Dhaka ranked joint first with Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, among the world's most polluted cities on Thursday morning, recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) score of 152 at 9:25am.
The city's air quality was classified as 'Unhealthy', indicating that the concentration of airborne pollutants had reached a level that could pose health risks to the general public, according to the AQI scale.
Delhi ranked next with an AQI score of 145, followed by Jakarta at 132. Jerusalem was fourth with an AQI score of 107.
According to AQI standards, a reading between 101 and 150 is considered ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, 151 to 200 ‘unhealthy’, 201 to 300 ‘very unhealthy’, while levels above 301 are deemed ‘hazardous’, posing serious health risks.
The AQI, which provides daily updates on air quality, indicates how clean or polluted the air is and highlights potential health impacts.
In Bangladesh, the AQI is calculated based on five major pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone.
Dhaka has long struggled with air pollution, with air quality typically worsening in winter and improving during the monsoon season.
The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution causes around seven million deaths globally each year, mainly due to stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.