Taiwan had the 45th-highest average annual PM2.5 concentration among 134 countries, territories and regions rated last year, according to the 2023 World Air Quality Report published by IQAir on Tuesday.
Recording an average concentration of 20.2 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3), Taiwan performed better than China (32.5mg/m3) and Mongolia (22.5mg/m3), but lagged behind South Korea (19.2mg/m3), Hong Kong (15.6mg/m3) and Japan (9.6mg/m3) in East Asia, according to the report’s Swiss publisher.
The most polluted countries were Bangladesh (79.9mg/m3), Pakistan (73.7mg/m3), India (54.4mg/m3), Tajikistan (49mg/m3) and Burkina Faso (46.6mg/m3).
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Only Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand have met the WHO’s annual guideline of 5 mg/m3 or less, the report said.
In terms of cities and locations, the highest average annual concentration of PM2.5 in Taiwan lies in Changhua County (24.5mg/m3), Tainan (20.9mg/m3) and Pingtung County’s Donggang Township (東港, 20.7mg/m3), according to IQAir.
Taiwan’s data were collected from 48 Ministry of Environment air quality stations and five individual contributors providing observations from six stations, IQAir said.
PM2.5 is particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller. Such particulate matter is a key component of air pollution and a known cause of many health issues, including cardiovascular and neurological diseases, the report said.
Department of Atmospheric Environment head Chang Shun-chin (張順欽) on Wednesday said that the air quality in different parts of Taiwan results from complex factors such as geology and seasonal winds.
For example, flying dust in the Jhuoshuei River region plays an important role in the local air quality. Pollutants often drift to northern Taiwan with the seasonal northeasterly winds in winter, while in April and May, ozone pollution is higher in the north due to the southerly winds, Chang said.
The ministry is conducting the second phase of the air pollution control action plan and ramping up efforts to reduce air pollution in central and southern Taiwan, Chang said.
Major pollution sources, including the Taichung Power Plant, other power plants and steel factories, have been required to redouble efforts to reduce emissions, Cheng said.
Local governments have also been required to provide related plans according to each region’s situation, Chang added.
The ministry said that IQAir was a private company that manufactures air purifying products, with much of its data from private contributors and unclear locations, which might not reflect reality.
For example, the report said that Taiwan’s average PM2.5 concentration in 2022 was 13.4mg/m3 and rose 50 percent to 20.2mg/m3. However, the ministry said that data it compiled showed that the average concentration was 12.4mg/m3 in 2022 and only rose 11.3 percent to 13.7mg/m3.
The Changhua County Environmental Protection Bureau also issued a statement yesterday, echoing similar sentiments.
The ministry’s data showed that the county’s average annual PM2.5 concentration was 16.4mg/m3, not 24.5mg/m3 as the report showed, the bureau said.
Moreover, the county’s air quality has been improving, with the improvement between 2018 and last year being in the top five in the country, it added.
The 2023 World Air Quality Report was IQAir’s sixth annual report. More than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 7,812 locations internationally were collected and subsequently analyzed by IQAir’s air quality scientists, IQAir said.
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