Dhaka ranks 2nd worst in Air Quality Index

Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka ranked the second worst in Air Quality Index (AQI) on Wednesday.

The independent live air-quality index monitor, Air Visual, shows Dhaka’s AQI value as 238 around 9:00am.

Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar topped the index with an AQI value of 422 while India’s Delhi and Afghanistan’s Kabul respectively stood third and fourth on the worst air city list with AQI values 201 and 197.

Earlier, Dhaka had topped the list on 17 and 23 November, 26 December, and 6 January.

The AQI is a tool for measuring daily air quality of any city or country. It refers to the degree of pollution or cleanliness of the air. An AQI score between 201 and 300 indicates the air is unhealthy for health while a value over 300 refers the air is highly dangerous with possible serious health complications.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants including Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone (O3).

The environment department has also set national ambient air quality standards for these pollutants. These standards aim to protect against adverse human health impacts.

Dhaka has long been suffering from a number of environmental pollutions including that of air.