by Italy, Turkey and Greece are among the European holiday destinations with the highest levels of air pollution, while the Costa del Sol and Iceland have the best air quality, according to a new study.
The global air quality survey, carried out by IQAir, shows that 124 of the 134 countries and regions with available data exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) average PM2.5 guideline of 5 micrograms per cubic meters (µg/m3) in 2023.
PM2.5 is fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (a micrometer is one millionth of a meter). For comparison, a human hair is 50-70 micrometers in diameter and a fine piece of beach sand is 90 micrometers in diameter.
IQAir said: “As an estimated cause of one in nine deaths worldwide, air pollution is the greatest environmental threat to human health.” It causes asthma and lung disease, among other diseases.
The most (and least) polluted countries in Europe
The Balkan region has the poorest air pollution levels in Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina has the worst, with an average PM2.5 reading (27.5 µg/m3) on par with Senegal and Uganda. However, this is a significant improvement on 2020 when that figure was 40.6. Second in terms of air quality in Europe is North Macedonia, followed by Montenegro and Serbia.
Northern European countries can breathe easier. Iceland has some of the cleanest air on the planet (4 µg/m3). The other European countries with low concentrations of fine particulate matter are Estonia, Finland and Sweden.
How does our favorite holiday destination rank?
Looking at the top ten most popular holiday destinations worldwide (according to Tripadvisor 2023 research), Benidorm in Spain and Albufeira in Portugal are the destinations with the cleanest air (according to air quality readings from the nearest urban settlements, Alicante and Faro). The next top beach destination, Antalya, has significantly worse air quality – in the 13th lowest percentile of all cities worldwide.
Of the UK’s favorite city break destinations, Amsterdam has the best air quality, followed by Paris, Barcelona, New York City and Rome. Dubai is one of the worst cities in the world, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 43.6 µg/m3. The average annual reading in Kensington, by comparison, is 7.9.
The best (and worst) spots in the UK
Only four parts of England meet the WHO guidelines of 5 micrograms or less per cubic metre. These are Abbot Newton in South Devon (5 µg/m3), Redcar in North Yorkshire (4.9), Stape in North Yorkshire (4.5) and Chirk in Wales (4.2). There are many cleaner air zones in Scotland, including Edinburgh (4.9), Motherwell (4.1) and Inverness (4.5). Nowhere in Northern Ireland meets the WHO guidelines.
The best and the worst in the world
Bangladesh (79.9 µg/m3) was the world’s most polluted country for fine particulate matter in 2023, which is more than 15 times higher than the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline. It is followed by Pakistan (73.7), India (54.4), Tajikistan (49) and Burkina Faso (46.6).
97 of the 100 most polluted cities in the world were in the Central and South Asian region. The vast majority of these cities, 83 in total, are in India. The three that do not fall within Central and South Asia are Benoni in South Africa, Tay Ho in Vietnam, and South Tangerang in Indonesia. The most polluted city in the world is Begusarai, in the northeast corner of India on the north bank of the Ganges, with an average annual PM2.5 reading of 118.9 µg/m3.
Only seven countries in the study meet the WHO’s annual PM2.5 guidelines of an annual average of 5 µg/m3 or less. These are Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand, as well as the overseas territories of Bermuda and French Polynesia. The least polluted urban settlement in the study is Kuusamo, Finland, in the Northern Ostrobothnia region near the Russian border.
What about now?
IQAir also coordinates live air quality readings in major cities around the world. At the time of writing on Wednesday March 20, 2024, Kathmandu (169 µg/m3), Delhi (168), Dhaka (162) and Lahore (158) are among the most polluted cities in the world. Anything from 151-200 in the live rankings is classified as “unhealthy”. The clearest airs are found in Detroit (4 µg/m3), Auckland (6 µg/m3) and Tokyo (8 µg/m3). London’s current average is 33 µg/m3, which falls into the “Good” category.
How the data is coordinated
The IQ Air study includes all cities that provided annual PM2.5 data from ground-level air quality monitoring stations, with hourly data for at least 60 percent of the year (equivalent to 5,256 hours least of the 8,760 available).
For the 2023 survey, IQAir drew data from more than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 7,812 locations in 134 countries. However, there were many countries and regions for which there was insufficient data to be included in the study. More than a third of the population of the African continent does not live in an area where air quality data is tracked.
IQAir says: “While the number of countries and regions monitoring air quality has steadily increased over the past six years, there are still significant gaps in government-operated regulatory instrumentation in many areas of around the world.”
The countries of Chad, Sudan and Iran are among the many countries that are completely absent from the study due to a lack of publicly available monitoring data.
“Low-cost air quality monitors, sponsored and hosted by citizen scientists, researchers, community advocates, and local organizations, have proven to be valuable tools for reducing gaps in air monitoring networks around the world,” a IQair told him.
