These are the most polluted cities in Canada

The steel mills in the Hamilton waterfront harbour are shown in Hamilton, Ont., on Tuesday, October 23, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

A new air quality report says Montreal has the dirtiest air in Canada as its residents indirectly inhale pollutants that are the equivalent of smoking 124 cigarettes annually.

Air quality improvement company HouseFresh reviewed data on average PM 2.5 concentration in cities worldwide to determine the number of cigarettes the air pollution was equivalent to. 

According to the report, Windsor and Hamilton in Ontario came as the second and third place behind Montreal in the list of the cities in Canada with the worst air quality, as residents indirectly inhale the equivalent of 123 and 116 cigarettes a year, respectively.

People in Kitchener, Ont. indirectly inhale the equivalent of 115 cigarettes annually, per the report, while Ottawa’s air pollution is the equivalent of 113 cigarettes a year.

The report found that as a whole Canada has some of the best air quality in the world, wildfires as well as industrial emissions due to wood burning and energy production can lead to poor air quality, especially in Western Canada and northern Ontario.

The platform says that many of the cities with the worst air quality are in developing economies in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa. People in some of these cities inhale the equivalent of over 1,000 cigarettes per year.

According to the study, Dhaka, Bangladesh has the dirtiest air of any capital city in the world. Residents of Dhaka indirectly smoke the equivalent of 1,176 cigarettes a year due to poor air quality.

In contrast, Bern, Switzerland has the cleanest air of any capital city in the world as people indirectly inhale the equivalent of only 11 cigarettes each year, per the study.

Here is the list of most polluted Canadian cities and the equivalent number of cigarettes people indirectly inhale annually:

1. Montreal, 124
2. Windsor, Ont., 123
3. Hamilton, Ont., 116
4. Kitchener, Ont., 115
5. Ottawa, 113
6. London, Ont., 110
7. Quebec City, 109
8. Mississauga, Ont., 108
9. Toronto, 104
10. Edmonton, 97
11. Oshawa, Ont., 96
12. Winnipeg, 88
13. Victoria, 86
14. Calgary, 83
15. Halifax, 80
16. Vancouver, 59

Reporting for this story was paid for through The Afghan Journalists in Residence Project funded by Meta.