Baghdad hits peak pollution, tops global index

Shafaq News/ On Sunday, the pollution index in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, reached its peak amid calm winds and the absence of effective solutions to pollution sources.

“Baghdad topped the global ranking in the pollution index on Sunday morning,” weather forecaster Sadiq Attia wrote on Facebook.

According to the index, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, ranked second, while Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, ranked third in pollution levels.

The primary cause of the record rise in pollution levels in Baghdad, according to the Telescope Iraq website, was the presence of particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns in the air. These tiny particles, composed of carbon, lead, ammonia, or nitrite, can enter the respiratory tract, making them dangerous.

In mid-2024, the Green Iraq Observatory identified water scarcity and air pollution as the two biggest environmental challenges facing the country.

Press reports confirm that Iraq ranks second globally for environmental pollution, after Russia, burning around 18 billion cubic meters of gas annually, with the capital facing a sharp rise in pollution that often leads to suffocation, particularly from an unidentified sulfur smell.