Updates to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global database for city air pollution show that Australia’s capital cities are performing well internationally.
All, including Sydney and Melbourne, had annual mean concentration of particulate matter (PM) below the WHO safety guidelines.
The air quality guideline is an annual mean concentration guideline for particulate matter from which stipulates that PM2.5 not exceed 10 μg/m3 annual mean, and that PM10 not exceed 20 μg/m3 annual mean.
The PM measurements of all Australian capital cities fall below these thresholds with Hobart performing the best, followed by Brisbane then Canberra. Darwin and Melbourne had the highest concentration of PM10 and shared the highest concentration of PM2.5 with Sydney and Perth.
The database does however reveal concerning figures for some Australian regional centres.
The La Trobe Valley in Victoria, Palmerston in the Northern Territory, Moranbah in QLD, and Singleton, the Upper Hunter and Wagga Wagga in NSW all have PM counts above or equal to the WHO safety guidelines.
The worst Australian regional centre is Geraldton in WA which had an annual PM10 μg/m3 score of 22 in 2014.
See how Australian cities stack up below:
City
|
PM10
|
PM2.5
|
|
Adelaide
|
17
|
7
|
|
Brisbane
|
16
|
6
|
|
Canberra
|
16
|
7
|
|
Darwin
|
19
|
8
|
|
Hobart
|
14
|
6
|
|
Melbourne
|
19
|
8
|
|
Perth
|
17
|
8
|
|
Sydney
|
17
|
8
|
|
Delhi
|
229
|
122
|
|
Hong Kong
|
49
|
29
|
|
New York
|
16
|
9
|
|
London
|
22
|
15
|
|
Paris
|
28
|
18
|
|
Toronto
|
14
|
8
|
|
Johannesburg
|
85
|
41
|
