Last month the world celebrated World Air Quality Day. Also, Sciences et Avenir drew up the ranking of the countries according to the air quality and this, by relying on a recent study of the scientific journal  The Lancet , financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

The criteria retained by the ranking

The criteria selected are:

• indoor air quality (household air pollution)

It is evaluated according to human activity, such as automobile traffic, industry, cooking or heating. To these factors are added natural factors such as dust or sand.

• PM2.5 fine particle concentration level
• the mortality rate attributable to pollution.

At the global level, New Zealand (100) has the best air, followed by Sweden (99.66) and Australia (98.66).

Then, on the African continent, Seychelles, Mauritius and 3 Maghreb countries take the lead. Countries in the Sahel zone suffer from the most polluted air on the continent. This could be explained by the cumulation of human and natural factors accentuating the pollution.

Ranking of African countries by air quality index

(100 corresponds to the objectives of the United Nations). Countries are therefore evaluated on a score of 100. Thus, the closer the score is to 100, the better the quality of the air.