Doha - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the air quality like at post (good/moderate/bad)? Are there seasonal air quality issues? Does the air quality have an impact on health?
Terrible. Lots of air purifiers but it affects everyone differently. We still love it enough to extend. - Oct 2024
It ranges from ok to terrible. It is worse than I thought it would be more often. I have not decided whether this has impacted us. - Jun 2024
The air quality is mentioned as an issue but without asthma or any respiratory issue, I cannot comment too much on this. It is dusty as heck so that dust is in the airs. The filters on my purifiers have to be changed 2x a year. I don't notice to much in the way if breathing issues. I would say the heat and humidity is the bigger issue which may cause hardness to breath etc. - Oct 2023
The air quality is very bad due to the dust and sand. - Jul 2022
Sand storms make it really dusty, and in my opinion, it's bad for babies to be out during these days. - Apr 2021
Terrible. The PM 2.5 levels in Qatar are some of the worst in the world. Really - look it up and do the research for yourself. There are little to no construction codes here, and all of the ongoing construction is dumping some pretty hazardous materials into the air. There are days when you can't even see out the window it's so bad. The air filters the Embassy has given us help, but in no way mitigate the effects of the airborne toxins. On top of that, it's the desert, so there is always a tan hue to the air because of all the sand you're inhaling.
Everyone, at some point during their tour, will get nosebleeds, a miserable cough, sick at least three to four times a year and generally feel nauseous from the air pollution. (And if you're a drinker, you can expect the air pollution to cause some of the worst hangovers of your life.)
You've been warned. - May 2017
Moderate to bad because of the dust and air pollution mentioned above. - May 2017
the WHO ranks ambient air pollution as unhealthy - May 2015
Very unhealthy - one of the worst cities in the world for PM2.5. Almost everyone has respiratory problems here, many children develop asthma, and when it sandstorms, thousands of kids end up in the hospital. Many adults with no history of allergies have developed terrible allergies and chronic sinus inflammation, and the only advice doctors give is to leave Qatar. - Feb 2015
Moderate air quality. We had some bad sand storms in early spring that kept us indoors for a few days. Otherwise, it's not bad. - Apr 2012
Very unhealthy, we had one of the worst sandstorms last week, and it deposited a not so thin layer of red dust everywhere, maybe in the lungs too! - Mar 2012
Limited artificial pollution but there is lots of dust, particularly during dust storms, which happen about once very couple months - Mar 2012
Air quality is fine, but there is a fair amount of fine sand/dust that will blow around on windy days. - Jan 2012
Moderate. It can get polluted in the densely urban areas. Dust storms are the norm. - Jun 2011
Pretty good, however there always seems to be dust in the air. But its not polluted. - Oct 2010
