Once the Best City for Clean Air, Rajshahi Is Now the Most Polluted

Once hailed as the world’s best city for reducing air pollution, Rajshahi has now become Bangladesh’s most polluted city. IQAir reports its Air Quality Index (AQI) at 167—higher than Khulna, Dhaka, and Chattogram. In 2016, the WHO praised Rajshahi for cutting particulate matter by 67%, making it a global model. Today, however, Bangladesh faces severe air pollution, causing reduced life expectancy, over 272,000 premature deaths in 2019—more than half from air pollution—and significant economic losses, marking a growing public health and environmental crisis.