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Countries with the Most Air Pollution

Which countries have the highest level of human exposure to particulate matter?
For the year 2019
Source: Global Burden of Disease Study via the World Bank
Includes particulate matter from human pollution and natural sources such as sand (hint!)
Color-coded by continent
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Quizmaster
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Last updated: August 8, 2025
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First submittedJune 18, 2016
Times taken52,303
Average score65.0%
Rating4.33
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μg/m³
Country
81.01
Qatar
72.47
Niger
72.20
Mauritania
67.75
Egypt
60.34
Senegal
59.97
Bahrain
59.89
India
58.62
Saudi Arabia
58.33
Afghanistan
57.39
Mali
57.28
Nepal
54.87
Gambia
52.86
Pakistan
52.78
Kuwait
51.94
Sudan
51.87
Chad
51.72
Nigeria
50.71
Burkina Faso
50.36
Bangladesh
49.66
Ghana
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44 Comments
Jerry928
+6
Level 76
Jun 18, 2016
Taiwan is pretty polluted, but the World Bank's list doesn't include Taiwan at all.
Quizzer6794
+9
Level 66
Jun 21, 2016
+1 Probably a Chinese source ;)
LittleMLO
+8
Level 11
Oct 10, 2016
Taiwan to some is considered a part of China, not a country... yet.
Akula
+25
Level 79
May 11, 2019
Definitely a country - has its own military, currency, system of government, border controls.
KingWilwin
+5
Level 63
Oct 28, 2019
+Akula It is a country according to the majority of the world, but it isn't a country in the UN.
Chinamaster
+3
Level 63
Nov 7, 2025
Oh…….. by most of the world, do you actually mean most of the world or just, uh……. Paraguay and a whole other bunch of island nations as small as a village? Please tell me how Paraguay, Vatican City and some more small countries make up most of the world?
Ampersandwich
+5
Level 61
Nov 7, 2025
Based on your username, you already have a bias & since you're being dense with your commenting, here's what they mean

Taiwan is de-facto independent & FUNCTIONS like a country, the same with the US, France, or South Africa does. Pretty much every country - including China which conducts trade with them - tacitly recognizes it as independent.

However, unlike those aforementioned countries, Taiwan doesn't have UN recognition.

In every other aspect, it is a country.

