• About 90% of the worldwide population in 2022 seasoned unhealthy air excellent, according to a new report from Swiss air excellent technologies firm IQAir.
• IQAir measured air excellent levels primarily based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles recognized as PM two.five.
• The report identified that the top rated 5 most polluted nations in 2022 had been Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain and Bangladesh.

Commuters make their way along a street amid smoggy and foggy circumstances early in the morning in Lahore on January three, 2023.

Arif Ali | AFP | Getty Photos

About 90% of the worldwide population in 2022 seasoned unhealthy air excellent, and only six nations met the Globe Overall health Organization’s suggestions of protected air pollutant levels, according to a new report from Swiss air excellent technologies firm IQAir.

IQAir measured air excellent levels primarily based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles recognized as PM two.five. Investigation shows that exposure to such particulate matter can lead to heart attacks, asthma attacks and premature death. Research have also linked lengthy-term exposure to PM two.five with higher prices of death from Covid-19.

When the WHO initially published air excellent guidance in 2005, it stated the acceptable levels of air pollution had been much less than ten micrograms per cubic meter. In 2021, the WHO changed its benchmark suggestions to under five micrograms per cubic meter.

The report identified that the top rated 5 most polluted nations in 2022 had been Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain and Bangladesh. The most polluted cities globally had been Lahore, Pakistan Hotan, China Bhiwadi, India Delhi, India and Peshawar, Pakistan.

Lahore’s air excellent worsened to 97.four micrograms of PM two.five particles per cubic meter in 2022 from 86.five in the year prior, producing it the most polluted city in the planet.

The report also stated India and Pakistan endured the worst air excellent in the Central and South Asian area, exactly where a lot more than half of the population resides in locations exactly where the concentration of PM two.five particles is about seven instances larger than WHO’s recommended levels.

In the U.S., the most polluted big cities had been Columbus, Ohio, followed by Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis and Dallas. Air excellent in Columbus hit 13.1 micrograms of PM two.five particles per cubic meter in 202, producing it the most polluted big city in the U.S.

The Biden administration this year proposed limiting pollution of industrial fine soot particles from the existing annual level of 12 micrograms per cubic meter to a level amongst 9 and ten micrograms per cubic meter. Some public overall health advocates criticized that proposal as not going far sufficient.

Only six nations met the WHO’s updated overall health limits: Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland and New Zealand, the report stated. The 2022 report utilized air excellent information from a lot more than 30,000 regulatory air excellent monitoring stations and air excellent sensors from 7,323 cities across 131 nations, regions and territories.

Air pollution requires a lot more than two years off the typical worldwide life expectancy, according to the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Sixty % of particulate matter air pollution comes from fossil fuel combustion.

“Also lots of men and women about the planet never know that they are breathing polluted air,” Aidan Farrow, senior air excellent scientist at Greenpeace International, stated in a statement.

“Air pollution monitors give difficult information that can inspire communities to demand alter and hold polluters to account, but when monitoring is patchy or unequal, vulnerable communities can be left with no information to act on,” Farrow stated.