Dhaka, the overcrowded capital of Bangladesh, ranked 19th on the list of cities with the worst air quality on Tuesday morning, with an AQI score of 75 recorded at 10am.
Dhaka’s air was classified as "moderate," posing only a light health threat, according to the AQI index. This is the fourth consecutive day the city has maintained this classification.
When the AQI value for particle pollution is between 50 and 100, air quality is considered ‘moderate,’ where sensitive individuals should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion. Between 101 and 150, air quality is considered ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups,’ between 151 and 200 is ‘unhealthy,’ between 201 and 300 is ‘very unhealthy,’ while a reading of 301+ is considered ‘hazardous,’ posing serious health risks to residents.
Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kinshasa, Bahrain’s Manama and Indonesia’s Jakarta occupied the first, second and third spots on the list with AQI scores of 167, 153 and 153 respectively.
The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air is in a city and what associated health effects might be a concern. In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and ozone.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.
