August 31, 2026
Global Air Quality Update - Week of August 31, 2026
Live data snapshot for August 31, 2026. 217 cities tracked. Global average AQI: 67.
This week's most polluted city is Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at AQI 975. The cleanest air right now is in Quito, Ecuador at AQI 10.
Biggest changes this week
Worsening
- Kuwait City, Kuwait: 355 → 434 AQI (+79)
- Delhi, India: 161 → 186 AQI (+25)
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 149 → 166 AQI (+17)
- Stockholm, Sweden: 21 → 25 AQI (+4)
- Naypyidaw, Myanmar: 23 → 26 AQI (+3)
Improving
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: 1118 → 975 AQI (-143)
- Chengdu, China: 206 → 149 AQI (-57)
- Xian, China: 156 → 123 AQI (-33)
- Dubai, UAE: 176 → 146 AQI (-30)
- Doha, Qatar: 162 → 133 AQI (-29)
Global average shifted from 70 to 67 (-3).
Top 10 most polluted cities right now
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - AQI 975 (PM2.5 130.9 μg/m³)
- Kuwait City, Kuwait - AQI 434 (PM2.5 146.7 μg/m³)
- Bandung, Indonesia - AQI 194 (PM2.5 58.2 μg/m³)
- Delhi, India - AQI 186 (PM2.5 99.2 μg/m³)
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - AQI 166 (PM2.5 52 μg/m³)
- Lucknow, India - AQI 156 (PM2.5 40.5 μg/m³)
- Faisalabad, Pakistan - AQI 155 (PM2.5 47.7 μg/m³)
- Tianjin, China - AQI 154 (PM2.5 16 μg/m³)
- Lahore, Pakistan - AQI 153 (PM2.5 68 μg/m³)
- Beijing, China - AQI 152 (PM2.5 12.3 μg/m³)
Top 10 cleanest cities right now
- Quito, Ecuador - AQI 10 (PM2.5 2.4 μg/m³)
- La Paz, Bolivia - AQI 13 (PM2.5 1.8 μg/m³)
- Hua Hin, Thailand - AQI 20 (PM2.5 2.5 μg/m³)
- Berlin, Germany - AQI 21 (PM2.5 3.8 μg/m³)
- Pattaya, Thailand - AQI 21 (PM2.5 3.5 μg/m³)
- San Jose, Costa Rica - AQI 21 (PM2.5 4.1 μg/m³)
- Havana, Cuba - AQI 22 (PM2.5 1.9 μg/m³)
- London, United Kingdom - AQI 23 (PM2.5 3.3 μg/m³)
- Madrid, Spain - AQI 23 (PM2.5 3.8 μg/m³)
- Rayong, Thailand - AQI 23 (PM2.5 4.1 μg/m³)
What is AQI?
AQI (Air Quality Index) is a 0-500 scale used by the US EPA. Below 50 is good, above 150 unhealthy, above 300 hazardous. Most damage comes from PM2.5 - fine particles that enter the bloodstream. Learn more: PM2.5 explained.
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Data: live readings refreshed every 30 minutes by atmos.today. See methodology and attribution.