SmogRank / Pakistan / Sindh / Karachi

Karachi, month by month

Karachi has a measured daily mean on 1,099 days since 1 January 2023. Its worst month was November 2023, at 184 US AQI (102.9 µg/m³), 6th of 2,243 cities on that month's world ranking. Its cleanest was May 2023, at 72 US AQI (20.6 µg/m³). 2024 averaged 121 US AQI (43.7 µg/m³), against 124 US AQI (44.8 µg/m³) in 2023.

Every month since 2023

2026105 so far285 days measured98th of 2,793 in the world
Jan166#22Feb157#50Mar97#199Apr90#225May87#196Jun83#177Jul88#160Aug82#153Sep84#152Oct82#63
2025too few days for a mean (a year needs 256)251 days measured
Jan180#10Feb157#22Mar3 daysAprnoneMaynoneJun11 daysJul83#120Aug85#100Sep88#92Oct143#71Nov168#73Dec177#62
2024121 for the year269 days measured19th of 2,097 in the world
Jan181#9Feb156#16Mar128#11Apr92#72May80#98Jun19 daysJul20 daysAug74#85Sep12 daysOct21 daysNov133#32Decnone
2023124 for the year294 days measured10th of 1,355 in the world
Jan20 daysFeb3 daysMar12 daysApr76#88May72#99Jun79#197Jul87#45Aug76#102Sep95#28Oct109#17Nov184#6Dec179#10
Each square is a month's mean PM2.5 in US AQI from Karachi's measured days, with its place on that month's world ranking under it. A month has a mean once 70% of its days are measured, the rule the monthly rankings use; under that, the square gives the days measured. Each square opens that month's ranking with Karachi marked; each year, the year's. A dashed square is the running month, so far.
Good0–50
Moderate51–100
Sensitive groups101–150
Unhealthy151–200
Very unhealthy201–300
Hazardous301+

The US EPA's Air Quality Index for PM2.5 (2024 breakpoints). Show values as: µg/m³ · US AQI · India AQI · China AQI · European AQI · UK DAQI · Canada AQHI+. About the scales

Months without a mean, and why

12 months
MonthWhy
Jun 202511 of 30 days measured; a month needs 21. The others: 19 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
May 2025No day measured. The others: 31 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
Apr 2025No day measured. The others: 30 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
Mar 20253 of 31 days measured; a month needs 22. The others: 28 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
Dec 2024No day measured. The others: 31 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
Oct 202421 of 31 days measured; a month needs 22. The others: 10 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
Sep 202412 of 30 days measured; a month needs 21. The others: 18 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
Jul 202420 of 31 days measured; a month needs 22. The others: 11 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
Jun 202419 of 30 days measured; a month needs 21. The others: 11 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.
Mar 202312 of 31 days measured; a month needs 22. The others: 19 missing from OpenAQ's archive.
Feb 20233 of 28 days measured; a month needs 20. The others: 25 missing from OpenAQ's archive.
Jan 202320 of 31 days measured; a month needs 22. The others: 5 missing from OpenAQ's archive, 6 with under 18 hours of readings or readings that failed our checks.

A day counts once 18 hours of it are measured; a month needs 70% of its days.

Karachi's worst months

MonthUS AQIDays measuredWorld rank
November 2023 184102.9 µg/m³28 of 306thof 2,243
January 2024 18198.1 µg/m³30 of 319thof 2,385
January 2025 18096.8 µg/m³26 of 3110thof 2,474
December 2023 17995.7 µg/m³28 of 3110thof 2,247
December 2025 17793.3 µg/m³31 of 3162ndof 3,006
November 2025 16879.1 µg/m³29 of 3073rdof 2,715

Monthly means over the days measured; finished months only. World rank: its place on that month's world ranking of every city with enough days. Each month opens that ranking.

Karachi's worst days

DayUS AQI
19 Nov 2023 262187.0 µg/m³
18 Jan 2023 261186.0 µg/m³
13 Feb 2025 240165.0 µg/m³
16 Dec 2023 232157.0 µg/m³
20 Dec 2025 231156.0 µg/m³
27 Nov 2023 230155.0 µg/m³
15 Dec 2023 223148.0 µg/m³
2 Nov 2023 221146.0 µg/m³
20 Nov 2023 220145.0 µg/m³
24 Jan 2024 220145.0 µg/m³

Daily means, the highest since 1 Jan 2023; the WHO's daily guideline is 15 µg/m³. Each date opens that day's world ranking, and each episode the bad-air spell it was part of.

Use this history

SmogRank, PM2.5 monthly and daily means, Karachi, Pakistan, 1 Jan 2023 – 12 Oct 2026. Monitor data from AirGradient and Hawanama via OpenAQ; sources listed at smogrank.com/sources. smogrank.com/pk/karachi/history (accessed 12 Oct 2026).

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You're welcome to reuse a single chart, image or figure with this citation and a link. Terms. Raw monitor readings in bulk are published by OpenAQ, under each provider's licence.

Karachi now: the last 24 hours, its ranks today and the last 12 months day by day.

Updated 2026-10-12 23:07 UTC. Values are PM2.5 (fine particles), the median of each city's monitors, as the US AQI PM2.5 sub-index. Some low-cost readings: Sensor.Community, ODbL (data and licence). Some readings: Uzhydromet (Uzbekistan's Hydrometeorological Service); Department of Environment, Nepal; Vietnam's government monitors; Aurassure; Umhverfisstofnun (Environment Agency of Iceland); RMCAB (Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente, Bogotá); Love My Air (City and County of Denver), no reuse terms published (why we use them).