Accra vs Porto-Novo
Tree cover and air quality for both, measured the same way: Sentinel-2 imagery at 10 m detail over a 2 km radius from each city centre, and the live US EPA air quality index. Same radius and same index, so the two numbers compare directly.
Porto-Novo has more tree cover — 16.2% against 7.9%.
Porto-Novo has cleaner air right now — AQI 38 against 74.
- Tree cover gap
- 8.3 points
- Porto-Novo is ahead.
- Air quality gap
- 36 AQI
- Porto-Novo is cleaner.
- Trees between them
- 28.4K
- Porto-Novo has more standing.
Ghana
Benin
Tree cover
Share of the 2 km radius under canopy.
7.9%
16.2%
Air quality index
US EPA index, live, with its band. Lower is better.
74 · Moderate
38 · Good
Trees standing
Estimated from the measured canopy area.
22.5K
50.9K
Trees still needed
To reach the same canopy target. Fewer is better.
63.0K
43.4K
CO₂ absorbed each year
By the trees already standing.
496K kg
1.1M kg
Air quality in detail
What each city is breathing
Concentrations in µg/m³, measured at the same moment as the index above. Lower is better in every row. Accra is read from nearby ground stations and Porto-Novo is modelled — worth knowing, since the two are not quite like for like.
PM2.5
Fine particles, the pollutant that usually sets the index.
23 µg/m³
9.1 µg/m³
The last week, day by day
A single reading can catch a city on a bad afternoon. The week says whether it was the weather or the place.
| Day | Accra | Porto-Novo |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Sept | 31 | 41 |
| 23 Sept | 28 | 39 |
| 24 Sept | 41 | 53 |
| 25 Sept | 38 | 52 |
| 26 Sept | 37 | 48 |
| 27 Sept | 33 | 39 |
Reading these numbers
What is actually being measured
Tree cover
The share of ground under canopy inside a 2 km radius of each city centre, read from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail. It is a measurement of that circle, not of the whole municipality — which is exactly what makes the two comparable, since city boundaries are drawn to wildly different rules around the world. Porto-Novo leads here at 16.2%.
Air quality index
The live US EPA index, computed from current pollutant concentrations — ground stations where a city has them nearby, and a model everywhere else. It moves hour to hour, so this is a snapshot rather than a verdict on either place: Accra reads 74 (moderate) and Porto-Novo reads 38 (good) right now.
Frequently asked
Accra and Porto-Novo, answered
Which has more trees, Accra or Porto-Novo?
Porto-Novo, with roughly 50,894 trees inside its 2 km radius against 22,535. Tree cover tells a slightly different story from raw count: Porto-Novo has the denser canopy at 16.2%.
Which has better air quality, Accra or Porto-Novo?
Porto-Novo right now, at AQI 38 against 74 — a gap of 36 points. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day.
How many more trees does each city need?
Accra needs about 63,042 more to reach its canopy target, and Porto-Novo about 43,354. The target is the same share of ground for both, so the figures are directly comparable.
Are these two measured the same way?
Yes — that is the point of the page. Identical radius, identical satellite source at 10 m detail, and the same US EPA index for air. Nothing here is adjusted for population, city limits or climate, so the numbers describe the same-sized circle of ground in each place.
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