Dhaka has once again claimed the dubious distinction of having the world’s poorest air quality, as per the latest Air Quality Index (AQI) readings. At 9:30 am today, the city registered an AQI score of 320, categorizing its air as ‘hazardous’ and posing severe health risks to residents.
Following Dhaka on the list, Bosnia Herzegovina’s Sarajevo secured the second spot with an AQI score of 244, while India’s Kolkata and Delhi ranked third and fourth, both recording AQI scores of 213.
The AQI serves as a critical metric to assess daily air quality, offering insights into how clean or polluted the air is and the potential health effects for residents. In the context of the AQI scale, a score between 101 and 150 indicates ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, between 150 and 200 is classified as ‘unhealthy’, between 201 and 300 is termed ‘very unhealthy’, and a reading exceeding 301 is considered ‘hazardous’, signifying grave health risks.
The AQI calculation in Bangladesh is based on the concentrations of five key pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone. As Dhaka grapples with persistently poor air quality, addressing the sources of pollution becomes imperative to safeguard public health and enhance environmental sustainability.
