DailyAQI
Most polluted cities in the world73Moderate

Live · world ranking

73
AQI · US scale
Moderate

Across the 46 world cities reporting, air averages US AQI 73.

Rankings › Most polluted cities in the world

Most Polluted Cities in the World Right Now

The most polluted major cities worldwide right now, ranked on the US EPA AQI scale from live OpenAQ station data, refreshed hourly.

Right now (Sep 2026)

Right now the most polluted world city we track is Lahore at US AQI 219 (Very Unhealthy), the worst of 46 cities reporting live.

Good 0–50Satisfactory 51–100Moderate 101–200Poor 201–300Very Poor 301–400Severe 401–500

World cities ranked by live US AQI (worst first)

1 LahorePakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 219 2 GujranwalaPakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 205 3 SialkotPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 194 4 PeshawarPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 164 5 DubaiUnited Arab Emirates UnhealthyPM2.5 158 6 IslamabadPakistan Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 137 7 RawalpindiPakistan Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 137 8 Kuala LumpurMalaysia Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 131 9 KampalaUganda Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 127 10 Kuwait CityKuwait Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 113 11 San FranciscoUnited States Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 107 12 RiyadhSaudi Arabia ModeratePM2.5 88 13 SantiagoChile ModeratePM2.5 86 14 BusanSouth Korea ModeratePM2.5 77 15 CebuPhilippines ModeratePM2.5 76 16 Chiang MaiThailand ModeratePM2.5 75 17 BangkokThailand ModeratePM2.5 73 18 YangonMyanmar ModeratePM2.5 66 19 SeoulSouth Korea ModeratePM2.5 64 20 SkopjeNorth Macedonia ModeratePM2.5 63 21 Hong KongHong Kong ModeratePM2.5 62 22 JohannesburgSouth Africa ModeratePM2.5 61 23 Cape TownSouth Africa ModeratePM2.5 61 24 KathmanduNepal ModeratePM2.5 59 25 OsakaJapan ModeratePM2.5 57 26 AthensGreece ModeratePM2.5 57 27 LimaPeru ModeratePM2.5 57 28 BelgradeSerbia ModeratePM2.5 55 29 LagosNigeria ModeratePM2.5 55 30 LondonUnited Kingdom GoodPM2.5 50 31 Phnom PenhCambodia GoodPM2.5 38 32 ChicagoUnited States GoodPM2.5 36 33 PokharaNepal GoodPM2.5 36 34 SofiaBulgaria GoodPM2.5 34 35 TokyoJapan GoodPM2.5 33 36 TaipeiTaiwan GoodPM2.5 33 37 Buenos AiresArgentina GoodPM10 28 38 WashingtonUnited States GoodPM2.5 28 39 AmsterdamNetherlands GoodPM2.5 26 40 New YorkUnited States GoodPM2.5 22 41 SeattleUnited States GoodPM2.5 22 42 VancouverCanada GoodPM2.5 21 43 TorontoCanada GoodPM2.5 17 44 KrakowPoland GoodPM10 17 45 DenverUnited States GoodPM2.5 14 46 AucklandNew Zealand GoodPM2.5 1

About the world’s most polluted cities

This live ranking covers major world cities on the US EPA AQI scale, so numbers are comparable across countries, updated hourly from public monitoring stations aggregated by OpenAQ. South Asian and Middle Eastern megacities dominate the top of the list for much of the year. Indian cities on this site use the national CPCB scale — see our India ranking. A city appears only with a fresh reading.

Frequently asked questions

Which is the most polluted city in the world right now?

Among the world cities we track, Lahore is highest at US AQI 219 (Very Unhealthy).

What scale is used for world cities?

The US EPA AQI scale (0–500), the international standard used by most global air-quality services, computed from PM2.5 and PM10.

How current is this ranking?

It updates hourly from OpenAQ station data; cities without a recent reading are excluded rather than shown stale.

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