Last year, air quality in Canada was worse than in the United States for the first time since a company began publishing its annual report in 2018.
The Annual Global Air Quality Report 2023, from Swiss company IQAir, indicates that raging wildfires had a major influence on the decline in air quality in Canada.
The report found that among the 15 most polluted cities in the United States and Canada, Canadian communities accounted for the top 13, with the Alberta cities of Fort McMurray and Peace River topping the list.
The data shows that the concentration of pollution in Peace River, generally below the national average, reached levels in May worse than the annual average recorded in India, the third most polluted country in the world.
Canada was less polluted than 92 of the 134 countries, regions or territories studied in the report, with about one-eighth the average annual pollution concentration of Bangladesh, the worst country.
Only seven countries reported average annual pollution concentrations that met World Health Organization guidelines, including Mauritius, Iceland and Australia.
The report aggregates monitoring data for pollution known as PM2.5, fine particles so small they can penetrate deep into the lungs and pose a risk to human health.
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