Pakistan named world's most polluted country in new report

Pakistan was ranked the world’s most polluted country in 2025, according to an annual report by Swiss air quality monitoring company IQAir carried by Geo News. The report said the country’s average PM2.5 concentrations were around 13 times higher than the World Health Organization guideline.

The findings place Pakistan at the top of a global pollution ranking that also included Bangladesh and Tajikistan among the worst-affected countries. The report noted that only 13 countries and territories met the WHO standard last year, while 130 of 143 monitored locations failed to do so.

The article also pointed to broader data challenges in global air-quality monitoring after the shutdown of a major US programme that had helped collect readings from embassy and consulate sites. Even so, the ranking reinforced concerns over South Asia’s worsening air quality, with cities in Pakistan, India and China dominating the list of the world’s most polluted urban areas.