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Air & ecologyWorsening

Air pollution

Dirty air, PM2.5

Yerevan regularly tops the South Caucasus for air pollution: PM2.5 exceeded the WHO daily limit on 214 days in 2025. The main source is transport.

Pressure index · since 201288
harm
5/5
reach
5/5
trajectory
Worsening
entrenchment
14 years
Evidence: well-documented

How it began

Existed but unrecorded

Before. The air was already dirty, but barely measured: until the mid-2010s only 5 stations from the 1980s were in use. The network expanded to ~140 only from 2024 — the problem existed, but went unrecorded.

What changed. A growing car fleet and the first systematic measurements made chronically dirty air visible and quantifiable.

Timeline

  1. Origin

    Roots: chronically dirty air, long unmeasured

    By the early 2010s Yerevan's air was already chronically dirty but barely measured systematically — the monitoring network was rolled out only later. The civic roots of the environmental theme trace back to the mass protests at the Nairit chemical plant in 1988.

  2. Development

    First hard data: Yerevan's air is worse than Moscow's

    Some of the first data-driven reports showed Yerevan's worst 2019 PM2.5 day (153 µg/m³) nearly quadrupled Moscow's (41 µg/m³). Chronically dirty air became measurable and internationally comparable in numbers for the first time.

  3. Development

    Worst air among South Caucasus capitals

    On peak days PM2.5 exceeded the WHO annual norm by 12–16×; Yerevan ranked worse than Tbilisi and Baku.

  4. Decision

    Avinyan orders a 4-year clean-air plan — within 2 months

    Mayor Tigran Avinyan told the environmental-protection department to draft, within two months, a four-year plan with 'concrete indicators': mass tree-planting plus restrictions on old cars that 'leave two kilometres of smoke behind'. The flagship measure — barring cars without a catalytic converter.

    Tigran Avinyan · Yerevan Municipality

  5. Decision

    AQI 239 smog — and the environment chief's dismissal

    Amid 'very unhealthy' smog, that same week the mayor dismissed the head of the environmental-protection department.

    Tigran Avinyan · Yerevan Municipality

  6. MilestoneLoss

    214 days over the WHO limit in one year

    Over 2025, PM2.5 exceeded the WHO daily limit on 214 days.

Promises & what happened

Claims & fact-check

Connections

  • Amplified byTraffic & car dominance

    Transport accounts for ~90% of Yerevan's air pollution (CDIA, 2021).

  • Amplified byTree cutting

    Lost canopy cuts air filtration and intensifies heat — directly raising pollution and disease risk.

  • Amplified byWaste & landfill

    Dump fires and the decomposition of unsorted waste release combustion byproducts and landfill gas into the city's air — a direct contribution to Yerevan's already-critical air pollution.

Indicators

Days PM2.5 over the WHO limit
214days/yr×53 · WHO limit ≤4
as of 2025rising

Key facts

Deaths per year from PM2.5
~3,000+
Health cost of PM2.5
≈10.6% of GDP

Sources