KanzazKyote
+8
Level 92
Feb 11, 2021
Neither was Switzerland until 2002, or the entire world until 1945. I guess no countries existed before then?
brianbohn
+17
Level 98
May 10, 2019
Taiwan actually cleaned up its pollution problems over the past decade. They are a world leader in recycling, and generate much less air pollution now that most factories have moved to China
EthanColaco
+4
Level 27
Jul 2, 2019
And I don't see the U.S., Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico on this list...
sillie
+15
Level 75
Jun 18, 2016
Includes "natural sources" - that must be the sandstorms in the desert, so many of these countries are in and around Sahara.
grantdon
+3
Level 74
Aug 8, 2016
Volcanic sources too - thought Iceland was a special
Zefyrinus
+7
Level 74
Aug 8, 2016
Yeah, when I figured that out I just started typing in desert countries. Surprised no micronations are on this list, because in those cases the entire country is a city, and any modern city is way more poluted than the surrounding country side.
Parinter
+3
Level 43
Jul 26, 2016
100% ! 40 seconds remaining... Surprise for Mauritania
TomatosRaafatos
+8
Level 76
Aug 8, 2016
I flirted with the idea of Nepal being on the list but didn't type it. I thought a country in the middle of the Himalayas would have minimum pollution. Alas! Didn't read the natural sources part. I suppose the frequent blizzards might be why it's on the list.
Jiaozira
+11
Level 72
Aug 8, 2016
Kathmandu actually has plenty of pollution in it.
Quizmaster
+11
Level ∞
Aug 8, 2016
True. And this data measures human exposure. Most of the population of Nepal lives at lower elevation where pollution is heavy.
samiamco
+14
Level 67
May 14, 2019
Kathmandu is horrifically polluted. The biggest reason is unregulated car emissions, but it's exacerbated by general lack of development: they still use do things like use chimneyed cooking stoves and burn their trash. Yet there's still a huge population growth rate, and with money brought in by Everest climbers and the Tibetan religious refugees' followers/students (who are white, Western, and affluent),there are always development/construction projects going on, which stirs up tons of dust (Nepal isn't exactly lush). I don't know if Kathmandu itself is bad enough to drag the whole country's average down or if the whole country is just socked in by weather patterns, but either way, take an industrial-strength gas mask with you.
HydratedMite
+4
Level 68
Aug 21, 2025
Happening to be mountain-adjacent doesn't save a low-developed densely-populated city from pollution
kalbahamut
+3
Level 79
Aug 8, 2016
Picked up all the ones in the Middle East but missed most of the ones in Africa.
cqcrt
+3
Level 78
Aug 8, 2016
Holy middle east batman
Malbaby
+5
Level 70
Aug 12, 2016
All the money received by some of these countries by oil production and they can't fix up their air pollution. What do they spend their billions and billions on?
Quizmaster
+6
Level ∞
Jan 4, 2017
Supercars!
cpgatbyu
+13
Level 88
Jan 12, 2017
What's the most cost-effective way of stopping a sandstorm in the desert?
IneedasHower
+11
Level 32
Feb 25, 2017
throw all the sand from the sahara desert into the ocean.
WolfCam
+7
Level 67
Aug 7, 2018
Get rid of the desert
kalbahamut
+5
Level 79
Mar 10, 2019
they go out and spray water on some of it around cities in Saudi Arabia, and also a tar-like substance in some places which is more effective.
samiamco
+9
Level 67
May 14, 2019
The oil money all goes to their country's insanely disproportionate 1%, who buy giant mansions in places like Monaco, the US, and Switzerland, garages full of priceless cars, yachts, private planes, and hotels in Beverly Hills – then spend most of their time out of the country frolicking. They don't give a flying turd about improving infrastructure or the plight of the poor in their home country (even if they're the rulers too, which often is the case).
kalbahamut
+2
Level 79
Jul 1, 2019
There's not really much they can do about the sandstorms in Saudi Arabia. They do a bit, as I described above, but the Arabian desert is pretty big. Also, though there are an estimated 30,000 princes in Saudi Arabia that's more like a tenth of one percent. And to be fair a lot of oil money HAS gone in to improving public infrastructure in these countries. You want to go and take a look at the roads and public transportation options in Dubai, and then compare those to what you might see in Egypt or Yemen? Pretty stark contrast. Though there is also a lot of corruption, but there's enough money to go around in many cases.
theyoungwolf
+2
Level 55
Feb 14, 2018
Only missed Cameroon
MooshGuy
+2
Level 30
Nov 25, 2018
*gets Uganda with 14 seconds left*

YEEE

kalbahamut
+2
Level 79
Dec 17, 2018
I've spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia and the Philippines and I feel like the air quality in the Philippines is markedly worse. Maybe not if you factor in the entire country as a whole, as most of the pollution in the Philippines surrounds major cities while the sand in the air in Saudi you can find everywhere.
Malbaby
+3
Level 70
May 13, 2019
Burning wood for heat and cooking does not help. Fly over many of these countries at night and you see thousands and thousands of fires burning in the night.
martay
+2
Level 69
Jun 30, 2019
I associate pollution with the negative by-product of industry down through more individual contributions like consumer waste. Natural phenomena like sand storms seem to be heavily skewing these numbers.
Rimpak
+5
Level 36
Oct 28, 2019
The inclusion of natural events makes this quiz pretty much useless in my opinion. Sandstorms and blizzards are not what people think about when they hear the word 'pollution'.
mapgeek
+3
Level 63
Jul 22, 2021
I only got the CAR because the column was wide, so I started guessing countries with long names.
slug
+3
Level 73
Dec 22, 2021
Interesting strategy! I will have to remember that.
MCdoesgeography
+1
Level 74
Aug 26, 2023
Equatorial Guinea? Why?
protector441
+2
Level 48
Aug 11, 2025
High urbanisation rate in the capital city, no environmental standards and massive oil extraction. It slipped off the list as of 2025. I was surprised to actually NOT see it anymore.
shaniquanderson
+1
Level 58
Nov 14, 2023
almost missed india but forgot pakistan... they're almost the same country... 😕
Ampersandwich
+1
Level 61
Nov 7, 2025
How to piss off 1.7 billion people
milancampion
+3
Level 75
Jul 1, 2024
You need to specify that this is in terms of PM 2.5 levels, if indeed that is what it is
Vaswani
+1
Level 22
Aug 7, 2024
Bangladesh is ranked 1! Not 12.
owllover4709
+1
Level 64
Nov 8, 2025
Got all but Mali! Super awesome quiz
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