Most Polluting Countries Per Capita 2026: The Full Rankings

Which countries emit the most carbon dioxide per person? This ranking uses the latest complete figures: the Global Carbon Budget 2025, published in November 2025 by the Global Carbon Project and compiled by Our World in Data. The figures are for 2024, the most recent year with data for every country, and count CO₂ from fossil fuels and cement. To keep the list meaningful, it covers countries with at least one million people.

Key figures at a glance

• The world average was 4.7 tonnes of CO₂ per person in 2024.
• Qatar tops the ranking with 41.3 tonnes per person, almost nine times the world average.
• Seven of the ten highest emitters per person are oil and gas exporters: six in the Gulf, plus Trinidad and Tobago.
• The United States (14.2 t), Australia (14.5 t) and Canada (13.4 t) are the highest among large wealthy economies, but all three emit 13–17% less per person than ten years earlier.
• Of 159 countries with more than one million people, 47 emit more than the world average per person.

Why per-person figures matter

Rankings of total emissions are dominated by population: China (12.3 billion tonnes in 2024) and India (3.2 billion tonnes) are near the top because they are home to almost 2.9 billion people between them. Per-person figures remove that effect and show how carbon-intensive the economy behind an average resident is. India's 2.2 tonnes per person is less than half the world average; Qatar's 41.3 tonnes is almost nineteen times India's.

Per-person data is also a useful benchmark for your own footprint. If you live in one of the countries below, the average resident's share of national emissions is far above what climate targets allow, and there is more room both to cut and to fund climate projects for what remains. You can work out your own footprint with our carbon footprint calculator.

The ranking: CO₂ per person in 2024

#	Country	t CO₂ per person (2024)	Change since 2014	Main source of CO₂
1	Qatar	41.3	0%	Gas (82%)
2	Kuwait	26.3	+28%	Oil (56%), gas (42%)
3	Bahrain	24.3	+3%	Gas (87%)
4	Trinidad and Tobago	22.9	−30%	Gas (86%)
5	Saudi Arabia	20.4	+1%	Oil (65%)
6	United Arab Emirates	20.1	−23%	Gas (65%)
7	Oman	15.7	−5%	Gas (77%)
8	Australia	14.5	−13%	Oil (38%), coal (37%)
9	United States	14.2	−17%	Oil (45%), gas (36%)
10	Kazakhstan	13.9	−17%	Coal (56%)
11	Canada	13.4	−15%	Oil (46%), gas (44%)
12	Mongolia	12.9	+26%	Coal (87%)
13	Russia	12.3	+9%	Gas (48%)
14	Taiwan	11.3	−4%	Coal (54%)
15	South Korea	11.3	−9%	Coal (42%)

Source: Global Carbon Budget 2025 via Our World in Data. CO₂ from fossil fuels and cement, by where it is emitted (territorial). "Main source" is the share of each country's 2024 CO₂ from coal, oil or gas.

For comparison: China emitted 8.7 tonnes per person, the European Union 5.4, Germany 6.8, the United Kingdom 4.5, France 4.0 and India 2.2. For national totals and the biggest emitters overall, see our article on carbon footprint by country.

What drives very high emissions per person

1. Producing and using oil and gas at home

The top of the list is made up of countries whose economies are built on extracting, processing and exporting oil and gas. Liquefying gas for export, refining and petrochemicals use a great deal of energy, and those emissions count where they happen, while populations are small. In Qatar, Bahrain, Trinidad and Tobago and Oman, natural gas alone accounts for more than three quarters of all CO₂.

2. Cheap energy

Where fuel and electricity are sold below their full cost, there is little reason to use less. The International Monetary Fund estimated global fossil-fuel subsidies at about US$7 trillion in 2022 once unpriced environmental costs are included.

3. Coal-heavy electricity

Coal emits the most CO₂ per unit of energy. Mongolia (87% of its CO₂ from coal), Kazakhstan (56%) and South Korea (42%) reach high per-person levels with far smaller oil and gas industries than the Gulf states.

4. Climate, distance and lifestyle

Very hot or very cold climates raise energy use for cooling and heating, and large countries with long distances and car-based transport, such as the United States, Canada and Australia, burn more oil per person. Higher incomes add bigger homes, more flights and more goods.

Emissions behind what people buy

The ranking above counts CO₂ where it is emitted. A second view, consumption-based accounting, follows the CO₂ released abroad to make the goods a country imports and subtracts what goes into its exports. It changes the picture for trading economies. In 2023:

• Singapore: 8.8 tonnes per person emitted at home, 32.3 tonnes when imports are counted.
• Switzerland: 3.6 tonnes at home, 13.3 tonnes with imports.
• Belgium: 7.2 tonnes at home, 16.8 tonnes with imports.
• The United Kingdom: 4.5 tonnes at home, 7.1 tonnes with imports; Germany 7.0 and 9.1.
• Qatar moves the other way: 40.1 tonnes at home, 27.6 tonnes once its exports are taken out.

For most people in Europe, the footprint of what they buy is higher than their country's territorial figure suggests, which is why a personal footprint calculation is more useful than the national average.

The gap to close

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finds that pathways limiting warming to 1.5 °C reach net zero CO₂ in the early 2050s, with deep and rapid cuts this decade. The Global Carbon Budget 2025 puts the remaining budget for 1.5 °C at about 170 billion tonnes of CO₂, roughly four years of current emissions. World emissions are still rising in total. At 14 to 41 tonnes per person, residents of the countries at the top of this list have the largest gap to close.

Signs of change

• The United States emitted 17% less CO₂ per person in 2024 than in 2014, Canada 15% less and Australia 13% less. The United Kingdom cut its figure by a third and Germany by 31% over the same decade.
• The United Arab Emirates (−23%) and Trinidad and Tobago (−30%) also fell over ten years, while Kuwait (+28%) and Mongolia (+26%) rose.
• Australia has a legislated target of cutting emissions 43% below 2005 levels by 2030.
• Canada removed its consumer carbon price on 1 April 2025; carbon pricing for large industrial emitters continues.

What you can do

• Measure first. Our free carbon footprint calculator gives you a personal figure in a few minutes, based on how you live rather than your country's average.
• Cut where it counts most. For most people in high-income countries that means flights, car travel, home heating and cooling, and diet.
• Fund verified projects for the rest. Buying verified carbon credits funds certified climate projects and retires the credits for the tonnes you choose. Read how to check carbon credit quality, and see how many credits you need.

For emissions by sector, see carbon footprint by industry.