DailyAQI
Most polluted cities in the world94Moderate

Live · world ranking

94
AQI · US scale
Moderate

Across the 50 world cities reporting, air averages US AQI 94.

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 316 (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 HazardousPM2.5 316 2 FaisalabadPakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 272 3 SialkotPakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 246 4 GujranwalaPakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 218 5 KarachiPakistan Very UnhealthyPM2.5 205 6 DhakaBangladesh UnhealthyPM2.5 197 7 LahorePakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 191 8 RawalpindiPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 185 9 IslamabadPakistan UnhealthyPM2.5 169 10 SofiaBulgaria UnhealthyPM2.5 168 11 PokharaNepal Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 129 12 KathmanduNepal Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 119 13 JakartaIndonesia Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 116 14 DubaiUnited Arab Emirates Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 114 15 Kuwait CityKuwait Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 113 16 KampalaUganda Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 113 17 YangonMyanmar Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 106 18 LondonUnited Kingdom Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPM2.5 102 19 AmsterdamNetherlands ModeratePM2.5 82 20 BelgradeSerbia ModeratePM2.5 82 21 BangkokThailand ModeratePM2.5 79 22 RiyadhSaudi Arabia ModeratePM2.5 78 23 CebuPhilippines ModeratePM2.5 75 24 SkopjeNorth Macedonia ModeratePM2.5 73 25 TaipeiTaiwan ModeratePM2.5 70 26 LimaPeru ModeratePM2.5 61 27 JohannesburgSouth Africa ModeratePM2.5 59 28 Chiang MaiThailand ModeratePM2.5 58 29 SingaporeSingapore ModeratePM2.5 57 30 ColomboSri Lanka ModeratePM2.5 56 31 Kuala LumpurMalaysia ModeratePM2.5 56 32 New YorkUnited States ModeratePM2.5 54 33 Hong KongHong Kong ModeratePM2.5 53 34 SeattleUnited States ModeratePM2.5 53 35 OsakaJapan GoodPM2.5 50 36 AthensGreece GoodPM2.5 44 37 San FranciscoUnited States GoodPM2.5 44 38 BeijingChina GoodPM2.5 42 39 LagosNigeria GoodO₃ 41 40 ManilaPhilippines GoodO₃ 37 41 KrakowPoland GoodPM10 37 42 ChicagoUnited States GoodPM2.5 36 43 Buenos AiresArgentina GoodO₃ 35 44 Cape TownSouth Africa GoodPM2.5 32 45 TorontoCanada GoodPM2.5 28 46 SeoulSouth Korea GoodPM2.5 28 47 TokyoJapan GoodPM2.5 28 48 Phnom PenhCambodia GoodPM2.5 27 49 VancouverCanada GoodPM2.5 23 50 DenverUnited States GoodPM2.5 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 316 (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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