The island nation of the Bahamas has the world’s cleanest air according to the latest World Air Quality Report by IQAir. The report ranks 98 countries and territories by the level of fine particulate matter present in the air.
Air pollution continues to pose one of the biggest threats to human health, causing the death of seven million people every year. Billions more suffer the effects of poor air quality. In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 92% of the global population breathes toxic air.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica ranks in the upper tier of this ranking for the cleanest air in the world, the report analyses results from over 60,000 monitoring stations located across the globe, making it the world’s largest centralised platform for measuring air quality. It also draws on data collected from thousands of clean air initiatives administered by governments, non-profit organisations, citizens, communities and private companies.
The report focuses on PM2.5 concentrations as this is the pollutant widely regarded as most harmful to human health. PM2.5 is defined as ambient airborne particles measuring up to 2.5 microns in size. A micron (or micrometre) is one-millionth of a metre or one-thousandth of a millimetre.Its microscopic size allows the particles to enter the bloodstream via the respiratory system and travel through the body, causing a range of health problems including asthma, lung cancer and heart disease. Air pollution is also associated with low birth weight, increased acute respiratory infections and stroke.
The WHO’s Air Quality Guideline value for PM2.5 exposure – which has been proven to be free of health impacts – is 10µg/m³ or 10 micrograms of air pollutant per cubic meter of air. There are only 20 countries and territories, out of the 98 assessed, which pass these guidelines and our country is among them.
Top 20 Countries With Cleanest Air In The World
The World Air Quality Report ranks 98 countries and territories. States that have been omitted lacked sufficient ground-based PM2.5 monitoring stations.
Rank Country Ave. PM2.5
1 Bahamas 3.3
2 US Virgin Islands 3.5
3 Iceland 5.6
4 Finland 5.6
5 Estonia 6.2
6 Sweden 6.6
7 Norway 6.9
8 New Zealand 7.5
9 Canada 7.7
10 Australia 8.0
11 Ecuador 8.6
12 USA 9.0
13 Portugal 9.3
14 Malta 9.4
15 Denmark 9.6
16 Luxembourg 9.6
17 Spain 9.7
18 Russia 9.7
19 Puerto Rico 9.8
20 Costa Rica 9.9
