Portugal is among the group of countries worldwide with the best air quality, according to the 6th Annual Report on Air Quality in the World, for 2023, which analyzes the air of 134 countries, reported the Lusa agency.
To prepare the list, the organization’s main indicator is the so-called fine particles (PM2.5), measured in micrograms per cubic meter. They are linked in particular to combustion engines and have significant impacts on human health.
According to the report, Bangladesh – the worst ranked country – had an annual average of 79.9 micrograms per cubic meter, more than 15 times higher than that approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommends a maximum of five micrograms.
In the European Union, the maximum permitted levels are 25 micrograms.
On the map of countries, on a color scale where the best positions are in green, there are more than 90 with a less good classification. On this map, only 16 countries/regions have better air than Portugal, in the list now released.
Russia (10 micrograms, in position 94) is the first nation in green, followed by others such as Spain (9.9 micrograms), France in position 99 (9.5 micrograms), and the United Kingdom (7 .7 micrograms). Portugal, in position 118, accounts for 6.8 micrograms.
The best classification goes to French Polynesia, in place 134, with 3.2 micrograms of fine particles per cubic meter.
By capital cities, New Delhi, in India, is the most polluted, followed by Dhaka, in Bangladesh, and Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso. Rome, Berlin and Paris are on the yellow list and Lisbon appears on the green list, ahead of other green capitals such as London, Madrid, Copenhagen or Luxembourg.
San Juan (Puerto Rico) appears as the least polluted, followed by Wellington, Canberra and Reykjavik.
If only the European continent is taken into account (represented by 2,006 cities in 43 countries), Bosnia-Herzegovina appears as the most polluted country, while the least polluted is Iceland (average concentration of 04 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter of air).
Portugal is in 37th place, just behind Iceland, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Ireland.
In terms of European cities, last year only 7% (135) reached the WHO values, including all cities in Iceland. Cities in Portugal are classified as green, but not at the value recommended by the WHO.
Among the main conclusions of the global report, it is highlighted that only seven countries complied with the WHO’s annual directive (Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand), that a third of the population in Africa does not have access to data on air quality, that PM2.5 concentrations have increased in almost all Southeast Asian countries, and that the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in Asia.
Begusarai, India, was the most polluted metropolitan area of 2023, with India being the country of the four most polluted cities in the world.
For the results now released, in some cases worrying, IQAir used data from 30,000 air quality monitoring stations in 7,812 locations in 134 countries, territories and regions.
The report is the responsibility of IQAir, a Swiss technology organization whose mission is to empower people, organizations and governments to improve air quality.
The European Union should soon have a new law on the matter, and a new directive on ambient air quality should be voted on in April by the European Parliament.
Air pollution is responsible for around 300,000 premature deaths per year in Europe, making it the main environmental threat to health, warns the European environmental organization EEB.
