Air Quality Index: Dhaka ranks 4th worst
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution, Dhaka has ranked the fourth worst in the Air Quality Index (AQI). The city had an AQI score of 196 as of 8:27am on Friday. The air was classified as "unhealthy," reports UNB. Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar, Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Delhi occupied the top three positions in the list of cities with worst air with AQI scores of 352, 277, and 239 respectively. When the AQI score is between 151 and 200, people may experience health effects while members in the sensitive group categories may experience more serious health effects. 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). The Department of Environment has also set national ambient air quality standards for these pollutants. These standards aim to protect against adverse human health impacts.