The evaluation of the air pollution index in Turkey

•The air pollution index in Turkey for the period 1990–2011 has been developed.•The air pollutants have categorized according to their impacts.•Environmental indicators have weighted by using the AHP method.•The air pollution index behaviour along the years has not linear.•Turkey must be started to use clean technologies in energy production.

This paper evaluates the air pollution index in Turkey for the period 1990–2011 by using the four different environmental pressure categories, namely global warming potential, acidification potential, tropospheric ozone forming potential and particulate formation potential. These categories have weighted on a comparison basis, applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology. Twenty-five academicians with environmental engineering backgrounds were asked to fill in the comparison matrices in order to reduce bias in the evaluation.According to the results obtained for the air pollution index in Turkey are better for the time period 2001–2011 than the time period 1990–2000. The study provides deeper insights into the causes of air pollution, and gives further implications on air pollution protection strategies in Turkey.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide