Believe it or not, Bangladesh had the least breathable air in the world in 2021, while its capital Dhaka was the second most polluted city.

These are the findings of IQAIR’s World Air Quality Report 2021. The global real-time air quality information platform published its air quality report for last year on Monday.

Apart from Bangladesh, Chad, Pakistan, Tajikistan and India topped in the ranking of the five most polluted countries across the globe, according to the report.

New Delhi (India) was the world’s most polluted capital city in 2021 for the fourth consecutive year, followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh), N’Djamena (Chad), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Muscat (Oman).

Also read: Dhaka’s air quality still ‘unhealthy’

The 2021 World Air Quality Report is based on PM2.5 air pollution data from ground-based air quality monitoring stations in 6,475 cities across 117 countries, regions and territories.

Of the air quality monitoring stations included in this report, 44 percent are operated by governmental agencies, while others represent monitoring stations managed by citizen scientists, non-profit organisations and companies.

"Central and South Asia had some of the world’s worst air quality in 2021 and was home to 46 of the world’s 50 most polluted cities. The only two cities that met the updated WHO PM2.5 guideline were Zhezqazghan and Chu (Kazakhstan)," the platform said.

“Air quality in China continued to improve in 2021 as more than half of the cities in the country included in the report saw lower levels of air pollution when compared to the previous year,” it added.

However, pollution levels within the capital city of Beijing continued a five-year trend of improved air quality, driven by emission control and reduction of coal power plant activity and other high emission industries, according to IQAIR.

Also read: Air Quality Index: Dhaka ranks 2nd worst

Surprisingly, the 2021 World Air Quality Report found that only three percent of cities and no single country met the latest World Health Organization’s (WHO) PM2.5 norm.