Air pollution: Kyrgyzstan is in top 20 of rating at year-end 2023

Analysts from the Swiss company IQAir published a report on air quality in different countries for 2023. The level of air pollution was assessed in 134 countries and 7,812 cities.

According to the report, only ten countries and territories around the world had levels of air pollutant PM2.5 that met global health standards.

The cleanest air was in French Polynesia, Mauritius, Iceland, Grenada, Bermuda, New Zealand, Australia, Puerto Rico, Estonia and Finland.

The countries with the most polluted air are Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. The volume of particulate matter PM 2.5 there exceeds the WHO standard by more than ten times. Tajikistan also entered the top five of the rating.

Kyrgyzstan took the 18^th place with an average annual PM2.5 concentration (μg/m³) of 33.1. This is 5-7 times more than the WHO recommended values. It is interesting that in 2023 the concentration of harmful substances throughout the country was higher than in 2022, and in Bishkek it was lower.