DailyAQI
Most polluted cities in the world95Moderate

Live · world ranking

95
AQI · US scale
Moderate

Across the 50 world cities reporting, air averages US AQI 95.

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 (Nov 2026)

Right now the most polluted world city we track is Peshawar at US AQI 403 (Hazardous), the worst of 50 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 PeshawarPakistan HazardousPM2.5 403 2 GujranwalaPakistan HazardousPM2.5 331 3 SialkotPakistan HazardousPM2.5 308 4 LahorePakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 277 5 IslamabadPakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 211 6 RawalpindiPakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 211 7 DhakaBangladesh UnhealthyPM2.5 193 8 FaisalabadPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 168 9 KarachiPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 157 10 PokharaNepal UnhealthyPM2.5 152 11 JakartaIndonesia Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 146 12 BeijingChina Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM10 124 13 KathmanduNepal Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 113 14 Kuala LumpurMalaysia Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 104 15 RiyadhSaudi Arabia ModeratePM2.5 89 16 BelgradeSerbia ModeratePM2.5 84 17 AmsterdamNetherlands ModeratePM2.5 80 18 LondonUnited Kingdom ModeratePM2.5 75 19 YangonMyanmar ModeratePM2.5 71 20 ColomboSri Lanka ModeratePM10 70 21 BangkokThailand ModeratePM2.5 67 22 DubaiUnited Arab Emirates ModeratePM2.5 67 23 SeoulSouth Korea ModeratePM2.5 62 24 SingaporeSingapore ModeratePM2.5 61 25 TorontoCanada ModeratePM2.5 60 26 Cape TownSouth Africa ModeratePM2.5 60 27 KrakowPoland ModeratePM10 58 28 LimaPeru ModeratePM2.5 58 29 Chiang MaiThailand ModeratePM2.5 56 30 ChicagoUnited States ModeratePM2.5 55 31 SkopjeNorth Macedonia ModeratePM2.5 54 32 LagosNigeria ModeratePM2.5 54 33 BusanSouth Korea ModeratePM2.5 53 34 TaipeiTaiwan ModeratePM2.5 53 35 Hong KongHong Kong ModeratePM2.5 51 36 OsakaJapan GoodPM2.5 50 37 AthensGreece GoodPM2.5 50 38 WashingtonUnited States GoodPM2.5 44 39 DenverUnited States GoodPM2.5 41 40 KampalaUganda GoodPM10 41 41 ManilaPhilippines GoodO₃ 39 42 SofiaBulgaria GoodPM2.5 36 43 SeattleUnited States GoodPM2.5 33 44 New YorkUnited States GoodPM2.5 31 45 SydneyAustralia GoodPM2.5 29 46 Phnom PenhCambodia GoodPM2.5 28 47 TokyoJapan GoodPM2.5 28 48 SantiagoChile GoodPM2.5 24 49 Los AngelesUnited States GoodPM2.5 22 50 Buenos AiresArgentina GoodO₃ 22

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, Peshawar is highest at US AQI 403 (Hazardous).

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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