• About 90% of the international population in 2022 seasoned unhealthy air high quality, according to a new report from Swiss air high quality technologies business IQAir.
• IQAir measured air high quality levels primarily based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles recognized as PM two.five.
• The report identified that the major 5 most polluted nations in 2022 have been Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain and Bangladesh.

Commuters make their way along a street amid smoggy and foggy circumstances early in the morning in Lahore on January three, 2023.

Arif Ali | AFP | Getty Photos

About 90% of the international population in 2022 seasoned unhealthy air high quality, and only six nations met the Globe Overall health Organization’s suggestions of protected air pollutant levels, according to a new report from Swiss air high quality technologies business IQAir.

IQAir measured air high quality levels primarily based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles recognized as PM two.five. Analysis shows that exposure to such particulate matter can lead to heart attacks, asthma attacks and premature death. Research have also linked lengthy-term exposure to PM two.five with higher prices of death from Covid-19.

When the WHO very first published air high quality guidance in 2005, it mentioned the acceptable levels of air pollution have been much less than ten micrograms per cubic meter. In 2021, the WHO changed its benchmark suggestions to under five micrograms per cubic meter.

The report identified that the major 5 most polluted nations in 2022 have been Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain and Bangladesh. The most polluted cities globally have been Lahore, Pakistan Hotan, China Bhiwadi, India Delhi, India and Peshawar, Pakistan.

Lahore’s air high quality worsened to 97.four micrograms of PM two.five particles per cubic meter in 2022 from 86.five in the year prior, generating it the most polluted city in the planet.

The report also mentioned India and Pakistan endured the worst air high quality in the Central and South Asian area, exactly where a lot more than half of the population resides in regions exactly where the concentration of PM two.five particles is about seven instances greater than WHO’s recommended levels.

In the U.S., the most polluted significant cities have been Columbus, Ohio, followed by Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis and Dallas. Air high quality in Columbus hit 13.1 micrograms of PM two.five particles per cubic meter in 202, generating it the most polluted significant city in the U.S.

The Biden administration this year proposed limiting pollution of industrial fine soot particles from the existing annual level of 12 micrograms per cubic meter to a level amongst 9 and ten micrograms per cubic meter. Some public well being advocates criticized that proposal as not going far sufficient.

Only six nations met the WHO’s updated well being limits: Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland and New Zealand, the report mentioned. The 2022 report made use of air high quality information from a lot more than 30,000 regulatory air high quality monitoring stations and air high quality sensors from 7,323 cities across 131 nations, regions and territories.

Air pollution requires a lot more than two years off the typical international life expectancy, according to the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Sixty % of particulate matter air pollution comes from fossil fuel combustion.

“As well quite a few folks about the planet never know that they are breathing polluted air,” Aidan Farrow, senior air high quality scientist at Greenpeace International, mentioned in a statement.

“Air pollution monitors offer really hard information that can inspire communities to demand transform and hold polluters to account, but when monitoring is patchy or unequal, vulnerable communities can be left with no information to act on,” Farrow mentioned.