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Air Pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Real-time Air Quality monitoring project

Share: aqicn.org/country/bangladesh/
Please note that Air Quality monitoring is now available for Dhaka: aqicn.org/city/dhaka/

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Flag of Bangladesh.svg
(image attribution: wikipedia)

There is a good reason to worry about the Air Quality in Dhaka, as Bangladesh ranks 169th (out of 178 countries) at the Environmental Performance Index for Air Quality (2014 score).

Furthermore, according to the most recent World Health Organization data, the air quality in Dhaka reaches an yearly average of 90 µg/m3 of PM2.5, which corresponds to a 168 - Unhealthy Air Quality Index. Obviously, 168 - Unhealthy is just a yearly average, and the air pollution can reach much higher 300+ hazardous levels.

For more information, you can refer to this article about making bricks for Dhaka’s construction boom, which provides a very good insight about Dhaka's Air Pollution situation

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Note that Air Quality Data for Dhaka is available since March 2016:
Click for the detailled Air Quality Index



Air Quality Forecast for Dhaka

National Monitoring Network

Back in 2009, the World Bank started a 7 years investement of US$ 62.20 million in the Clean Air and Sustainable Environment project (CASE) program. The objective was, among others, to get 11 Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAMS) installed in 8 cities to monitor major air pollutants and to generate real time air quality data including air quality index for major cities.

This was confirmed by this news from UNB which said that "A modern Air Quality Research and Monitoring Center (AQRMC) has been established at the center for Advanced Research in Sciences (CARS) of Dhaka University (DU)".

But yet, despite the good news from the World Bank, the Air Quality readings are not officially available, and the Air Quality Research and Monitoring Center (aqmcdu.edu.bd) is not giving much details... The website from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (পরিবেশ ও বন মন্ত্রণালয়-) moef.gov.bd is similarly not providing more information. As concerns the worldbank CASE project report, it is surprisingly laconic, despite having used more than $10 millions USD on the "Environment" sub-project[1].

Crowdsourcing a real Air monitoring Network that works

For this reason, we are now investigating with several Institutions, Universities, Schools as well as individual citizens living in Dhaka the possibility to setup an alternative and crowd-sourced Air Quality monitoring network, which would allow to broadcast free hourly AQI information for several locations in Dhaka, and later in other cities in Bangladesh.

The monitoring stations used for this network are the semi-professional GAIA A12 Air Quality monitoring stations. The Gaia A12 is much more affordable than the traditional monitoring station ($200 for the GAIA A12 while it is $10,000+ for the traditional ones), but yet with a data quality as good and reliable as the traditional stations.

If you are interested in knowing more about the project, about helping to host a station, or just about getting and rebroadcasting the real-time Air quality data, then please contact us with the form at the bottom of this page.

Stay Informed

If you want to stay informed about the Air Quality monitoring project for Bangladesh,
please register with the form below:
The Bangladesh Air Quality Monitoring Project - subscription form
Enter your name - eg "John Doe"
Enter your email address - eg "john.doe@mail.com"
Write few words about your request - eg:"I live in Dhaka, and would like to have real-time readings.", "I would like to help by hosting an monitoring station", "I would like to know the average daily air quality for the past year", ..

Other Countries

Do you want to view all the other on-going country monitoring programs?
Go to the page aqicn.org/country or click on any of the flags below:

Nigeria Egypt Philippines Cambodia Indonesia Senegal South-africa Libya Morocco Tunisia Algeria Lebanon Qatar Bangladesh Pakistan
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About the Air Quality and Pollution Measurement:

About the Air Quality Levels

AQIAir Pollution LevelHealth ImplicationsCautionary Statement (for PM2.5)
0 - 50 Good Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk None
51 -100 Moderate Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution. Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
101-150 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. The general public is not likely to be affected. Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
151-200 Unhealthy Everyone may begin to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion
201-300 Very Unhealthy Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected. Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid all outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit outdoor exertion.
300+ Hazardous Health alert: everyone may experience more serious health effects Everyone should avoid all outdoor exertion

To know more about Air Quality and Pollution, check the wikipedia Air Quality topic or the airnow guide to Air Quality and Your Health.

For very useful health advices of Beijing Doctor Richard Saint Cyr MD, check www.myhealthbeijing.com blog.


Usage Notice: All the Air Quality data are unvalidated at the time of publication, and due to quality assurance these data may be amended, without notice, at any time. The World Air Quality Index project has exercised all reasonable skill and care in compiling the contents of this information and under no circumstances will the World Air Quality Index project team or its agents be liable in contract, tort or otherwise for any loss, injury or damage arising directly or indirectly from the supply of this data.



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[1] The Environment project was allocated 16.8M, out of which more than 5M was used for DOE building.