1- Mongolia
Pollution level: 279 ug/m3
This is a surprising number one in the ranking given its population and development, but Mongolia is home to one of the world’s most polluted cities — Ulaanbaatar. This city’s population has expanded by 70 percent over the last 20 years with the city’s infrastructure unable to keep up with the growth. The number of premature deaths, cases of chronic bronchitis and respiratory related hospital admissions are on a rapid rise. The government has been trying to mitigate the problems by introducing measures such as cleaner coal-based fuel and modern stoves to address its pollution crisis. Mongolia is our number one most polluted country.
You might be surprised that countries such as the U.S and China didn’t make it into the ranking. That is because on average, the air pollution is lesser than in these countries. But don’t assume that they are clean countries; both China and the U.S have cities and areas that are among the most polluted in the world. But they are also the two leading countries in research and investment towards finding solutions to this problem. Global warming as a result of carbon emission is not a theory, it is a scientific fact, and as such we must take this problem into account. It is not about politics or economics; it is about the future of our entire planet.
