In the race to get to the top what does it matter that we destroy the planet [11] along the way? We won’t be around to see it get dragged down into the abysses of the cesspit that have become the race to the most economically-powerful country in the world. Think of pollution these days and China gets the number one position in the minds of the western world. Oh we have to find one way of excusing our laziness and our inability to stay at the top. Being knocked off the top of the roost you have to either land with both feet in the dung and carry on singing, or you have to criticize the others that get to the top of the pile and have trampled you beneath their billions of little feet eagerly marching to their factories. That’s what we have done in the mind’s eye of the general public in the western world, it’s now the bad, bad boys from China that are polluting what was once our planet. It was all chugging along fine and no questions were asked while we were polluting the place, but now it’s somebody else, it’s downright unacceptable.
But, all of that is nothing but the mind’s eye of the general public and the media. It’s not China. There are other places you should be setting foot in because the pollution is even worse. These are the places you are going to end up coming home with more than a mere glow if it’s a holiday destination. You’ll come back radioactive from some of these places.
The World Health Organization’s study about the most polluted places in the world ranks the countries according to air pollution and these are the places you should be steering clear of.
The global air pollution report issued by the WHO analyzed 1600 cities in a total of 19 countries in the world and used the PM2.5 and the PM10 readings. The first is seen to be the best indicator for the assessment of the impact of air pollution on health since it examines the concentration of fine particles in the air that are 2.5 micrometers or below in diameter. That could be smoke, dirt, dust or even mold and pollen in the air and these, when inhaled, represent the biggest threat to health.
Most Polluted
1. Pakistan
This country is the most polluted in the world and it has a pollution level of 101 ug/m3. PM2.5 means the finest particles that can therefore travel deep inside body tissue and be inhaled deep into one’s lungs. Pakistan has an average of 101 micrograms of 2.5 pollutants / unit meter of air. The population of Pakistan stands at roughly 180 million and it is believed that air pollution causes millions of deaths every year. The report stated that the pollution in Pakistan was “the most severe in the world and it engenders significant damage to human health and the economy”. 35% of the Pakistani population is affected by air pollution and there were 22,000 deaths related to air pollution problems in 2005 alone. It is estimated also that air pollution is 4 times greater than average levels that are deemed as acceptable by the World Health Organization.
2. Qatar
The average PM2.5 stands at 92 ug/m3 in this country. There is a small but growing population of 2 million people in this country but it’s the rate of construction and air traffic over the country that has made it the 2ndworst in the world today. Qatar’s air pollution is at an unacceptable level for your health 44% of the year, in fact today, exceeding recommended levels 159 days of the year. Regulations in Qatar are more lax than in other countries also it would seem. The WHO has standards for PM10 (larger particles caused by dust and smoke) fixed at 50 ug/m3 for a 24-hour average period. Qatar has standards that are three times that level (150 ug/m3).
3. Afghanistan
Average PM2.5 pollution is at 84 ug/m3 making it the third most-polluted country in the world. Estimated have stated that there are some 3,000 deaths per year caused by pollution which may not seem a lot at all in a war-stricken country that has suffered three decades of contemporary occupation and dispute of its territory in a fight between the East and the West (some will probably say even longer). A growing population has led to the building of illegal housing and lack of access to electricity and fuel has meant that people have burnt anything available, including plastics and toxic waste.
4. Bangladesh
This country has an average PM2.5 pollution level of 79 ug/m3. In the past decade alone the quality of the air in this very poor country has fallen by 60% and three cities in Bangladesh currently appear in the worst 25 countries in the world for air pollution. There are some 230 million cases of respiratory diseases annually in Bangladesh today, costing more than $500 million to the health industry. Bangladesh has old technology and weak environmental legislation and little desire to see that change, expelling 9.8 million tons of greenhouse gases every year.
5. Iran
Iran has an average PM2.5 pollution of 76 ug/m3. There are 4 cities in this country that are on the top-ten list of cities that are the most polluted in the world. In February 2015 lawmakers even went as far as to wear facemasks in a bout of solidarity in order to draw attention to pollution problems. In 2012, there were 4,500 people that died prematurely in Tehran alone due to air pollution problems and there were some 80,000 across the country. Those figures came from the Iranian Health Ministry; so it’s feasible that they may even be a lot higher than that.
6. Egypt
The average PM2.5 pollution stands at 74 ug/m3. If you were a resident in Cairo you would be breathing in 20 times the level of what is acceptable by the WHO every single day. The economy is still running on coal and wood and the old-equipped or ill-equipped factories are constantly churning out dust particles. The climate also contributes to making the air even more polluted, since the dust is windblown from arid areas adding even more problems to the country.
7. Mongolia
Average PM2.5 pollution is at 64 ug/m3. This country may not be in an arid area at all and it may have a very small population of just 2.7 million people but the country has temperatures below -40°C (-104°F) and so they end up burning more coal than others in the country. Ulaanbaatar, the capital, is one of the most-polluted cities on the planet today. It is the coldest national capital in the world.
8. United Arab Emirates
Average PM2.5 pollution stands at 61 ug/m3 here and although this might be one of the richest countries in the world like Qatar, it has terrible air-pollution problems today. The population stands at 9 million but it had to even launch a national “car free day” because pollution from congestion and use of vehicles has led to air particles and major health issues that have ensued.
9. India
The average PM2.5 level here stands at 59 ug/m3. New Delhi is also one of the worst polluted cities in the world tying first place with Beijing in China. The pollution levels were 60 times higher than the level that is considered to be safe in 2013. The main cause is the sheer population, the number of open fires, vehicle and industrial emissions.
10. Bahrain
This country has an average PM2.5 pollution level standing at 57 ug/m3. Bahrain only has a population of 1.3 million but its air pollution comes from lack of regulation, energy production and smoke emissions from industrial plants.
These countries are not all poor. They are not all developing nations. They are sometimes some of the richest countries in the world and yet they have lax regulation regarding pollutants. These are the countries that you are likely to have respiratory problems in and what about the cities? The cities that are the worst in the world are perhaps not the ones that you were thinking of either:
Top 10 Most Air-Polluted Cities in the World
10. Kabul, Afghanistan
9. Hong Kong, Hong Kong
8. Guanzhou, China
7. Chongqing, China
6. Cairo, Egypt
5. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
4. Mexico City, Mexico
3. Santiago, Chile
1. New Delhi, India & Beijing, China
The world is worried about the air that we breathe. Estimates for world deaths due to air pollution stand at 2 million people per year today and that figure is rising. There’s not a day that goes by where we don’t have some report in the media [12] about how there’s going to be a hard time had by all of those that suffer from asthma. There are people that want in the decision-making wisdom that they believe to possess the idea that we should stop using cars in some cities, or that we should drive on alternate days and hat car-pooling is the future.
What’s the solution to air pollution and what’s the most polluted place in the US for you?
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