Skip to content
Airleaf

Country comparison · 89 cities measured

Canada vs Ethiopia Air quality index (AQI) and deforestation

Canada has cleaner air than Ethiopia right now: its cities average AQI 25 against 60.

Canada has lost more forest since 2001. Canada has more tree cover in its cities.

Canada

Average of 59 cities

AQI 25

Good

Cleaner on average

At ground stations
AQI 24
Tree cover
33.1%
Forest lost since 2001
65.6 million ha
Ethiopia

Average of 30 cities

AQI 60

Moderate

Tree cover
22.2%
Forest lost since 2001
559,000 ha

Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.

Head to head

Canada vs Ethiopia at a glance

Canada is ahead on 3 of 5 measures, and Ethiopia on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.

Canada and Ethiopia compared on air quality, forest loss and tree cover
CanadaEthiopia
Average air qualityUS AQI, all measured cities.25 (better)60
Cities over AQI 100Not fine for sensitive groups.0% (better)7%
Forest lost since 2001The whole country.65.6 million ha559,000 ha (better)
Share of its forest lostOf what it had in 2000.17%4.6% (better)
Average tree coverAcross its measured cities.33.1% (better)22.2%

Air quality today

Is Canada cleaner than Ethiopia?

On air quality, yes, right now. Canada has cleaner air than Ethiopia right now: its cities average AQI 25 against 60.

0% of the measured cities in Canada are over AQI 100 today, the point where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, against 7% in Ethiopia.

How each country's cities split across the air quality bands

Canada

  • Good55 (93%)
  • Moderate4 (7%)

Ethiopia

  • Good8 (27%)
  • Moderate20 (67%)
  • Unhealthy for sensitive groups2 (7%)

Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.

Against everywhere else

How do Canada and Ethiopia compare with other countries?

Right now the cities of Canada average cleaner air than 94% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and those of Ethiopia than 38%.

Cleaner air than…

Canada
Beats 94%
Ethiopia
Beats 38%

More tree cover than…

Canada
Beats 74%
Ethiopia
Beats 45%

Deforestation · 2001–2025

Which country has lost more forest, Canada or Ethiopia?

Canada has lost more: about 65.6 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 559,000 ha in Ethiopia, or 117 times as much. 899,000 ha of Canada'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.

Canada
20012025

Worst year: 2023, with 8.38 million ha lost.

Ethiopia
20012025

Worst year: 2012, with 41,800 ha lost.

Forest loss in Canada and Ethiopia, 2001 to 2025
CanadaEthiopia
Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged.65.6 million ha559,000 ha (better)
Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000.17%4.6% (better)
Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns.899,000 ha484,000 ha (better)
Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before.Speeding upHolding steady
Main known causeWildfires (60%)Farms, pasture and plantations (85%)

Trees

Which country has more tree cover, Canada or Ethiopia?

Canada does: its measured cities average 33.1% tree cover against 22.2%, a gap of 10.9 percentage points.

Canada33.1%
Ethiopia22.2%
Tree figures for Canada and Ethiopia
CanadaEthiopia
Trees standingSummed across measured cities.5.8M (better)2.0M
Cities below their targetShort of the canopy target.41% (better)73%
Trees still neededTo reach those targets.447K (better)985K

Behind the averages

The cities behind Canada and Ethiopia

An average says nothing about how far apart the best and worst places are. These are the measured cities at each end.

Canada

Greenest measured city
Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne68.1% tree cover
Worst air right now
ReginaAQI 76

Ethiopia

Greenest measured city
Dīla62.3% tree cover
Worst air right now
Hosa’inaAQI 142

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: 59 in Canada and 30 in Ethiopia, 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. Canada rests on 59 cities against 30, so its average is the steadier of the two. Forest figures come from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.

Frequently asked

Canada vs Ethiopia: your questions answered

Is Canada cleaner than Ethiopia?

On air quality, yes, right now: Canada's cities average AQI 25 against 60 on the US EPA index. These are live readings averaged across cities, so the gap moves with the weather.

Which country has lost more forest, Canada or Ethiopia?

Canada has lost more: about 65.6 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 559,000 ha in Ethiopia, or 117 times as much. 899,000 ha of Canada'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, Canada or Ethiopia?

Canada does: its measured cities average 33.1% tree cover against 22.2%, a gap of 10.9 percentage points.

How many cities are the Canada and Ethiopia figures based on?

59 measured cities in Canada and 30 in Ethiopia. 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.

Does this cover the whole of Canada and Ethiopia?

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 Canada

More comparisons for Ethiopia

Build your own

Compare Canada with somewhere else

This place

Canada