Phnom Penh - 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?
Moderate. I have asthma and notice it's worse when I frequently take tuk tuks instead of driving my car. Cambodia has no emissions standards for cars/trucks, so you'll see and smell many cars with the worst exhaust systems polluting the air and your lungs. We have the occasional neighbor who burns trash, which also affects my lungs significantly. We purchased and use air purifiers in all of our bedrooms and in our living room to reduce the pollution in the air in our house, and it's made a significant difference. - Jul 2021
It’s generally ok, but can get hard for some during the dry months (April and May). - Nov 2020
Motor vehicle fumes, and sometimes dust during the dry season. Also, nobody here ever seems to clean out their air conditioners, so the filters are often full of mold which gives me terrible cold-like symptoms. - May 2017
It can be dusty in the dry season and there is some trash burning. It is not terrible. - Oct 2016
City is at the base of four rivers so our "soil" is sand which leaks out and gets blown around. So it can get dusty. You also have the "dust" from multiple construction sites at different stages. I just cleaned-out my vacuum cleaner and had to get out the tootbrush to remove what appears to be cement at the bottom. - May 2015
I have asthma and allergies and the air quality seemed fine to me - except, of course, when you're riding in a tuk-tuk stuck behind a truck spewing exhaust...duh. - Feb 2015
There is constant constuction in the city and as a result the air is always filled with dust. No matter how much you clean your porch, within and hour it will be covered in a fine layer of dust again. - Aug 2013
Surprisingly good, but seems to be getting worse as the city develops. - Jan 2012
The air quality is very dry & humid. - Aug 2011
No problems - Aug 2011
Phnom Penh is very much a developing city with lots of small motorcycles, and really nothing to control pollution. During the dry season dust can be quite bad, not helped by the fact that there is a lot of construction going on at the moment. With that said, Phnom Penh only has about 1.5 million people, and most of them do not have cars - thus, smog and industrial pollution endemic to other cities in the region is almost non-existent. - Oct 2010
