Dhaka ranks worst in Air Quality Index (AQI)

Dhaka, one of the most polluted cities in the world, ranked worst in the Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday morning, reports UNB.

It had a score of 188 at 10:24am. The air was classified as 'unhealthy'.

When the AQI value is between 151 and 200, everyone may begin to experience health effects. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.

Pakistan's Lahore and India's Delhi occupied the second and third spots in the list with scores of 178 and 176 respectively.

The AQI, an index for reporting the daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants - Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.

World's most polluted country

Bangladesh topped the list of the world's most polluted countries in 2019 for PM2.5 exposure, according to an IQAir AirVisual report.

The 2019 World Air Quality Report is based on data from the world's largest centralised platform for real-time air quality data, combining efforts from thousands of initiatives run by citizens, communities, companies, non-profit organisations and governments.

It includes only PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) data as acquired from ground-based air quality monitoring stations with high data availability.