Staff Correspondent

Dhaka, the overcrowded capital city of Bangladesh, has ranked 23th on the list of cities with the worst air quality with an AQI score of 81, Qatar’s Doha 96 and Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh 91 at 9:04am this morning (July 3, 2025).

Qatar’s Doha recorded an AQI score of 96, while Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh posted a score of 91, indicating worse air quality compared to Dhaka at that time.

Today Dhaka’s air was classified as ‘moderate,’ referring to a light health threat, according to the AQI index. Such air quality continued for the past few days, indicating an improvement of air quality of the city day by day. 

When the AQI value for particle pollution is between 50 and 100, air quality is considered ‘moderate’, usually sensitive individuals should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion, between 101 and 150, air quality is considered ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, between 150 and 200 is ‘unhealthy’, between 201 and 300 is said to be 'very unhealthy', while a reading of 301+ is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.

Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kinshasa, Indonesia’s Jakarta and Uganda’s Kampala occupied the first, second and third spots on the list, with AQI scores of 169, 159, and 158 respectively.

The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.

The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.

Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.

As per World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven

million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.