The Countries Improving Air Pollution Most

Nations in Central and Southeast Asia as well as in Eastern and Southern Europe have improved their air quality most since before the pandemic, a newly released report by IQAir among 93 countries and territories has found.

In the five years between 2019 and 2024, average annual air pollution by particles of 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller decreased by more than 30 microgram per cubicmeter of air in Mongolia - rank 1. The country continues to use coal burning stoves even in cities, driving up pollution in the winter, but programs have helped poorer residents switch to electric heating. With this large an improvement, the country even reached the WHO interim goal 3 out of 4, which lead up to the permanent goal of achieving an average annual PM2.5 pollution of 5 micrograms per cubicmeter of air.

Next up is Indonesia, a country well known for its air pollution, especially in its capital Jakarta. But while the city was still the seventh most polluted capital in the world in the 2023 IQAir ranking, this had changed to rank 10 this year as the country and city have made improvements on cooking fuels as well as more pollution controls on transportation and industry. However, coming from a starting point of major air pollution, the country still missed WHO interim goal 1, if only by a hair.

Further down the list is Bahrain, an example of several Gulf countries which have shown major improvements. As the region starts to pivot away from excessive fossil fuel use, Bahrain reached WHO interim goal 1 for the first time in 2024. China has also been meeting this first target since 2020 and was the 11th most improved country in 2024. While India's development was among the 20 best in the world, its pollution is on a different level of severity and still far off any international targets.

European nations Kosovo, Bulgaria and Greece are also listed among the 10 most improved countries, but have made it as far as interim goal 3. Again, private households are contributing majorly to the pollution by burning wood and coal for heating, an issue that peaked in 2022 when energy cost on the continent shot up in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.