AQI: Dhaka’s Air Still ‘Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups’

Despite the onset of the monsoon, Bangladesh 's capital, Dhaka, ranked 7th most polluted city in the world in the Air Quality Index ( AQI) on Tuesday morning.

The air in Dhaka was classified as 'unhealthy for vulnerable classes' in the morning and the megacity had an AQI ranking of 109 at 8:29 a.m.

When the AQI remains between 101 and 150, members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. This condition is less likely to affect the general public.

South Africa's Johannesburg, Pakistan's Lahore and Indonesia's Jakarta were the top three in the list of cities with the poorest air quality, with AQI ratings of 155, 153 and 149, 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.

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

Bangladesh has a subtropical monsoon climate characterized by wide seasonal variations in precipitation, high temperatures and humidity.

Dhaka 's air begins to get fresh when the rains begin in mid-June. The air remains generally acceptable during the monsoon season from June to October.

Source: UNB