These 3 Balkan capitals appeared on Friday in the top 10 most polluted cities in the world, just behind Lahore, Delhi and Beijing. Extreme pollution which coincides with falling temperatures.
The air quality index in these three cities was above 150, the threshold beyond which the situation is considered bad for health. For comparison, the index at the same time was 44 in Paris and 34 in Los Angeles.
In Belgrade, capital of Serbia, the concentration of PM2.5 polluting particles reached almost 20 times the level considered acceptable by the World Health Organization (WHO). These fine particles that enter the bloodstream via the lungs are made up of a mixture of different chemical compounds.
In Pristina, capital of Kosovo, the concentration of PM2.5 polluting particles stands at 159 micrograms per cubic meter.
