11 Worst Countries for Air Pollution

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Pollution isn’t only bad for the world we live in, but can also be hazardous to our very health, although that doesn’t seem to be the idea fueling any changes in the world, especially in these 11 worst countries for air pollution.

What it all boils down to is the fact that the air around us has too many foreign particles in it, whether they’re biological molecules or other materials. Since these can float up into the atmosphere, they can cause various issues, including medical ones and even death to humans, animals, as well as crops. The entire environment, whether man-made or natural, has to suffer from pollution. And it’s even worse when people are having some medical issues, as it can be seen in these worst cities for people with asthma in America.

11 Worst Countries for Air Pollution

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Nowadays, with the increased development of the world’s industries, gasses from cars and so on, the situation is quickly becoming dire as the stratospheric ozone layer is depleting creating a hole that lets in harmful UVB wavelengths. Reports from the World Health Organization indicate that in 2012 alone about 7 people died earlier than they should have due to medical issues born because of high pollution.

The world’s air is healthier in some areas of the globe and not doing so well in others, mostly overly industrialized areas. For instance, if you want to check out and see how things are in your area, you can take a look at the live World Air Quality Index site. The visual map gives you access to countless flags with numbers planted in most countries and states indicating just how bad the situation is.

For instance, indexes between 0 and 50 are the best, with the situation growing in gravity with every added 50 to 100 points. Starting with 101 the air can be unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, the elderly and people with various respiratory illnesses. From 151 to 200 the air is unhealthy, from 201 to 300 it’s very unhealthy and from 301 to 500 it’s hazardous. Thankfully, the situation hasn’t gotten so bad, but it’s not good either.

The World Health Organization released a report regarding the levels of PM10, which are the particles in the air that we consider regular pollution, be them dirt, smoke and so on, as well as the PM2.5 which are finer particles polluting the air, such as toxic compounds or the heavy metals that lift to the sky following fires, for instance. We ranked them all for both the PM10 and the PM2.5 indexes, added the points and came up with this new list of the 11 worst countries for air pollution.

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