Dhaka ranked 10th among the world’s most polluted cities on Tuesday morning, recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 123 at 10:15 am.

The air quality was classified as ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, indicating the air can cause breathing and irritation issues for at-risk individuals, even though the general public remains largely unaffected, according to the AQI scale.

Delhi in India, Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jakarta in Indonesia occupied the first, second, and third spot with AQI scores of 167, 166, and 153 respectively.

According to AQI standards, a reading between 101 and 150 is considered ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, 151 to 200 ‘unhealthy’, 201 to 300 ‘very unhealthy’, while levels above 301 are deemed ‘hazardous’, posing serious health risks.

The AQI, which provides daily updates on air quality, indicates how clean or polluted the air is and highlights potential health impacts.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is calculated based on five major pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone.

Dhaka has long struggled with air pollution, with air quality typically worsening in winter and improving during the monsoon season.

The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution causes around seven million deaths globally each year, mainly due to stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.