Where in the world is the air pollution worst? It’s not clear, pun intended.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization released a report analyzing air pollution levels in nearly 1100 cities in 91 countries. The analysis was based on air particulate levels between 2003 and 2010.
WHO
There were plenty of news stories based on this report citing cities in Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia as having the worst air pollution. Forbes reported that the Iranian city of Ahvaz was the worst.
The Guardian did this breakout of the data on its wonderful DataBlog, which has the sub-headline “Facts are Sacred.”
Local aside: I didn’t see the specs on tree-hugging Seattle, but here’s one from my old Seattle PI buddy Scott Sunde citing studies showing how the poor neighborhoods seem to have crappier air. Continue reading