Country comparison · 341 cities measured
Argentina vs Brazil Air quality index (AQI) and deforestation
Argentina and Brazil are level right now: both average AQI 37 across their measured cities.
At ground stations alone, which measure rather than estimate, the averages are Argentina 62 (8 cities) and Brazil 46 (60 cities). Brazil has lost more forest since 2001. Brazil has more tree cover in its cities.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Argentina37Brazil37
Head to head
Argentina vs Brazil at a glance
Brazil is ahead on 4 of 6 measures, and Argentina on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Argentina | Brazil | |
|---|---|---|
| Average air qualityUS AQI, all measured cities. | 37 | 37 |
| At ground stationsCities with a current station reading. | 62 | 46 (better) |
| Cities over AQI 100Not fine for sensitive groups. | 3% | 1% (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001The whole country. | 7.18 million ha (better) | 76.6 million ha |
| Share of its forest lostOf what it had in 2000. | 18% | 15% (better) |
| Average tree coverAcross its measured cities. | 18.2% | 26.2% (better) |
Air quality today
Is Argentina cleaner than Brazil?
On air quality they are level right now. Argentina and Brazil are level right now: both average AQI 37 across their measured cities.
At ground stations alone, which measure rather than estimate, the averages are Argentina 62 (8 cities) and Brazil 46 (60 cities).
3% of the measured cities in Argentina are over AQI 100 today, the point where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, against 1% in Brazil.
How each country's cities split across the air quality bands
Argentina
- Good30 (81%)
- Moderate6 (16%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups1 (3%)
Brazil
- Good207 (68%)
- Moderate93 (31%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups3 (1%)
- Unhealthy1 (0%)
Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.
Against everywhere else
How do Argentina and Brazil compare with other countries?
Right now the cities of Argentina average cleaner air than 75% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and those of Brazil than 75%.
Cleaner air than…
- Argentina
- Beats 75%
- Brazil
- Beats 75%
More tree cover than…
- Argentina
- Beats 37%
- Brazil
- Beats 55%
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which country has lost more forest, Argentina or Brazil?
Brazil has lost more: about 76.6 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 7.18 million ha in Argentina, or 11 times as much. 56.2 million ha of Brazil's was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns; the rest burned, was logged or can grow back.
The whole country, from the yearly satellite maps of forest loss: unlike the city averages above, this counts every forest, not just the land around cities.
Worst year: 2008, with 594,000 ha lost.
Worst year: 2016, with 5.41 million ha lost.
| Argentina | Brazil | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 7.18 million ha (better) | 76.6 million ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 18% | 15% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 5.72 million ha (better) | 56.2 million ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Holding steady | Holding steady |
| Main known cause | Farms, pasture and plantations (79%) | Farms, pasture and plantations (73%) |
Trees
Which country has more tree cover, Argentina or Brazil?
Brazil does: its measured cities average 26.2% tree cover against 18.2%, a gap of 8.0 percentage points.
| Argentina | Brazil | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingSummed across measured cities. | 2.0M | 23.7M (better) |
| Cities below their targetShort of the canopy target. | 89% | 68% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach those targets. | 1.5M (better) | 7.4M |
Behind the averages
The cities behind Argentina and Brazil
An average says nothing about how far apart the best and worst places are. These are the measured cities at each end.
Argentina
- Greenest measured city
- Ituzaingó63.5% tree cover
- Worst air right now
- San Salvador de JujuyAQI 86
Brazil
- Greenest measured city
- Petrópolis73.8% tree cover
- Worst air right now
- Duque de CaxiasAQI 185
Reading these numbers
What a country average is, and is not
It is a mean of cities
Not a national statistic. Each figure is the average across the cities Airleaf has measured: 37 in Argentina and 304 in Brazil, each read over the same 2 km radius, on the US EPA index. Rural land and unmeasured towns are not in it.
Coverage shapes the number
A country measured mostly in its capital reads differently from one measured across dozens of towns. Brazil rests on 304 cities against 37, so its average is the steadier of the two. Forest figures come from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
Frequently asked
Argentina vs Brazil: your questions answered
Is Argentina cleaner than Brazil?
On air quality they are level right now: both average AQI 37 across their measured cities. At ground stations alone, which measure rather than estimate, the averages are Argentina 62 (8 cities) and Brazil 46 (60 cities).
Which country has lost more forest, Argentina or Brazil?
Brazil has lost more: about 76.6 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 7.18 million ha in Argentina, or 11 times as much. 56.2 million ha of Brazil's was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns; the rest burned, was logged or can grow back.
Which country has more tree cover, Argentina or Brazil?
Brazil does: its measured cities average 26.2% tree cover against 18.2%, a gap of 8.0 percentage points.
How many cities are the Argentina and Brazil figures based on?
37 measured cities in Argentina and 304 in Brazil. Every one was read the same way, so the two averages are directly comparable, but a country with more measured cities has the more settled figure.
Why are there two air quality averages for each country?
The first covers every measured city, using a ground station where one is close and a model estimate everywhere else. The second counts only cities with a current station reading, which is measured rather than estimated but covers fewer places. Airleaf's world rankings use the station figures only.
Does this cover the whole of Argentina and Brazil?
The air and tree figures are not: they are the cities Airleaf has measured, each over the same 2 km radius, so treat them as a comparison of urban air and urban tree cover. The forest figures are: they count every forest in the country.
More comparisons for Argentina
More comparisons for Brazil
Build your own
Compare Argentina with somewhere else
This place
Argentina