Air quality & human development · 2022
Does a higher quality of life mean cleaner air?
Mostly yes, for the air people breathe. As countries develop, fine-particle pollution falls steadily, from about 38.5 µg/m³ in the least-developed countries to roughly 10.2 in the most developed. The pollution they emit per person tells a more complicated story.
Air-quality pollutants, meaning sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) and the fine particles (PM2.5) they form, harm health directly, unlike greenhouse gases. This page looks at how both the pollution countries emit and the pollution people breathe change with the Human Development Index. For the climate side, see carbon emissions per unit of human development.
Sources: Yale Environmental Performance Index 2024 (SO₂, NOₓ, PM2.5, HDI); Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy. Data year 2022. Site updated August 13, 2026.
Key facts · 2022
| Cleanest air, high development | Switzerland |
| · SO₂+NOₓ per person | 5.9 kg |
| Most polluting, high development | Kuwait |
| · SO₂+NOₓ per person | 169.0 kg |
| PM2.5: least vs most developed | 38.5 → 10.2 µg/m³ |
| High-HDI countries ranked | 52 |
Two different stories: emissions vs. exposure
Greenhouse gases and air pollutants behave differently as countries get richer. The air people breathe (PM2.5) tends to get cleaner with development, because wealthy countries fit scrubbers, catalytic converters and cleaner fuels. But the pollution a country emits per person often rises through industrialisation before falling again at the top, the classic “environmental Kuznets curve.” A country can also emit a lot yet have clean air if its pollution disperses (Australia), or emit and breathe badly at once (the Gulf states).
The air people breathe vs. development
Each point is a country: quality of life (HDI) on the horizontal axis, the fine-particle pollution people are exposed to (PM2.5) on the vertical. Exposure falls as development rises.
HDI vs. PM2.5 exposure, 2022
101 countries · WHO guideline is 5 µg/m³ · hover for names
The pollution countries emit: an inverted-U
Median sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions per person rise through industrialisation, then fall in the most developed economies, even as the air people breathe keeps improving.
Emissions vs. exposure across development, 2022
Median by HDI band
Air pollution among high-development countries
Kilograms of SO₂ and NOₓ emitted per person, 2022, for the 52 countries of very high human development (HDI ≥ 0.8). Lower is cleaner. Click a column to sort.
| Country | SO₂+NOₓ per person (kg) | SO₂ | NOₓ | PM2.5 (µg/m³) | HDI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 5.9 | 0.4 | 5.5 | 10.2 | 0.967 |
| Italy | 10.1 | 1.3 | 8.8 | 16.3 | 0.906 |
| Netherlands | 10.3 | 1.2 | 9.1 | 9.6 | 0.946 |
| Hungary | 10.8 | 1.3 | 9.4 | 14.0 | 0.851 |
| United Kingdom | 10.9 | 1.8 | 9.1 | 10.0 | 0.940 |
| Sweden | 11.4 | 1.5 | 9.8 | 5.6 | 0.952 |
| Germany | 12.1 | 3.1 | 9.1 | 9.6 | 0.950 |
| Slovakia | 12.1 | 2.6 | 9.6 | 13.8 | 0.855 |
| France | 12.7 | 1.7 | 11.0 | 10.5 | 0.910 |
| Slovenia | 12.8 | 1.8 | 11.0 | 13.9 | 0.926 |
| Belgium | 13.1 | 2.0 | 11.0 | 10.1 | 0.942 |
| Croatia | 13.1 | 1.6 | 11.5 | 16.5 | 0.878 |
| Austria | 13.3 | 1.2 | 12.1 | 10.7 | 0.926 |
| Denmark | 13.8 | 1.5 | 12.4 | 8.2 | 0.952 |
| Romania | 13.9 | 3.7 | 10.2 | 17.0 | 0.827 |
| Spain | 14.7 | 2.8 | 11.9 | 12.0 | 0.911 |
| Portugal | 15.2 | 3.5 | 11.7 | 9.4 | 0.874 |
| Ireland | 15.9 | 1.9 | 14.0 | 8.1 | 0.950 |
