUzbekistan: 100.00UZLatin America & CaribbeanAntigua and Barbuda: 100.00AGArgentina: 93.85ARBahamas, The: 100.00BSBarbados: 100.00BBBelize: 100.00BZBolivia: 100.00BOBrazil: 68.14BRChile: 97.66CLColombia: 92.10COCosta Rica: 99.69CRCuba: 100.00CUDominica: 100.00DMDominican Republic: 99.91DOEcuador: 98.32ECEl Salvador: 100.00SVGrenada: 100.00GDGuatemala: 100.00GTGuyana: 99.99GYHaiti: 100.00HTHonduras: 99.98HNJamaica: 100.00JMMexico: 99.66MXNicaragua: 99.90NIPanama: 71.64PAParaguay: 99.06PYPeru: 99.96PEPuerto Rico (US): 3.67PRSt. Lucia: 100.00LCSt. Vincent and the Grenadines: 100.00VCSuriname: 100.00SRTrinidad and Tobago: 100.00TTUruguay: 22.39UYVenezuela, RB: 99.93VEVirgin Islands (U.S.): 40.00VIMiddle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & PakistanAfghanistan: 100.00AFAlgeria: 100.00DZBahrain: 100.00BHDjibouti: 100.00DJEgypt, Arab Rep.: 100.00EGIran, Islamic Rep.: 100.00IRIraq: 100.00IQIsrael: 100.00ILJordan: 100.00JOKuwait: 100.00KWLebanon: 100.00LBLibya: 100.00LYMalta: 100.00MTMorocco: 100.00MAOman: 100.00OMPakistan: 100.00PKQatar: 100.00QASaudi Arabia: 100.00SASyrian Arab Republic: 100.00SYTunisia: 100.00TNUnited Arab Emirates: 100.00AEWest Bank and Gaza: 100.00PSYemen, Rep.: 100.00YENorth AmericaBermuda: 100.00BMCanada: 0.00CAUnited States: 3.34USSouth AsiaBangladesh: 100.00BDBhutan: 100.00BTIndia: 100.00INMaldives: 0.00MVNepal: 100.00NPSri Lanka: 45.54LKSub-Saharan AfricaAngola: 100.00AOBenin: 100.00BJBotswana: 100.00BWBurkina Faso: 100.00BFBurundi: 100.00BICabo Verde: 100.00CVCameroon: 100.00CMCentral African Republic: 100.00CFChad: 100.00TDComoros: 100.00KMCongo, Dem. Rep.: 100.00CDCongo, Rep.: 100.00CGCote d'Ivoire: 100.00CIEquatorial Guinea: 100.00GQEritrea: 100.00EREswatini: 100.00SZEthiopia: 100.00ETGabon: 100.00GAGambia, The: 100.00GMGhana: 100.00GHGuinea: 100.00GNGuinea-Bissau: 100.00GWKenya: 100.00KELesotho: 100.00LSLiberia: 100.00LRMadagascar: 100.00MGMalawi: 100.00MWMali: 100.00MLMauritania: 100.00MRMauritius: 100.00MUMozambique: 100.00MZNamibia: 100.00NANiger: 100.00NENigeria: 100.00NGRwanda: 100.00RWSao Tome and Principe: 100.00STSenegal: 100.00SNSeychelles: 100.00SCSierra Leone: 100.00SLSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 100.00SOSouth Africa: 100.00ZASouth Sudan: 100.00SSSudan: 100.00SDTanzania: 100.00TZTogo: 100.00TGUganda: 100.00UGZambia: 100.00ZMZimbabwe: 100.00ZW

Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.

Highest Values — 2017

# Country PM2.5 air pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO guideline value (% of total)
1 Zimbabwe Sub-Saharan Africa 100.00
2 Albania Europe & Central Asia 100.00
3 Algeria Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 100.00
4 American Samoa East Asia & Pacific 100.00
5 Iran, Islamic Rep. Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 100.00
6 Iraq Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 100.00
7 Israel Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 100.00
8 Jamaica Latin America & Caribbean 100.00
9 Jordan Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 100.00
10 Kenya Sub-Saharan Africa 100.00

Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for PM2.5 air pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO guideline value (% of total).

View complete rankings →

Biggest Movers — Year over Year

Largest increases

Largest decreases

By Income Group — Average

Income group Countries Mean
High income 65 70.39
Upper middle income 52 96.23
Lower middle income 50 98.78
Low income 25 100.00
Not classified 2 99.97

By Region — Average

Region Countries Mean
East Asia & Pacific 30 85.80
Europe & Central Asia 50 78.19
Latin America & Caribbean 34 90.76
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 23 100.00
North America 3 34.45
South Asia 6 74.26
Sub-Saharan Africa 48 100.00

Lowest Values — 2017

# Country PM2.5 air pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO guideline value (% of total)
1 Estonia 0.00
2 New Zealand 0.00
3 Maldives 0.00
4 Finland 0.00
5 Brunei Darussalam 0.00
6 Canada 0.00
7 Ireland 0.27
8 Norway 2.04
9 United States 3.34
10 Sweden 3.64
Download full dataset: CSV JSON

Source: World Bank Open Data (EN.ATM.PM25.MC.ZS), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2017.