Country comparison · 96 cities measured
Ethiopia vs South Africa Air quality index (AQI) and deforestation
Ethiopia has cleaner air than South Africa right now: its cities average AQI 60 against 63.
South Africa has lost more forest since 2001. Ethiopia has more tree cover in its cities.
Average of 30 cities
AQI 60
Moderate
Cleaner on average
- Tree cover
- 22.2%
- Forest lost since 2001
- 559,000 ha
Average of 66 cities
AQI 63
Moderate
Cleaner on average
- At ground stations
- AQI 68
- Tree cover
- 21.8%
- Forest lost since 2001
- 1.66 million ha
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Ethiopia60South Africa63
Head to head
Ethiopia vs South Africa at a glance
Ethiopia is ahead on 4 of 5 measures, and South Africa on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Ethiopia | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Average air qualityUS AQI, all measured cities. | 60 (better) | 63 |
| Cities over AQI 100Not fine for sensitive groups. | 7% | 6% (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001The whole country. | 559,000 ha (better) | 1.66 million ha |
| Share of its forest lostOf what it had in 2000. | 4.6% (better) | 28% |
| Average tree coverAcross its measured cities. | 22.2% (better) | 21.8% |
Air quality today
Is Ethiopia cleaner than South Africa?
On air quality, yes, right now. Ethiopia has cleaner air than South Africa right now: its cities average AQI 60 against 63.
7% of the measured cities in Ethiopia are over AQI 100 today, the point where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, against 6% in South Africa.
How each country's cities split across the air quality bands
Ethiopia
- Good8 (27%)
- Moderate20 (67%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups2 (7%)
South Africa
- Good23 (35%)
- Moderate39 (59%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups4 (6%)
Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.
Against everywhere else
How do Ethiopia and South Africa compare with other countries?
Right now the cities of Ethiopia average cleaner air than 38% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and those of South Africa than 32%.
Cleaner air than…
- Ethiopia
- Beats 38%
- South Africa
- Beats 32%
More tree cover than…
- Ethiopia
- Beats 45%
- South Africa
- Beats 45%
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which country has lost more forest, Ethiopia or South Africa?
South Africa has lost more: about 1.66 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 559,000 ha in Ethiopia, or 3 times as much. 169,000 ha of South Africa'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: 2012, with 41,800 ha lost.
Worst year: 2006, with 105,000 ha lost.
| Ethiopia | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 559,000 ha (better) | 1.66 million ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 4.6% (better) | 28% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 484,000 ha | 169,000 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Holding steady | Slowing down |
| Main known cause | Farms, pasture and plantations (85%) | Logging (77%) |
Trees
Which country has more tree cover, Ethiopia or South Africa?
Ethiopia does: its measured cities average 22.2% tree cover against 21.8%, a gap of 0.3 percentage points.
| Ethiopia | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingSummed across measured cities. | 2.0M | 4.4M (better) |
| Cities below their targetShort of the canopy target. | 73% | 73% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach those targets. | 985K (better) | 2.2M |
Behind the averages
The cities behind Ethiopia and South Africa
An average says nothing about how far apart the best and worst places are. These are the measured cities at each end.
South Africa
- Greenest measured city
- Pinetown60.7% tree cover
- Worst air right now
- EmalahleniAQI 221
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: 30 in Ethiopia and 66 in South Africa, 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 Africa rests on 66 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
Ethiopia vs South Africa: your questions answered
Is Ethiopia cleaner than South Africa?
On air quality, yes, right now: Ethiopia's cities average AQI 60 against 63 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, Ethiopia or South Africa?
South Africa has lost more: about 1.66 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 559,000 ha in Ethiopia, or 3 times as much. 169,000 ha of South Africa'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, Ethiopia or South Africa?
Ethiopia does: its measured cities average 22.2% tree cover against 21.8%, a gap of 0.3 percentage points.
How many cities are the Ethiopia and South Africa figures based on?
30 measured cities in Ethiopia and 66 in South Africa. 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 Ethiopia and South Africa?
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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