Macao’s air quality deteriorated significantly between 2023 and 2024, according to a new study published yesterday by the Swiss air quality firm, IQAir.
The company ranked 138 countries, regions and territories based on their concentration of microscopic matter (PM2.5) that is emitted from sources such as cars and industrial processes.
Ranking Macao in 52nd place, IQAir found that the city had an annual PM2.5 concentration of 17.7 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) or 3.5 times above the 5µg/m3 standard set by the WHO.
This result marks a decline in comparison to the 2023 report, which had Macao’s average PM2.5 reading at 16.2µg/m3, earning it 64th place out of 134 locations. (The higher the ranking, the worse the air quality.)
Macao’s 2024 ranking means its air is more toxic than that of other regional cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which were ranked 63rd and 94th respectively.
In terms of the countries with the worst air, Chad earned the top spot, with a PM2.5 level of 91.8µg/m3 – over 18 times the WHO guidelines.
[See more: Macao’s air quality declined dramatically in 2024]
Bangladesh, whose PM2.5 tally was 78µg/m3, came in second place, and was followed by Pakistan (73.7µg/m3), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (58.2µg/m3) and India (50.6µg/m3).
Meanwhile, the countries and territories with the cleanest air were the Bahamas (2.3µg/m3), Bermuda (2.5µg/m3), French Polynesia (2.5µg/m3), US Virgin Islands (2.6µg/m3) and Puerto Rico (2.7µg/m3).
Only seven countries managed to satisfy the WHO’s PM2.5 guidelines, including Iceland (4.0µg/m3), New Zealand (4.4µg/m3) and Australia (4.5µg/m3). As well, only 17 percent of the cities around the world met the standard.
The high levels of PM2.5 and other pollutants present in the world’s atmosphere is worrying, as studies have found that they can lead to a range of health issues, including heart disease, respiratory problems and stroke.
“Air pollution doesn’t kill us immediately – it takes maybe two to three decades before we see the impacts on health, unless it’s very extreme, IQAir CEO Frank Hammes was quoted as saying in the Guardian. He added that by the time people considered avoiding air pollution, it was “too late in their lives.”
Data from the WHO indicates that some 7 million people die prematurely each year due to toxic air.
