Who doesn’t love blue skies with fluffy white scattered clouds? Unfortunately, these heavenly skies have become a rare sight in many parts of the world due to the air pollution caused every day. The main contributors to the bad air are industries that release enormous amounts of unhealthy gases in the air, and the other one is the vehicles that cause smog in the cities. The whole world is pretty much aware of air pollution, but sadly, no one is doing anything about it. Have you wondered to what extent air pollution is impacting the entire ecosystem and increasing global warming? Well, the impacts are extremely adverse and way beyond our imagination.
The infographic shows a cartogram that reveals the countries with the worst air quality by shading them in different colors. The cartogram has resized the countries based on their population, and according to it, every single square symbolizes 500,000 people. Mostly, countries with a higher population seem to have the worst air pollution, such as China and India. On the other hand, the least populous countries like Australia and Canada are invisible from the map.
On the cartogram, India is represented by 800 dark brown squares (a PM2.5 concentration of 50 μg/m³). This reveals that around 400 million in India are exposed to hazardous air every day in the country at levels that are five times more than the standard threshold set by the WHO.
Nepal ranks first among the top 20 countries with the worst air pollution, followed by Qatar at second and Egypt in third place. However, the table is footed by Uganda, Sudan, and Equatorial Guinea. China, however, is at the bottom of the list but most prominent in the cartogram due to its largest population size.
Talking about the countries with the cleanest air, New Zealand is the number one country with the freshest air in the world. The countries with the cleanest air quality are likely to have a lesser population than the countries with bad air. As we move down the chart, the PM2.5 concentration keeps on increasing along with the population size of the countries.
Well, the air quality for a country never stays the same; it keeps on fluctuating until the people themselves take care of it. Moreover, disasters like wildfires can change the air quality from bad to extremely hazardous in no time for weeks.
Infographic by: Visualcapitalist.com
