Air quality in December: cleanest & most polluted destinations

Where the air is cleanest — and worst — to travel in December, ranked by the monthly-mean US Air Quality Index (AQI) across 600+ destinations. Lower is better: 0–50 is good, 100+ starts to bite, 150+ is unhealthy. Tap any place for its full December weather and air-quality breakdown.

Worst air quality in December

  1. 1Riyadh 🇸🇦 Saudi ArabiaHazardous691
  2. 2Nouakchott 🇲🇷 MauritaniaVery unhealthy278
  3. 3Dakhla Western SaharaVery unhealthy264
  4. 4Ouagadougou 🇧🇫 Burkina FasoVery unhealthy242
  5. 5Salalah 🇴🇲 OmanVery unhealthy240
  6. 6Beijing 🇨🇳 ChinaUnhealthy183
  7. 7Lahore 🇵🇰 PakistanUnhealthy181
  8. 8Amritsar 🇮🇳 IndiaUnhealthy178
  9. 9Chengdu 🇨🇳 ChinaUnhealthy174
  10. 10Agra 🇮🇳 IndiaUnhealthy173
  11. 11Delhi 🇮🇳 IndiaUnhealthy171
  12. 12Kuwait City 🇰🇼 KuwaitUnhealthy167
  13. 13Kolkata 🇮🇳 IndiaUnhealthy166
  14. 14Chongqing 🇨🇳 ChinaUnhealthy166
  15. 15Varanasi 🇮🇳 IndiaUnhealthy165

Cleanest air in December

  1. 1Honiara 🇸🇧 Solomon IslandsGood14
  2. 2Ushuaia 🇦🇷 ArgentinaGood14
  3. 3Farellones 🇨🇱 ChileGood15
  4. 4Nadi 🇫🇯 FijiGood15
  5. 5Puerto Natales 🇨🇱 ChileGood15
  6. 6El Calafate 🇦🇷 ArgentinaGood16
  7. 7Punta Arenas 🇨🇱 ChileGood16
  8. 8Te Anau 🇳🇿 New ZealandGood16
  9. 9Torres del Paine 🇨🇱 ChileGood16
  10. 10El Chaltén 🇦🇷 ArgentinaGood17
  11. 11Palomino 🇨🇴 ColombiaGood18
  12. 12Queenstown 🇳🇿 New ZealandGood18
  13. 13Taupo 🇳🇿 New ZealandGood18
  14. 14Tongariro 🇳🇿 New ZealandGood18
  15. 15Boquete 🇵🇦 PanamaGood19