11 Least Polluted Countries in the World in 2018

Climate changes and environmental issues make us think more about future of existence of life on our planet, and some countries are obviously taking more care of it, so here we will see the top 11 least polluted countries in the world in 2018.

Pollution is all around us, and under the term we think of many things, such as toxic chemicals, waste, plastic, air pollution, oil stains, radioactive waste, and you name it. It comes in all stages, solid, gas and liquid, but some would also add to it noise or light pollution as well, being huge problems of modern societies.

But how to measure the impact of a single country to the global state of pollution? What is the variable which is a good indicator of pollution?

Probably the air pollution is one of the most obvious of those, at least concerning humans at the moment. That is because the rising industries and economies, such as China, for example, being among the top 10 countries with worst air pollution in the world, depend on heavy industries witch are the largest producers of CO₂. On the contrary, there is Sri Lanka or Singapore, being the least polluted countries in Asia. So, on the matter of air pollution and clean air, we can recommend you to go through the 15 Countries with the Cleanest Air in the World in 2018.

Apart from China, among the other most polluted countries in the world are Pakistan, Qatar, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Apart from having alarming rates of air pollutants, and other pollutants in general, governments of these countries do not seem to have much interest in environmental issues, some of them having other issues waiting to be resolved – poverty, war, etc.

We should not neglect the other kinds of pollution having the air pollution the first on the mind. Water pollution, as we have mentioned, is one of the others. Since nothing in nature occurs as a sole event, that is how water pollution is related with other kinds of pollution, for example, chemicals and pesticides used in agriculture rinse directly to the underground waters or nearby streams, which then come back as rain when all that water evaporates. Apart from this, solid waste and sewage and industrial waste discharge are also heavy pollutants. A report of Ocean Healing Index organization notices that wealthier stable countries and regions with stable governance tend to have higher scores that impact the global ocean health, meaning that they care more about their waters. Is the country’s political and economic state an important factor for a country to be among least polluted countries in the world? Apparently yes, as we will see further down on our list.

We will mention now just one more important pollution source — the agriculture. Development of pesticides and chemicals has shown as a good thing at the beginning, but after years and decades of their use we, now see devastating consequences in our environment. And after long-term use, the chemicals seem to have the counter effect on soil making it infertile for example. Some countries are working hard on reducing the use of chemicals and improving greener agriculture, and it seems that on long distances this hard effort pays-off nicely.

Our main resource to find out which the least polluted countries in the world was a research conducted by the Yale University on environmental impacts of countries. The data they have gathered encompasses many indicators: air quality, air pollution, water, heavy metals, water resources, agriculture, forests, etc. The final score, the EPI rank (Environmental Performance Index), represents ranking of countries with all these issues taken into account and divided into categories: EPI, environmental health, and the ecosystem vitality. Just for the additional information on these countries, we have added two more data which concern CO2 emission and the air pollution since those are the issues that the public is mostly concerned about. The data for the air pollution comes from the Worldbank for the CO₂ emissions, and the World Health Organization for the concentration of fine particulate matter in the air (PM2.5).

So, the highest the EPI the cleaner the country. The highest (theoretical) value for the EPI is 100 while CO₂ emissions are expressed in metric tons per capita. And in the end, the PM2.5 represents the mean concentration of concentration of particles in the air of less than 2.5 microns as a measure of air pollution. Both CO₂ emissions and PM2.5 values come form 2014 as the most recent data, while EPI is the current statistics for 2018.

Having set the parameters, let’s see which the greenest the least polluted countries in the world in 2018 are.

11. Iceland

EPI: 78.57

CO₂ emission: 6.06

PM2.5: 7.6

Since Iceland is sparsely inhabited, air pollution caused by traffic, as one of the greatest pollutants of urban areas is at a minimum. That’s why this is one of the countries with cleanest air. But in Reykjavik situation is different than in the rest of the country. One of the problems here is – high traffic and no winds to regulate the air flow. On the matter of the environmental conservation, Iceland is doing much about it, protecting unique wilderness sites, developing renewable energy technologies and having among of the cleanest waters in the world.

Up next on our list we have top ten least polluted countries in the world in 2018.

