Shawdesh Desk:

Dhaka, the overcrowded capital city of Bangladesh, has topped the list of cities with the worst air quality with an AQI score of 170 at 9:30am on Tuesday.

Dhaka’s air was classified as unhealthy, according to the air quality and pollution city ranking.

Iraq’s Baghdad, India’s Kolkata and United Arab Emirates’s Dubai occupied the second, third and fourth spots on the list, with AQI scores of 164, 163 and 157, respectively.

An AQI score between 151 and 200 is considered unhealthy, 201-300 is very unhealthy and 301-400 is considered ‘hazardous’, posing severe health risks to residents.

The AQI, which reports daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.

The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and ozone.

Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.

Per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.