DailyAQI
Most polluted cities in the world66Moderate

Live · world ranking

66
AQI · US scale
Moderate

Across the 46 world cities reporting, air averages US AQI 66.

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 196 (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 UnhealthyPM2.5 196 2 PeshawarPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 174 3 SialkotPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 170 4 IslamabadPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 159 5 RawalpindiPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 159 6 FaisalabadPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 158 7 GujranwalaPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 158 8 KampalaUganda UnhealthyPM2.5 158 9 Kuala LumpurMalaysia Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 109 10 KathmanduNepal Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 104 11 SantiagoChile ModeratePM2.5 79 12 CebuPhilippines ModeratePM2.5 76 13 BangkokThailand ModeratePM2.5 68 14 Kuwait CityKuwait ModeratePM2.5 68 15 RiyadhSaudi Arabia ModeratePM2.5 67 16 DubaiUnited Arab Emirates ModeratePM2.5 66 17 AmsterdamNetherlands ModeratePM2.5 66 18 SeoulSouth Korea ModeratePM2.5 64 19 Chiang MaiThailand ModeratePM2.5 63 20 Hong KongHong Kong ModeratePM2.5 58 21 TaipeiTaiwan ModeratePM2.5 57 22 LimaPeru ModeratePM2.5 57 23 OsakaJapan ModeratePM2.5 55 24 BelgradeSerbia ModeratePM2.5 53 25 Cape TownSouth Africa ModeratePM2.5 52 26 San FranciscoUnited States GoodPM2.5 50 27 SeattleUnited States GoodPM2.5 49 28 ChicagoUnited States GoodPM2.5 43 29 JohannesburgSouth Africa GoodPM2.5 39 30 LondonUnited Kingdom GoodPM2.5 33 31 TokyoJapan GoodPM2.5 33 32 SkopjeNorth Macedonia GoodPM2.5 32 33 VancouverCanada GoodPM2.5 32 34 Buenos AiresArgentina GoodPM10 28 35 SofiaBulgaria GoodPM2.5 26 36 PokharaNepal GoodPM2.5 23 37 TorontoCanada GoodPM2.5 22 38 BusanSouth Korea GoodPM2.5 22 39 WashingtonUnited States GoodPM2.5 22 40 KrakowPoland GoodPM10 20 41 AthensGreece GoodPM10 17 42 New YorkUnited States GoodPM2.5 13 43 YangonMyanmar GoodPM2.5 12 44 DenverUnited States GoodPM2.5 11 45 AucklandNew Zealand GoodPM2.5 4 46 Phnom PenhCambodia GoodPM2.5 3

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 196 (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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