Countries by Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution, age-standardized (per 100,000 population)

Central African Republic ranks first with an age-standardized mortality rate of 305.1 per 100,000 population attributed to household and ambient air pollution, the highest among all 183 countries measured. At the opposite end, Finland records just 7.4 per 100,000, a gap of nearly 4,023 percent between the extremes. The spread reflects deep disparities in household energy use, air quality conditions, and population health outcomes across world regions.

Population & Health category

Ranking 2019

Values shown in per capita.

Countries by Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution, age-standardized (per 100,000 population)
Rank	Country	per capita
1	Central African Republic	305.1
2	Lesotho	288.3
3	Solomon Islands	281.2
4	Afghanistan	265.7
5	Vanuatu	259.9
6	Micronesia	254
7	Kiribati	246.6
8	Sierra Leone	239
9	Guinea	238
10	Somalia	237.9
11	Eritrea	237.4
12	Guinea-Bissau	228.8
13	Mozambique	228.4
14	Chad	227.4
15	Sao Tome and Principe	225.4
16	Togo	223.1
17	Gambia	220.5
18	Mongolia	214.7
19	Niger	213.3
20	North Korea	212.8
21	DR Congo	209.8
22	Madagascar	208
23	Cameroon	206.7
24	Haiti	206.4
25	Burundi	205.9
26	Tajikistan	203.8
27	Philippines	202.8
28	Benin	201.8
29	Burkina Faso	201.3
30	Laos	195.3
31	Ghana	193.6
32	Pakistan	192.1
33	Papua New Guinea	189.6
33	Zimbabwe	189.6
35	Côte d'Ivoire	186.5
36	Yemen	186.3
37	Timor-Leste	185.6
38	Myanmar	184.1
39	Djibouti	177.9
39	Nepal	177.9
41	Zambia	174
42	Eswatini	173.7
43	Republic of Congo	170.4
44	Mali	167.1
45	Rwanda	165.8
46	Equatorial Guinea	165.7
47	Nigeria	165.2
48	Comoros	164.6
49	Cambodia	163.3
50	Uganda	163
51	Liberia	152.7
52	Uzbekistan	151.7
53	Malawi	148.5
54	Senegal	146.4
55	Samoa	145.5
56	Sudan	145.3
57	Bangladesh	143.9
58	Angola	142.8
59	Ethiopia	142.5
59	Namibia	142.5
61	Botswana	140.7
62	India	139.3
63	South Sudan	134.5
64	Kenya	131.9
65	Mauritania	128.4
66	Tanzania	128.3
67	Azerbaijan	125.2
68	Kyrgyzstan	124.9
69	Fiji	118.7
70	Montenegro	115.2
71	Bosnia and Herzegovina	113.9
72	Honduras	112.5
73	Egypt	105.6
74	Oman	104
75	Vietnam	102.8
76	Indonesia	96.1
77	Guyana	95.7
78	North Macedonia	95.6
79	China	95.3
80	Syria	94.5
81	Bhutan	94.3
82	Georgia	92.8
83	Albania	92.5
84	Sri Lanka	91.6
85	Cabo Verde	91.2
86	Saudi Arabia	91.1
87	Guatemala	91
88	Qatar	90.8
89	Iraq	89.7
90	Turkmenistan	87.9
91	Nicaragua	84.4
92	Kazakhstan	83.4
93	Ukraine	78.9
94	Gabon	78.3
95	Bolivia	77.1
96	Malaysia	76.5
97	South Africa	74.9
98	Armenia	74.5
99	Serbia	71.5
100	United Arab Emirates	70
101	Belarus	69.9
102	Moldova	68.9
103	Bahrain	68.1
104	Romania	67.8
105	Russia	67.1
106	Morocco	66.6
107	Bulgaria	62.9
108	Lebanon	58.6
109	Iran	58.1
110	Tunisia	55.9
111	Paraguay	55.6
112	Libya	53.9
113	Tonga	52.3
114	Suriname	51
115	Algeria	49.7
116	Grenada	47.4
117	Thailand	46.5
118	Türkiye	45.5
119	Kuwait	45.2
120	Mexico	44.7
121	Seychelles	43.1
122	Hungary	42.3
123	Cuba	41.9
124	Dominican Republic	41.3
125	Belize	41
126	Poland	40.9
127	El Salvador	40.3
128	Latvia	40.1
129	Lithuania	38.8
130	Jordan	38.7
131	Peru	37.9
131	Venezuela	37.9
133	Jamaica	35.9
134	Mauritius	34.7
135	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	34.4
136	Czechia	32.5
137	Maldives	32
138	Colombia	31.3
138	Croatia	31.3
140	Slovakia	30.3
141	Argentina	29.7
142	Brazil	28.9
143	Ecuador	28.1
144	Saint Lucia	27.7
145	Panama	27.3
146	Singapore	23.4
147	Greece	23
148	Malta	20.9
149	Trinidad and Tobago	19.8
150	Brunei	19.6
151	Antigua and Barbuda	19.3
152	South Korea	18.9
153	Barbados	18.8
153	Slovenia	18.8
155	Chile	17.9
156	Costa Rica	17.8
157	Austria	17.5
158	Uruguay	16.2
159	Cyprus	15.8
160	Belgium	15.3
161	Israel	15.1
162	Italy	15
163	Germany	14.7
164	United States	14.2
165	United Kingdom	13.4
166	Netherlands	13.1
167	Denmark	12.9
168	Estonia	12.8
168	Ireland	12.8
170	Luxembourg	12.5
171	New Zealand	12.2
172	Japan	11.8
173	Bahamas	10.4
173	Switzerland	10.4
175	Spain	10.1
176	France	10
176	Portugal	10
178	Australia	9.8
179	Iceland	8.2
180	Canada	8.1
180	Sweden	8.1
182	Norway	7.9
183	Finland	7.4

