During an interview with Al-Rai Arabic newspaper, which reported air pollution levels in Kuwait City according to the American index, the Director of the Air Quality Monitoring Department at the Environment Public Authority, Eng. Sherif Al-Khayyat, confirmed that “environmental specialists know that this American indicator depends on measuring the concentration of suspended dust particles in the atmosphere while air quality in cities is measured by monitoring concentrations of gaseous pollutants, including sulfur oxides, carbon oxides, nitrogen oxides, ozone and fine particles.” Moreover, this indicator, he said, “does not take into account the dust originating from the deserts. Throughout the year, Kuwait is affected by sand and dust storms, most of which originate outside Kuwait's borders.

He added, “The American air quality standards differ from air quality standards in the State of Kuwait, and each country has its own standards based on its national conditions, so these classifications have no basis in health at the national level.” Al-Khayyat affirmed that “that the EPA has a system for monitoring atmospheric air pollutants and for this purpose 15 stations are distributed over some residential areas in the State of Kuwait to monitor all the basic pollutants recommended by the World Health Organization whether the atmospheric air, dust particles or water vapor particles of small sizes.

"People with respiratory ailments should avoid going outside or engaging in outdoor activities when the humidity is over 90%." He added, "Everyone can view the air quality index in the residential area by visiting Beatona. In the past, the American Air Quality Index (AQI) published by the Swiss company IQ Air had placed Kuwait City eighth globally, and first in the Arab world, on the list of the most polluted cities. The Pakistani city of Lahore topped the list followed by the Indian city of Delhi, the Chinese city of Chongqing, the Indian city of Mumbai, then the Chinese Hangzhou, the Indonesian city of Jakarta, followed by the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh in that order. After Kuwait (in eighth place), the city of Kathmandu in Nepal ranked ninth and the Chinese city of Wuhan tenth.