Dhaka ranks 3rd worst in Air Quality Index

Screen grab taken from the website of Air Visual on 27 January 2020.

Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka ranked third worst in Air Quality Index (AQI) on Monday.The independent live air-quality index monitor, Air Visual, shows Dhaka’s AQI value as 290 around 8:50am.

Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar topped the index with an AQI value of 418. Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Delhi stood second and fourth on the list of cities with worst air with AQI values 335 and 283 respectively.

Earlier, Dhaka had topped the list on 17 and 23 November, 26 December, and 6 January. The city has been continuously staying within the five most polluted cities around the world.

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 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.