PM2.5 air pollution exposure by country, 2023, OECD (38 countries)

Population-weighted average annual concentration of fine particles smaller than 2.5 microns, which can penetrate deep into the lungs. WHO's 2021 guideline value is 5 µg/m³.

38 places ranked for 2023. Highest: Türkiye (26.4 µg/m³). Lowest: Finland (4.6 µg/m³). The median is 9.7 µg/m³.

Unit: micrograms per cubic metre Source: World Bank Trend, map and download

Members since Costa Rica joined on 25 May 2021. About this group

Highest 10

  1. 1. Türkiye 26.4 µg/m³
  2. 2. Chile 23.1 µg/m³
  3. 3. Israel 21.9 µg/m³
  4. 4. South Korea 21.9 µg/m³
  5. 5. Colombia 18.4 µg/m³
  6. 6. Costa Rica 17.7 µg/m³
  7. 7. Mexico 16.6 µg/m³
  8. 8. Poland 16.5 µg/m³
  9. 9. Italy 14.3 µg/m³
  10. 10. Greece 14.1 µg/m³

Lowest 10

  1. 38. Finland 4.6 µg/m³
  2. 37. Iceland 4.9 µg/m³
  3. 36. Sweden 5.3 µg/m³
  4. 35. Norway 5.5 µg/m³
  5. 34. Estonia 5.9 µg/m³
  6. 33. Australia 6.4 µg/m³
  7. 32. Canada 6.6 µg/m³
  8. 31. New Zealand 6.9 µg/m³
  9. 30. United States 7.0 µg/m³
  10. 29. Luxembourg 7.4 µg/m³

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators.

Full ranking

PM2.5 air pollution exposure by country, 2023, OECD (38 countries)
#CountryValuePeriodRelative size
1 Türkiye 26.4 µg/m³ 2023
2 Chile 23.1 µg/m³ 2023
3 Israel 21.9 µg/m³ 2023
4 South Korea 21.9 µg/m³ 2023
5 Colombia 18.4 µg/m³ 2023
6 Costa Rica 17.7 µg/m³ 2023
7 Mexico 16.6 µg/m³ 2023
8 Poland 16.5 µg/m³ 2023
9 Italy 14.3 µg/m³ 2023
10 Greece 14.1 µg/m³ 2023
11 Slovakia 13.7 µg/m³ 2023
12 Hungary 13.7 µg/m³ 2023
13 Latvia 13.0 µg/m³ 2023
14 Czechia 12.7 µg/m³ 2023
15 Slovenia 12.6 µg/m³ 2023
16 Japan 11.5 µg/m³ 2023
17 Lithuania 10.7 µg/m³ 2023
18 Spain 10.1 µg/m³ 2023
19 Austria 10.0 µg/m³ 2023
20 United Kingdom 9.5 µg/m³ 2023
21 Germany 8.8 µg/m³ 2023
22 Portugal 8.8 µg/m³ 2023
23 Netherlands 8.6 µg/m³ 2023
24 Belgium 8.4 µg/m³ 2023
25 Switzerland 8.3 µg/m³ 2023
26 France 8.2 µg/m³ 2023
27 Ireland 7.5 µg/m³ 2023
28 Denmark 7.5 µg/m³ 2023
29 Luxembourg 7.4 µg/m³ 2023
30 United States 7.0 µg/m³ 2023
31 New Zealand 6.9 µg/m³ 2023
32 Canada 6.6 µg/m³ 2023
33 Australia 6.4 µg/m³ 2023
34 Estonia 5.9 µg/m³ 2023
35 Norway 5.5 µg/m³ 2023
36 Sweden 5.3 µg/m³ 2023
37 Iceland 4.9 µg/m³ 2023
38 Finland 4.6 µg/m³ 2023

Places are ordered from the highest to the lowest value. Group medians on this site are the middle value of the members with data for the same year; they are not official aggregates.

How this ranking works

Every country is ranked on its value for 2023, the latest period that most countries have, so all values are for the same point in time. Countries without a value for 2023 are left out. Groups and aggregates such as the European Union are not ranked. Values are as published by World Bank; the ranking is a plain ordering from the highest to the lowest value and says nothing about whether a high value is good or bad.

Earlier years: use the year selector above. Methodology · Coverage and freshness

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