Blue Skies, Blue Seas

Blue Skies for Healthy and Prosperous Cities

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FIGURE 3.3

Ambient Air Pollution (PM2.5) in Non-Capital Major Cities of Selected Middle East and North Africa Countries, 2018 ARE − Al Ain ARE − Al Gharbia BHR − Hamad Town BHR − Hidd BHR − Ma’ameer EGY − Delta Region IRN − Ahvaz IRN − Ghom IRN − Isfahan IRN − Karaj IRN − Kermanshah IRN − Mashhad IRN − Shiraz IRN − Tabriz JOR − Al-Zarqa’ JOR − Irbid KWT − Al-Ahmadi KWT − Al-Jahra LBN − Saida LBN − Zahle MAR − Casablanca MAR − Fes MAR − Marrakech MAR − Meknes MAR − Sale MAR − Tanger QAT − Al-Bidda QAT − Madinat Khaifa QAT − Muaither SAU − Dammam SAU − Jeddah SAU − Makkah SAU − Medina TUN − Sfax TUN − Sousse 0

25

50

75

100

Concentration of PM2.5 (µg/m ) 3

Source: Based on 2018 data from the Ambient Air Quality Database of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Health Observatory, https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/air-pollution/who-air​ -quality-database.

Note: The orange line denotes 2021 WHO annual mean threshold for PM2.5 (particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less in diameter) of 5 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air). The selected countries are those for which ground monitoring data for capital cities were available. Countries are labeled using ISO alpha-3 codes, as listed on the Abbreviations page in the front matter of this report.

Air quality has generally improved in Egypt (despite some pockets where it appears to have worsened), while it has deteriorated in pockets of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Syrian Arab Republic—in some periods more than others. Jordan’s air quality, on the other hand, has appeared steady during the studied period, 2001–18 (Shaheen, Wu, and Aldabash 2020).