Statizoid

PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-3 value (% of total) by country

Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) Interim Target 3 (IT-3) is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 15 micrograms per cubic meter. The Air Quality...

Countries reporting
194
Highest
100.0%
Afghanistan
Lowest
0.0%
Samoa
Median
99.3%
Years covered
28
1990–2017
Data points
2,328

What the numbers show

PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-3 value (% of total) is currently reported for 194 countries. The highest value is 100.0% in Afghanistan; the lowest is 0.0% in Samoa.

The median across all reporting countries is 99.3%, and the mean is 69.2%.

Over the past decade 8 countries rose and 95 fell. The largest increase was in Liberia (up 25.9%), and the largest decrease in Andorra (down 100.0%).

PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Ta: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Afghanistan 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Angola 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 United Arab Emirates 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Armenia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Antigua and Barbuda 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
1 Azerbaijan 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
1 Burundi 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Benin 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Burkina Faso 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Bangladesh 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Bahrain 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Belize 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Barbados 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Bhutan 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Botswana 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Central African Republic 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Cote d'Ivoire 100.0% 2017 up 0.9% flat
1 Cameroon 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Democratic Republic of Congo 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Congo 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Comoros 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Cape Verde 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Djibouti 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Dominica 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Algeria 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Egypt 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Eritrea 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Ethiopia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Gabon 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Ghana 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Gambia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Guinea-Bissau 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Equatorial Guinea 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Grenada 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Iraq 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Jordan 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
1 Kenya 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 South Korea 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Kuwait 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Libya 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Saint Lucia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Lesotho 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Morocco 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Madagascar 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Mali 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Mozambique 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Mauritania 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Malawi 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Namibia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Niger 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Nigeria 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Nepal 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Oman 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Pakistan 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 North Korea 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Palestine 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
1 Qatar 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Rwanda 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Saudi Arabia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Sudan 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Senegal 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Singapore 100.0% 2017 up 0.0% flat
1 Sierra Leone 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 El Salvador 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
1 Somalia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 South Sudan 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Sao Tome and Principe 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Eswatini 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Seychelles 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Syria 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Chad 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Togo 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Tajikistan 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Trinidad and Tobago 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Tunisia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Tanzania 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Uganda 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Yemen 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Zambia 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
1 Zimbabwe 100.0% 2017 unchanged flat
