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AirVisual global report: The poison we breathe...grew even more poisonous in 2019
AirVisual has listed the capital as among the Indonesian cities that have laid claim to the top five slots of most polluted cities in the world, a dubious achievement that some officials have attempted to negate by questioning the data.
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The usually gleaming the golden flame atop the National Monument in Central Jakarta is dulled amid the thick smog in Jakarta on Sept. 3, 2019. (JP/Rafaela Chandra)
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f you notice that the sky is less than blue and feel an urge to don a mask, it's probably because the air quality in the Indonesian capital has significantly worsened over the past two years, according to AirVisual, which monitors air quality in cities the world over.
The 2019 World Air Quality Report published on Tuesday shows that the air over Jakarta has become increasingly polluted since 2018 and hit a new low in 2019.
The report is based on AirVisual's real-time aggregated data on air quality, which is gathered from ground-based air monitoring stations that measure fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers, or PM2.5.
PM2.5 particulates are small enough to breathe in through the nose and could go even deeper into the alveoli, the air sacs in the lungs where the process of exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide in the bloodstream occurs.
The 2019 report ranks Indonesia first among Southeast Asian countries for the worst air pollution, and sixth out of the 98 countries AirVisual monitors around the globe.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian capital ranks as the fifth most polluted city in Southeast Asia. Throughout 2019, Jakarta also maintained its fifth ranking as the most polluted capital city in the world, jumping five places from its 10th world ranking in 2018.
The four slots above it are also Indonesian cities with South Tangerang (Banten) topping the list, followed by Bekasi (West Java), Pekanbaru (Riau) and Pontianak (West Kalimantan).
