Our Correspondent
Bangladesh, Pakistan and India – these three South Asian countries have the highest air pollution in 2023. These three countries are at the bottom in terms of air quality. IQAir recently published a report titled World Air Quality Report-2023 on air pollution. It shows that Bangladesh is the top country in air pollution in 2023.
According to a report by IQAir, the news agency Reuters said that the amount of polluted particles in the air of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India last year was about 15 times higher than the standard of the World Health Organization (WHO). IQAir published this report on Tuesday.
Bangladesh is followed by Pakistan and India in terms of air pollution. Earlier in 2022, Bangladesh was fifth from the bottom in this list. Bangladesh and India have moved to the first and third positions respectively, replacing the African countries Chad and Iran. In 2022, India was ranked eighth from the bottom.
According to IQAir, the amount of PM-2.5 in the air of Bangladesh in 2023 was 79.90 micrograms per cubic meter. The amount in Pakistan’s air was 73.70 micrograms. According to the World Health Organization, it should not be more than 5 micrograms in the air.
Christy Chester Schroeder, air quality science manager of IQAir, a Swiss-based air monitoring organization, said, ‘The concentration of PM-2.5 is so high in these three countries due to the climatic conditions and geographical location. Another major reason is that pollutants have nowhere to go. Agricultural systems, industrialization and population density are also causes of pollution.’
Air pollution expert Feroze Khan of North South University told Reuters news agency that 20 percent of premature deaths in Bangladesh are caused by air pollution. At least 4-5 percent of GDP is spent on treatment of these diseases.
