Worst Countries For Air Pollution – Updated 2025

A global ranking of the worst countries for air pollution, measured by the number of deaths per 100,000 people.

Air pollution is one of the world’s leading health and environmental problems and one of the world’s leading risk factors for premature death.

Typically, air pollution falls into two categories: indoor (or household) and outdoor air pollution.

Indoor air pollution is usually caused by burning solid fuels such as firewood, crop waste and dung for cooking and heating. This creates air pollution that causes respiratory diseases which often results in premature death.

Indoor air pollution is typically worse in poorer households.

Outdoor air pollution is typically worse in countries becoming industrialised and transitioning from low to middle incomes.

The ranking below is an aggregate of deaths from air pollution – both indoor and outdoor. The data and report are from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

Key findings from the analysis

• Air pollution is attributed to about 8.1 million global deaths each year, representing 12% (nearly one-in-eight) of all deaths globally.
• The highest shares of deaths linked to air pollution are found across South and Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific Islands.
• In the worst-affected countries, air pollution accounts for around 1 in 5 deaths, and in North Korea, it rises to nearly 1 in 3 deaths.
• Globally, death rates from air pollution have been falling, mainly as a result of progress made with tackling indoor pollution.
• Since 1990, the risk of dying from air pollution has nearly halved.
• The World Health Organization recently halved its safe limit for fine particle pollution. But more than 9 in 10 people worldwide breathe air that’s still too polluted, with only a handful of remote northern regions meeting the new guideline.
• New Zealand is the highest-ranked country in Oceania in 13th place.
• Japan is the highest-ranked Asian country in 45th place.
• Canada is the highest-ranked country in the Americas in 4th place.
• Seychelles is the highest-ranked African nation in 25th place.

Worst countries for air pollution – complete ranking

The table ranks the world’s countries and territories by the estimated number of deaths attributable to air pollution in 2021.

While the figures are from 2021, this is the most recent harmonized dataset compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) as part of the Global Burden of Disease Study.

These numbers remain the global reference point for measuring air pollution’s health burden.

Some countries have been omitted due to insufficient data.

