Dhaka, March 11 -- Bangladesh has earned the dubious distinction of being the most polluted country in the world in 2024, with air quality more than 15 times worse than World Health Organization, or WHO guidelines, according to Swiss air quality monitoring firm IQAir.

The South Asian country jointly topped the global pollution rankings with Chad, while India, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo also recorded alarmingly high smog levels, Reuters reports.

Only seven countries met WHO air quality standards last year, data showed on Tuesday, as researchers warned that the war on smog would only get harder after the United States shut down its global monitoring efforts.

Only Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada,...