SmogRank / World / South Africa / January 2023

Most polluted cities in South Africa, January 2023

3 cities in South Africa ranked by their average PM2.5 over the 31 days. Worst: Ga-Rankuwa at 26.1 µg/m³, #87 of 1,083 cities in the world. Cleanest: Thembisa at 14.2. A city needs measurements on 70% of the days to be ranked.

OpenAQ's archive, where our readings come from, has almost none for 7 of these 31 days. Cities in the United States and Europe have them from the EPA's and the European Environment Agency's own records of the same monitors; elsewhere a city's average is over its other days. Why.

← Ga-Rankuwa 26.1 µg/m³ 20 µg/m³0
Every city in South Africa ranked for January 2023, one column each, worst on the left and cleanest on the right; height is PM2.5 in µg/m³. Point at it to read a city; tap to open it.
  1. 1Ga-RankuwaNorth West
    83
  2. 2VereenigingGauteng
    65
  3. 3ThembisaGauteng
    61
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

All cities in the world, January 2023 · South Africa now

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SmogRank, most polluted cities in South Africa, PM2.5, January 2023, smogrank.com/za/history/2023-01 (accessed 2 Oct 2026).

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