Which is the most polluted city in the world : Judging by the 2026 World Air Quality Report (you examine data published in 2025), the city with the highest pollution rank up depending on the category you are comparing capital cities or individual municipalities.
Most Polluted Cities (2026 Report).
The current data provided by the IQAir shows that the highest concentration of PM 2.5 in the cities is the next:
| Rank | City | Country | Avg PM2.5 (μg/m³) | Notes |
| 1 | Loni | India | 112.5 | The newly ranked most polluted city globally. |
| 2 | Hotan | China | 109.6 | Long-standing leader due to desert dust and industry. |
| 3 | Byrnihat | India | 101.6 | High pollution due to industrial emissions and topography. |
| 4 | Delhi | India | 99.6 | Remains the most polluted capital city for the 8th year. |
| 5 | Faisalabad | Pakistan | 95.4 | Primarily due to industrial smog and vehicular emissions. |
Key Highlights for 2026
The Capital City Record: New Delhi has consistently integrated as the most polluted capital city across the globe in the past eight years. Although this was only improvement upon the previous margin by 8.0 percentage, it is still almost 16.4 times the safe limit as it is set by the WHO.
Regional Trends: South Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh and India in particular) remains to be the most hit region. Indeed, 66 out of the 100 best polluted cities are in India.
Major Causes: The report mentions the largest challenges in South Asia as industrial emissions, power plants burning coal, and burning of crops seasonally. Moreover, the last year witnessed record-breaking wildfires that affected air quality globally in North America and Europe.
Live AQI Data (April 5, 2026)
It is important to mention that the hourly fluctuation of real time rankings are determined by weather and local activity. Nowadays, seasonal agricultural burning in Thailand (such as city of Ban Mae Cho and Nan) and Laos is topping live charts.
