Country comparison
China vs Malaysia
Averaged across every city Airleaf has measured in each country — 638 in China and 56 in Malaysia — each read the same way: Sentinel-2 imagery at 10 m detail over a 2 km radius, and the live US EPA air quality index.
Malaysia averages more tree cover — 45.7% against 34.5%.
Malaysia averages cleaner air — AQI 78 against 86.
- Tree cover gap
- 11.2 points
- Malaysia is ahead.
- Air quality gap
- 8 AQI
- Malaysia is cleaner.
- Cities behind it
- 638 vs 56
- How much each average rests on.
Average tree cover
Mean across measured cities, each over the same 2 km radius.
34.5%
45.7%
Average air quality index
US EPA index. Lower is better.
86
78
Cities measured
How much each average rests on.
638
56
Trees still needed
Summed across measured cities, to reach their canopy targets. Fewer is better.
10.2M
320K
Behind the averages
The extremes in each country
An average says nothing about how far apart the best and worst places are. These are the measured cities at each end.
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 in that country — 638 in China and 56 in Malaysia — each read over the same 2 km radius. Rural land, forest and everywhere unmeasured are not in it, so this compares urban areas rather than territories.
Coverage shapes the number
A country measured mostly in its capital reads differently from one measured across dozens of towns. China rests on 638 cities against 56, so its average is the steadier of the two. Both firm up as coverage grows.
Frequently asked
China and Malaysia, answered
Which country has more tree cover, China or Malaysia?
Malaysia, averaging 45.7% across its measured cities against 34.5% — a gap of 11.2 percentage points.
Which has cleaner air, China or Malaysia?
Malaysia, averaging AQI 78 against 86 on the US EPA index. These are live readings averaged across cities, so the gap moves with the weather.
How many cities is each figure based on?
638 measured cities in China and 56 in Malaysia. 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.
Is this the whole country?
No. It is the cities Airleaf has measured, each over a 2 km radius from its centre. Forest, farmland and unmeasured towns are not included, so treat this as a comparison of urban tree cover and urban air rather than of national land cover.
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