82 Myanmar 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
83 Turkey 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
84 Guatemala 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
85 Cambodia 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
86 Iran 100.0% 2017 up 0.0% flat
87 Turkmenistan 100.0% 2017 down 0.0% flat
88 Guinea 99.9% 2017 up 3.9% flat
89 India 99.9% 2017 down 0.0% flat
90 China 99.9% 2017 down 0.1% flat
91 North Macedonia 99.9% 2017 down 0.1% flat
92 South Africa 99.9% 2017 up 0.0% flat
93 Lebanon 99.9% 2017 down 0.1% flat
94 Suriname 99.7% 2017 down 0.3% flat
95 Thailand 99.6% 2017 down 0.4% flat
96 Montenegro 99.6% 2017 down 0.4% flat
97 Liberia 99.4% 2017 up 25.9% falling
98 Vietnam 99.2% 2017 down 0.8% flat
99 Guyana 99.2% 2017 down 0.6% flat
100 Serbia 99.1% 2017 down 0.8% flat
101 Georgia 98.9% 2017 down 1.1% flat
102 Laos 98.6% 2017 down 1.4% flat
103 Ukraine 97.9% 2017 down 1.9% flat
104 Uzbekistan 97.7% 2017 down 2.3% flat
105 Peru 97.2% 2017 down 2.5% flat
106 Honduras 96.6% 2017 down 3.3% flat
107 Bosnia and Herzegovina 96.3% 2017 down 3.5% flat
108 East Timor 96.3% 2017 down 0.0% flat
109 Bolivia 95.8% 2017 down 4.1% flat
110 Israel 94.1% 2017 down 3.3% flat
111 Cyprus 91.5% 2017 down 7.9% flat
112 Slovakia 90.9% 2017 down 9.1% falling
113 Bahamas 90.5% 2017 down 8.5% falling
114 Belarus 90.2% 2017 down 9.3% falling
115 Mongolia 89.9% 2017 up 0.7% rising
116 Bulgaria 89.4% 2017 down 9.1% falling
117 Poland 87.2% 2017 down 10.1% falling
118 Mexico 86.6% 2017 down 12.6% falling
119 Albania 84.6% 2017 down 13.1% falling
120 Chile 82.3% 2017 down 11.4% falling
121 Philippines 78.6% 2017 down 9.2% falling
122 Moldova 77.8% 2017 down 17.3% falling
123 Nicaragua 75.7% 2017 down 22.6% falling
124 Croatia 73.9% 2017 down 20.4% falling
125 Venezuela 72.1% 2017 down 26.7% falling
126 Cuba 63.8% 2017 down 36.0% falling
127 Kyrgyzstan 63.4% 2017 down 23.2% falling
128 Slovenia 62.7% 2017 down 34.2% falling
129 Mauritius 60.7% 2017 up 0.3% flat
130 Russia 60.0% 2017 down 26.2% falling
131 Malta 59.1% 2017 down 14.1% falling
132 Hungary 58.8% 2017 down 41.2% falling
133 Malaysia 58.8% 2017 down 27.1% falling
134 Colombia 58.4% 2017 down 30.6% falling
135 Costa Rica 57.7% 2017 down 38.6% falling
136 Greece 56.9% 2017 down 35.1% falling
137 Italy 53.3% 2017 down 28.7% falling
138 Czechia 52.5% 2017 down 43.7% falling
139 Indonesia 52.0% 2017 down 31.2% falling
140 Ecuador 46.8% 2017 down 50.3% falling
141 Sri Lanka 43.5% 2017 down 56.5% falling
142 Romania 42.3% 2017 down 38.1% falling
143 Haiti 40.4% 2017 down 59.6% falling
144 Dominican Republic 29.3% 2017 down 60.1% falling
145 Kazakhstan 24.4% 2017 down 39.7% falling
146 Argentina 20.6% 2017 down 58.2% falling
147 Brazil 19.0% 2017 down 56.8% falling
148 Latvia 16.9% 2017 down 70.0% falling
149 Jamaica 14.5% 2017 down 70.5% falling
150 Austria 14.1% 2017 down 75.2% falling
151 United States Virgin Islands 10.0% 2017 down 50.0% volatile
152 Japan 9.7% 2017 down 73.9% falling
153 Australia 9.2% 2017 down 49.5% falling
154 Belgium 9.2% 2017 down 85.0% volatile
155 France 9.1% 2017 down 77.1% falling
156 Lithuania 8.3% 2017 down 65.8% volatile
157 Germany 6.8% 2017 down 78.6% volatile
158 Papua New Guinea 3.1% 2017 down 83.3% volatile
159 Paraguay 2.9% 2017 down 91.9% volatile
160 Switzerland 1.4% 2017 down 90.9% volatile
161 United Kingdom 1.2% 2017 down 84.8% volatile
162 Spain 1.0% 2017 down 91.0% volatile
163 Panama 0.9% 2017 down 97.6% volatile
164 United States 0.3% 2017 down 42.9% falling
165 Netherlands 0.0% 2017 down 99.9% volatile
166 Andorra 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 American Samoa 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Bermuda 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Brunei 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Canada 0.0% 2017 — volatile
166 Denmark 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Estonia 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Finland 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Fiji 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Micronesia (country) 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Greenland 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Guam 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Ireland 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Iceland 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Kiribati 0.0% 2017 — volatile
166 Luxembourg 0.0% 2017 — volatile
166 Maldives 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Marshall Islands 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Northern Mariana Islands 0.0% 2017 — volatile
166 Norway 0.0% 2017 — volatile
166 New Zealand 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Puerto Rico 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Portugal 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Solomon Islands 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Sweden 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Tonga 0.0% 2017 — flat
166 Uruguay 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Vanuatu 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile
166 Samoa 0.0% 2017 down 100.0% volatile

About this data

Indicator
PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-3 value (% of total)
Unit
% of total
Source
Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 (GBD 2017), Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
194 places, 2,328 data points, 1990–2017
Last refreshed

Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) Interim Target 3 (IT-3) is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 15 micrograms per cubic meter. The Air Quality Guideline (AQG) of 10 micrograms per cubic meter is recommended by the WHO as the lower end of the range of concentrations over which adverse health effects due to PM2.5 exposure have been observed.