10. Finland

EPI: 78.64

CO₂ emission: 8.7

PM2.5: 6.9

Finland is one of these countries that care much about the environment, being among the least polluted countries in the world. The air pollution control has made air quality much better in recent decades. Finland is doing great in other fields as well, having reduced industrial and agricultural waste to a minimum recently. Though that was not always the case. Some thirty years ago Finland had a great issue of polluted waters exactly due to the industrial development. But things seem to be going great nowadays.

9. Ireland

EPI: 78.77

CO₂ emission: 7.37

PM2.5: 9.5

It seems that air pollution is also the most burning issue concerning pollution in Ireland, the number 9 on our list of least polluted countries in the world in 2018. Among the big pollutants in Ireland is burning of solid fuel. Solid fuel makes 70% of the whole air pollution and only 4% of is used as fuel, so you do the math.

8. Austria

EPI: 78.97

CO₂ emission: 6.87

PM2.5: 16

Around 60% of the territory of Austria, the next on our list of least polluted countries in the world in 2018, is covered in a mountainous landscape, the Alps, of course, being taken care of a lot. For example, the Hohe Tauern National Park is the biggest National park in Central Europe, just being one of many others. Also, with 15% of the organic land, Austria is at the first place in Europe on this matter.

7. Luxembourg

EPI: 79.12

CO₂ emission: 17.36

PM2.5: 16.2

Being among the least polluted countries in general, Luxembourg has the problem of clean air. But in case of this country, it is not all their fault. Namely, it is a problem of surrounding countries, and especially Germany from which the majority of air pollutants are introduced to Luxembourg.

6. UK

EPI: 79.89

CO₂ emission:6.49

PM2.5: 12.1

Air pollution, as we have seen, is the worst in urban areas of course. Britain, the number 6 on our list of least polluted countries in the world in 2018 is not an exception to this either, having three-quarters of worst air pollution hotspots being in London. But it seems that levels of air pollution are getting slightly lower in recent times.

5. Sweden

EPI: 80.51

CO₂ emission: 4.47

PM2.5: 5.7

Sweden ranks 5th on our list of least polluted countries in the world in 2018. It has several major problems concerning pollution, which are acidification of lakes due to agriculture and pollution of Baltic Sea. Nevertheless, as being one of the least polluted countries in the world, Sweden is recycling or producing biogas from 99% of solid waste.

4. Malta

EPI: 80.90

CO₂ emission: 5.49

PM2.5: 14

One of the great issues of Malta concerning the pollution, in general, is the air pollution. Malta is the 4^th country in Europe with highest air pollution. The worst sources of pollution are vehicles, and Malta’s government is thinking of introducing the electric cars in the near future.

And now, let’s see the top three least polluted countries in the world in 2018.

3. Denmark

EPI: 81.60

CO₂ emission: 5.93

PM2.5: 10.3

As one of the least polluted countries in the world, Denmark seems to care a lot about the environment. One of the worst pollutants of Denmark is the agriculture, meaning pesticides and chemicals used in it, since Denmark has around 60% of territory covered in agricultural fields. Luckily, Denmark is working hard on lowering the toxic pollutants use in agriculture as one of the measures. It is also a leader country in improving the clean technology.

2. France

EPI: 83.95

CO₂ emission: 4.57

PM2.5: 12

Although according to other factors France cares a lot about the environment and the pollution in general, it seems that urban areas, namely Paris, have a lot of issues with air pollution. Levels of air pollution have reached the record levels in December 2 years ago, even though the authorities are fighting against the biggest pollutants in urban areas which are cars by raising fines for those who do not have low-emitting cars.

1. Switzerland

EPI: 87.42

CO₂ emission: 4.31

PM2.5: 12

As one of the wealthiest countries, Switzerland seems to be the least polluted country in the world in 2018 as well. But it is not all sunshine and rainbows there as well. Around 1,500 people in Switzerland die annually from some of the diseases caused by air pollution in this country. That makes 18 in 100,000 people having health issues caused by the pollution.

This wraps it up for our list of least polluted countries in the world in 2018. If we have these facts for the least polluted countries, how bad is the situation then in the worst polluted countries? We need to think more about the future of our planet in order for us and other living creatures to survive on it.