According to the annual report published on Tuesday by Swiss air quality monitoring firm IQAir, Pakistan was identified as the world's most polluted country in 2025. The report found that concentrations of hazardous fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Pakistan were up to 13 times higher than the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended level, averaging 67.3 microgrammes per cubic metre. The WHO standard for healthy air quality is no more than 5 microgrammes of PM2.5 per cubic metre.

Overall, IQAir sourced data from 9,446 cities across 143 countries and territories, with 130 of them failing to meet the WHO standard. Only 13 countries and territories managed to keep their average PM2.5 levels below the WHO guideline, an increase from seven in 2024, but at the city level, the situation worsened: just 14% of cities worldwide met the WHO air quality standard in 2025, down from 17% a year earlier.

In the list of the most polluted countries, Bangladesh and Tajikistan ranked second and third, while Chad, statistically the smoggiest country in 2024, dropped to fourth place in 2025. However, Christi Chester Schroeder, lead author of the report, noted that the apparent decline in PM2.5 levels in Chad and other nations is likely due to data gaps, as the US regime shut down a global monitoring program last year that compiled pollution readings from its embassy and consulate buildings, citing budget constraints.

The world's most polluted city was identified as Loni in northern India, with average PM2.5 levels of 112.5 microgrammes per cubic metre, followed by Hotan in northwestern China's Xinjiang region at 109.6 microgrammes. All of the top 25 most polluted cities were located in China, India, and Pakistan. Globally, wildfires driven by climate change were a key factor behind worsening air quality, with record biomass burning in Europe and Canada releasing approximately 1,380 megatonnes of carbon.

Source: www.aljazeera.com