Country comparison · 94 cities measured
Democratic Republic of the Congo vs South Korea Air quality index (AQI) and deforestation
Democratic Republic of the Congo has cleaner air than South Korea right now: its cities average AQI 49 against 80.
Democratic Republic of the Congo has lost more forest since 2001. Democratic Republic of the Congo has more tree cover in its cities.
Average of 38 cities
AQI 49
Good
Cleaner on average
- Tree cover
- 28.4%
- Forest lost since 2001
- 22.5 million ha
Average of 56 cities
AQI 80
Moderate
Cleaner on average
- At ground stations
- AQI 80
- Tree cover
- 28.4%
- Forest lost since 2001
- 436,000 ha
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Democratic Republic of the Congo49South Korea80
Head to head
Democratic Republic of the Congo vs South Korea at a glance
Democratic Republic of the Congo is ahead on 3 of 5 measures, and South Korea on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | South Korea | |
|---|---|---|
| Average air qualityUS AQI, all measured cities. | 49 (better) | 80 |
| Cities over AQI 100Not fine for sensitive groups. | 3% (better) | 9% |
| Forest lost since 2001The whole country. | 22.5 million ha | 436,000 ha (better) |
| Share of its forest lostOf what it had in 2000. | 11% | 8.2% (better) |
| Average tree coverAcross its measured cities. | 28.4% (better) | 28.4% |
Air quality today
Is Democratic Republic of the Congo cleaner than South Korea?
On air quality, yes, right now. Democratic Republic of the Congo has cleaner air than South Korea right now: its cities average AQI 49 against 80.
3% of the measured cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are over AQI 100 today, the point where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, against 9% in South Korea.
How each country's cities split across the air quality bands
Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Good22 (58%)
- Moderate15 (39%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups1 (3%)
South Korea
- Good1 (2%)
- Moderate50 (89%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups5 (9%)
Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.
Against everywhere else
How do Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Korea compare with other countries?
Right now the cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo average cleaner air than 53% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and those of South Korea than 14%.
Cleaner air than…
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Beats 53%
- South Korea
- Beats 14%
More tree cover than…
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Beats 64%
- South Korea
- Beats 64%
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which country has lost more forest, Democratic Republic of the Congo or South Korea?
Democratic Republic of the Congo has lost more: about 22.5 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 436,000 ha in South Korea, or 51 times as much. 3.48 million ha of Democratic Republic of the Congo'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: 2017, with 1.47 million ha lost.
Worst year: 2025, with 87,000 ha lost.
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | South Korea | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 22.5 million ha | 436,000 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 11% | 8.2% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 3.48 million ha | 67,300 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Holding steady | Speeding up |
| Main known cause | Shifting farming (82%) | Logging (70%) |
Trees
Which country has more tree cover, Democratic Republic of the Congo or South Korea?
Democratic Republic of the Congo does: its measured cities average 28.4% tree cover against 28.4%, a gap of 0.0 percentage points.
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | South Korea | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingSummed across measured cities. | 3.2M | 4.8M (better) |
| Cities below their targetShort of the canopy target. | 61% | 57% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach those targets. | 1.0M (better) | 1.3M |
Behind the averages
The cities behind Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Korea
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: 38 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 56 in South Korea, 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. South Korea rests on 56 cities against 38, so its average is the steadier of the two. Forest figures come from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
Frequently asked
Democratic Republic of the Congo vs South Korea: your questions answered
Is Democratic Republic of the Congo cleaner than South Korea?
On air quality, yes, right now: Democratic Republic of the Congo's cities average AQI 49 against 80 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, Democratic Republic of the Congo or South Korea?
Democratic Republic of the Congo has lost more: about 22.5 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 436,000 ha in South Korea, or 51 times as much. 3.48 million ha of Democratic Republic of the Congo'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, Democratic Republic of the Congo or South Korea?
Democratic Republic of the Congo does: its measured cities average 28.4% tree cover against 28.4%, a gap of 0.0 percentage points.
How many cities are the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Korea figures based on?
38 measured cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 56 in South Korea. 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Korea?
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.
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