UV Index Asia & Middle East

Asia covers the widest UV gradient of any continent, from Indonesian and Maldivian atolls near the equator to the Kazakh steppe well above 50°N. Tropical island nations sit on coral reefs only a metre or two above sea level, with constant high-sun exposure and reflective water and sand surfaces. The Maldivian archipelago in particular stretches from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll just south of the equator and records about 2,778 hours of bright sunshine per year on average.

Altitude is Asia's second great UV amplifier. The Tibetan Plateau averages over 4,500 m elevation — earning it the name "Roof of the World" — and the thin air above lets a much larger share of incoming UV reach the ground. The UV-index forecast model treats elevation, surface reflectivity from snow and ice, and stratospheric ozone as the main drivers of surface UV; high-altitude Asian regions combine all three, producing some of the highest measured ground-level UV values worldwide despite cool air temperatures.

Maldives tops the ranking with about 10,224 J/m² — among the highest values recorded by the WHO globally — while Kazakhstan sits at the regional low of 2,257 J/m². The roughly four-fold gap between Asia's tropical and northern extremes is wider than the spread within most other continents.