On Wednesday, February 11, 2026, at 10:50 a.m., the Switzerland-based air quality monitoring website IQAir reported that Delhi ranked first among the world’s most polluted cities with an air quality score of 340. Kabul, Afghanistan, followed in second place with a score of 272, while Dhaka, Bangladesh, ranked third with a score of 267, categorized as 'very unhealthy'. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Kathmandu, Nepal, took the fourth and fifth positions with scores of 184 and 183 respectively.

According to IQAir’s standards, an air quality score between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51 to 100 moderate, 101 to 150 unhealthy for sensitive groups, 151 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, and above 301 hazardous. The platform provides real-time indicators of how clean or polluted the air is in cities around the world.

The data underscores ongoing severe air pollution challenges in major South Asian cities, with Delhi and Dhaka continuing to record critically poor air quality levels.