Analysis

This metric measures the age-standardized mortality rate attributed to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution, expressed as deaths per 100,000 population. According to the source definition, it counts deaths attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution in a year per 100,000 population, with rates that are age-standardized. The following diseases are taken into account: acute respiratory infections (estimated for all ages); cerebrovascular diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); ischaemic heart disease and related conditions. Because higher values indicate greater mortality burden, a higher rank on this site corresponds to a worse public health outcome. The dataset covers 183 countries using indicator SH.STA.AIRP.P5 from the World Bank World Development Indicators, with all data from 2019. Coverage is 100 percent of the 183 included countries, all values are classed as official-quality data, and no extreme statistical outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold.

The top of the ranking concentrates heavily in sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Islands. Central African Republic leads at 305.1 per 100,000 (Rank 1), followed by Lesotho at 288.3 (Rank 2) and Solomon Islands at 281.2 (Rank 3). Afghanistan at 265.7 (Rank 4) and Vanuatu at 259.9 (Rank 5) round out the top five. The top 30 includes a large share of low-income African nations alongside South and Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines at 202.8 (Rank 27), Pakistan at 192.1 (Rank 32), and Myanmar at 184.1 (Rank 38). India ranks 62nd at 139.3 per 100,000, reflecting a high absolute burden given its population size despite sitting outside the top tier.

The middle of the ranking shows a gradual transition through upper-middle-income countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Montenegro sits at Rank 70 with 115.2 per 100,000, and China appears at Rank 79 with 95.3. A notable anomaly is Mongolia at Rank 18 with 214.7 per 100,000, placing it among the highest-burden countries globally, well above regional neighbors. North Korea (Korea, Dem. People's Rep.) ranks 20th at 212.8 per 100,000, one of the highest rates in East Asia. Toward the lower end of the ranking, high-income countries dominate: South Korea ranks 152nd at 18.9, Germany ranks 163rd at 14.7, and the United States ranks 164th at 14.2 per 100,000.

Several limitations apply to this metric. Age-standardization enables cross-country comparability but may obscure differences in the age structure of mortality within specific countries. The metric captures joint effects of household and ambient pollution together, so it does not allow separation of the contribution of indoor cooking fuels from outdoor air quality. Mortality attribution relies on modeled estimates rather than direct cause-of-death registration in many countries, particularly those with weaker civil registration systems, which makes exact figures for lower-income nations less certain. All data here are from 2019 and do not reflect changes in air quality or health conditions since that year. Year-over-year volatility across the dataset is reported at 0.0 percent average change, which may partly reflect modeling consistency rather than true stability in underlying conditions.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.STA.AIRP.P5, for reference year 2019. The metric is defined as: mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution is the number of deaths attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution in a year per 100,000 population. The rates are age-standardized. Following diseases are taken into account: acute respiratory infections (estimated for all ages); cerebrovascular diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); ischaemic heart disease and related conditions. The ranking covers 183 countries, representing full coverage above the 80-country viability threshold. All 183 countries have data from within the last 7 years, and 100 percent of data points are classified as official quality, above the 70 percent threshold. No extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Values range from 7.4 to 305.1 per 100,000, a spread of 4,023 percent. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 0.0 percent. Higher values indicate higher mortality burden; on this site, higher rank corresponds to a worse outcome for this metric.

Sources

World Bank