Country	Deaths per 100,000	% of all deaths
Afghanistan	98	11.3%
Albania	100	8.9%
Algeria	50	8.1%
American Samoa	25	3.0%
Andorra	18	2.5%
Angola	52	6.8%
Antigua and Barbuda	43	5.3%
Argentina	35	4.2%
Armenia	141	13.5%
Australia	17	2.5%
Austria	36	3.6%
Azerbaijan	77	9.0%
Bahamas	33	3.3%
Bahrain	50	12.1%
Bangladesh	144	21.6%
Barbados	79	7.1%
Belarus	121	7.0%
Belgium	31	3.2%
Belize	37	6.9%
Benin	95	12.3%
Bermuda	18	1.5%
Bhutan	82	14.0%
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	52	5.0%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	176	12.5%
Botswana	42	3.6%
Brazil	31	3.8%
Brunei Darussalam	9	2.2%
Bulgaria	161	6.5%
Burkina Faso	101	10.5%
Burundi	85	11.5%
Cote d'Ivoire	90	12.1%
Cabo Verde	88	13.4%
Cambodia	128	17.0%
Cameroon	80	9.7%
Canada	11	1.3%
Central African Republic	141	10.5%
Chad	129	12.5%
Chile	37	5.2%
China	165	20.1%
Colombia	30	4.1%
Comoros	95	12.0%
Congo	76	8.9%
Cook Islands	22	2.3%
Costa Rica	22	3.3%
Croatia	95	6.4%
Cuba	86	5.9%
Cyprus	41	6.0%
Czechia	71	5.5%
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	279	30.4%
Democratic Republic of the Congo	88	11.3%
Denmark	30	3.1%
Djibouti	53	7.2%
Dominica	69	6.1%
Dominican Republic	49	7.4%
Ecuador	30	4.3%
Egypt	110	16.4%
El Salvador	48	5.9%
Equatorial Guinea	36	5.2%
Eritrea	85	11.0%
Estonia	18	1.3%
Eswatini	73	4.8%
Ethiopia	70	10.3%
Fiji	89	8.8%
Finland	8	0.8%
France	22	2.3%
Gabon	52	6.1%
Gambia	106	14.3%
Georgia	122	7.4%
Germany	37	3.1%
Ghana	86	11.8%
Greece	78	5.6%
Greenland	11	1.4%
Grenada	65	6.0%
Guam	25	3.4%
Guatemala	56	7.8%
Guinea	118	12.5%
Guinea-Bissau	111	12.5%
Guyana	72	6.5%
Haiti	137	13.5%
Honduras	79	10.9%
Hungary	93	5.8%
Iceland	7	1.0%
India	148	17.8%
Indonesia	79	10.1%
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	60	8.9%
Iraq	71	12.5%
Ireland	12	1.9%
Israel	29	5.6%
Italy	56	4.8%
Jamaica	52	6.0%
Japan	41	3.6%
Jordan	29	8.0%
Kazakhstan	71	7.4%
Kenya	60	8.4%
Kiribati	113	14.0%
Kuwait	38	14.7%
Kyrgyzstan	80	14.1%
Lao People's Democratic Republic	125	18.1%
Latvia	85	4.6%
Lebanon	54	6.0%
Lesotho	132	6.5%
Liberia	84	11.6%
Libya	66	9.8%
Lithuania	64	3.7%
Luxembourg	16	2.2%
Madagascar	97	13.4%
Malawi	82	9.2%
Malaysia	49	7.0%
Maldives	17	5.6%
Mali	109	11.2%
Malta	44	4.9%
Marshall Islands	92	11.7%
Mauritania	84	14.8%
Mauritius	33	3.2%
Mexico	39	4.5%
Micronesia (Federated States of)	106	13.4%
Monaco	42	2.7%
Mongolia	71	11.0%
Montenegro	134	8.4%
Morocco	77	9.97%
Mozambique	92	9.3%
Myanmar	180	19.9%
Namibia	63	5.7%
Nauru	21	2.4%
Nepal	156	19.2%
Netherlands	33	3.3%
New Zealand	13	1.9%
Nicaragua	37	6.5%
Niger	99	11.9%
Nigeria	89	11.3%
Niue	40	3.1%
North Macedonia	150	9.97%
Northern Mariana Islands	32	3.9%
Norway	10	1.3%
Oman	34	9.5%
Pakistan	109	14.9%
Palau	32	3.0%
Palestine	39	10.3%
Panama	19	3.4%
Papua New Guinea	132	17.2%
Paraguay	33	4.6%
Peru	42	4.7%
Philippines	87	11.1%
Poland	89	6.6%
Portugal	24	2.1%
Puerto Rico	15	1.4%
Qatar	19	11.2%
Republic of Korea	52	8.2%
Republic of Moldova	107	7.6%
Romania	102	5.8%
Russian Federation	65	3.9%
Rwanda	78	11.2%
Saint Kitts and Nevis	16	1.7%
Saint Lucia	63	5.8%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	70	6.9%
Samoa	118	18.7%
San Marino	20	2.5%
Sao Tome and Principe	67	13.0%
Saudi Arabia	58	14.0%
Senegal	96	13.7%
Serbia	177	10.6%
Seychelles	20	2.5%
Sierra Leone	112	12.5%
Singapore	28	6.7%
Slovakia	79	5.9%
Slovenia	44	3.9%
Solomon Islands	156	23.5%
Somalia	101	9.2%
South Africa	60	4.6%
South Sudan	125	10.5%
Spain	29	2.9%
Sri Lanka	92	12.9%
Sudan	80	14.2%
Suriname	71	7.7%
Sweden	10	1.1%
Switzerland	21	2.6%
Syrian Arab Republic	93	12.5%
Turkiye	72	9.2%
Taiwan (Province of China)	46	6.0%
Tajikistan	85	14.6%
Thailand	88	9.4%
Timor-Leste	110	16.1%
Togo	99	13.2%
Tokelau	22	2.1%
Tonga	82	13.0%
Trinidad and Tobago	84	7.0%
Tunisia	68	7.7%
Turkmenistan	71	8.4%
Tuvalu	47	5.3%
Uganda	67	8.8%
Ukraine	144	8.3%
United Arab Emirates	20	9.7%
United Kingdom	25	2.5%
United Republic of Tanzania	80	10.7%
United States of America	19	1.8%
United States Virgin Islands	21	2.0%
Uruguay	33	2.8%
Uzbekistan	95	16.3%
Vanuatu	153	21.2%
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	45	4.3%
Viet Nam	100	14.2%
Yemen	77	12.0%
Zambia	70	7.8%
Zimbabwe	97	7.8%

Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation