Rain brings some relief to Dhaka's air pollution

Recent rainfall has brought some relief to air pollution in Dhaka, pushing the capital lower on the list of the world's most polluted cities.

On Monday (August 24), Dhaka ranked 20th among 189 cities monitored by Swiss-based air quality monitoring platform IQAir, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) score of 80. The air quality was classified as "moderate".

The improvement is believed to be linked to rainfall across parts of the city, which helped reduce the concentration of dust and other pollutants in the air. However, the AQI reading still indicates that Dhaka's air is not considered fully healthy.

According to IQAir, Malaysia's Kuching topped the list of the world's most polluted cities on Monday with an AQI score of 189, followed by New Delhi at 170 and Kampala at 160.

Other cities among the more polluted locations included Jakarta, Baghdad and Lahore, reflecting the continued air quality challenges faced by major cities across Asia and Africa.

Under IQAir's classification, an AQI score of 0-50 is considered "good", 51-100 "moderate", 101-150 "unhealthy for sensitive groups", 151-200 "unhealthy", 201-300 "very unhealthy" and above 300 "hazardous".

Dhaka's AQI of 80 therefore represents a relatively comfortable improvement, but not clean or healthy air. Experts say long-term measures are still needed to tackle the capital's persistent pollution, driven by vehicle emissions, construction and development activities, unplanned urbanisation and other environmental pressures.