Nicosia occupies the third place among the capitals of the European Union with the highest concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), according to the World Air Quality Report 2024 issued by IQAir, a company specialized in air quality monitoring and measurement technologies.
This report states that the average annual concentration of PM2.5 in Nicosia stands at 15.2 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³), which significantly exceeds the annual limit value set by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 5 μg/m³.
Within the European Union, only Bucharest, Romania (15.7 μg/m³) and Ljubljana, Slovenia (15.6 μg/m³) showed higher concentrations of PM2.5.
Globally, Nicosia ranks 62nd among 138 capitals included in the survey.
Cyprus as a whole ranks 87th among the 138 countries examined, with an average annual PM2.5 of 12.7 μg/m³.
The report identifies Chad (91.8 μg/m³), Bangladesh (78.0 μg/m³) and Pakistan (73.7 μg/m³) as the countries with the highest pollution burden. By contrast, only 12 countries globally fully comply with WHO air quality recommendations.
A high concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been documented to be associated with an increased risk of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular problems, and developmental disorders, especially in children. IQAir stresses that exposure to high levels of PM2.5 is the second most important mortality risk factor worldwide, followed only by malnutrition, and calls on relevant actors to step up monitoring efforts and implement effective strategies to reduce pollution.
The report is based on data collected from 8,954 cities in 138 countries, through a network of more than 40,000 air quality measurement stations.