| Cyprus | 16.6 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 20.6 | 0.907 |
| Japan | 16.8 | 4.1 | 12.7 | 12.2 | 0.920 |
| South Korea | 18.0 | 3.6 | 14.4 | 23.3 | 0.929 |
| Latvia | 19.0 | 2.0 | 17.0 | 13.7 | 0.879 |
| Czech Republic | 20.6 | 6.8 | 13.8 | 12.8 | 0.895 |
| Finland | 22.2 | 4.4 | 17.8 | 5.0 | 0.942 |
| Poland | 23.8 | 9.9 | 13.9 | 15.9 | 0.881 |
| Thailand | 23.8 | 8.0 | 15.8 | 23.5 | 0.803 |
| Lithuania | 23.9 | 6.7 | 17.1 | 11.1 | 0.879 |
| Belarus | 24.6 | 8.2 | 16.4 | 11.4 | 0.801 |
| United States | 25.4 | 5.0 | 20.3 | 7.5 | 0.927 |
| Estonia | 26.1 | 10.0 | 16.1 | 6.6 | 0.899 |
| Greece | 26.2 | 8.1 | 18.1 | 16.2 | 0.893 |
| Argentina | 28.3 | 2.6 | 25.7 | 15.4 | 0.849 |
| Hong Kong | 28.5 | 8.5 | 20.0 | 16.3 | 0.956 |
| Norway | 35.3 | 2.9 | 32.5 | 5.6 | 0.966 |
| Singapore | 40.0 | 20.8 | 19.1 | 15.0 | 0.949 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 42.3 | 13.7 | 28.6 | 14.2 | 0.814 |
| Chile | 42.4 | 20.8 | 21.5 | 28.2 | 0.860 |
| Malaysia | 42.6 | 17.9 | 24.7 | 15.2 | 0.807 |
| Turkiye | 44.6 | 34.9 | 9.7 | 26.9 | 0.855 |
| New Zealand | 47.5 | 12.6 | 34.9 | 6.9 | 0.939 |
| Canada | 50.2 | 15.9 | 34.3 | 6.3 | 0.935 |
| Oman | 51.0 | 14.7 | 36.4 | 50.5 | 0.819 |
| Israel | 56.9 | 16.9 | 40.0 | 22.5 | 0.915 |
| Russia | 66.4 | 36.3 | 30.1 | 11.7 | 0.821 |
| Australia | 77.7 | 39.9 | 37.8 | 5.3 | 0.946 |
| Bahrain | 78.9 | 42.4 | 36.5 | 60.4 | 0.888 |
| Kazakhstan | 100.9 | 54.0 | 47.0 | 17.7 | 0.802 |
| Serbia | 108.6 | 95.0 | 13.6 | 19.9 | 0.805 |
| United Arab Emirates | 113.1 | 55.0 | 58.1 | 65.5 | 0.937 |
| Qatar | 140.9 | 71.3 | 69.6 | 108.2 | 0.875 |
| Saudi Arabia | 159.7 | 93.3 | 66.4 | 76.1 | 0.875 |
| Kuwait | 169.0 | 100.8 | 68.2 | 68.5 | 0.847 |
Per-person emissions of SO₂ and NOₓ from the Yale EPI; PM2.5 is the population-weighted concentration people breathe. Some high-emitting countries (Australia, for example) still have low PM2.5 because pollution disperses; others rank badly on both.
Frequently asked questions
Do richer countries have cleaner air?
Largely yes for the air people breathe. Median PM2.5 exposure falls from about 38.5 µg/m³ in the least-developed countries to roughly 10.2 in the most developed, as wealthier nations adopt scrubbers, cleaner fuels and emission standards.
Which developed country has the cleanest air pollution record?
Among very-high-development countries in 2022, Switzerland emits the least, about 5.9 kg of SO₂ and NOₓ per person. Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK and Sweden lead the group.
Which developed countries emit the most air pollution per person?
Oil- and gas-rich states top the list: Kuwait emits about 169.0 kg of SO₂ and NOₓ per person, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE close behind, and their populations also breathe some of the world's highest PM2.5 levels.
What is the environmental Kuznets curve?
The idea that pollution rises during early industrialisation, then falls once a country is rich enough to invest in cleaner technology and demand better air. SO₂ and NOₓ emissions per person follow this inverted-U; per-person carbon emissions are far less likely to.
Can a country emit a lot of air pollution but still have clean air?
Yes. Australia emits a lot of SO₂ and NOₓ per person but has very low PM2.5 exposure because emissions disperse over a large, sparsely populated area. The air pollution people breathe depends on where and how densely it is emitted, not just the national total.
Related pages
Sources: Yale Environmental Performance Index 2024 (SO₂, NOₓ, PM2.5, HDI). See methodology.