Country comparison · 338 cities measured
Ethiopia vs United States Air quality index (AQI) and deforestation
United States has cleaner air than Ethiopia right now: its cities average AQI 38 against 60.
United States has lost more forest since 2001. United States 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 308 cities
AQI 38
Good
Cleaner on average
- At ground stations
- AQI 40
- Tree cover
- 25.1%
- Forest lost since 2001
- 126 million acres (51 million ha)
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Ethiopia60United States38
Head to head
Ethiopia vs United States at a glance
United States is ahead on 3 of 5 measures, and Ethiopia on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Ethiopia | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Average air qualityUS AQI, all measured cities. | 60 | 38 (better) |
| Cities over AQI 100Not fine for sensitive groups. | 7% | 0% (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001The whole country. | 559,000 ha (better) | 126 million acres (51 million ha) |
| Share of its forest lostOf what it had in 2000. | 4.6% (better) | 18% |
| Average tree coverAcross its measured cities. | 22.2% | 25.1% (better) |
Air quality today
Is United States cleaner than Ethiopia?
On air quality, yes, right now. United States has cleaner air than Ethiopia right now: its cities average AQI 38 against 60.
7% of the measured cities in Ethiopia are over AQI 100 today, the point where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, against 0% in the United States.
How each country's cities split across the air quality bands
Ethiopia
- Good8 (27%)
- Moderate20 (67%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups2 (7%)
United States
- Good200 (65%)
- Moderate107 (35%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups1 (0%)
Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.
Against everywhere else
How do Ethiopia and United States 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 the United States than 73%.
Cleaner air than…
- Ethiopia
- Beats 38%
- United States
- Beats 73%
More tree cover than…
- Ethiopia
- Beats 45%
- United States
- Beats 52%
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which country has lost more forest, Ethiopia or United States?
United States has lost more: about 126 million acres (51 million ha) of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 559,000 ha in Ethiopia, or 91 times as much. 9.87 million acres (4 million ha) of United States'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: 2004, with 6.77 million acres (2.74 million ha) lost.
| Ethiopia | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 559,000 ha (better) | 126 million acres (51 million ha) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 4.6% (better) | 18% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 484,000 ha (better) | 9.87 million acres (4 million ha) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Holding steady | Holding steady |
| Main known cause | Farms, pasture and plantations (85%) | Logging (62%) |
Trees
Which country has more tree cover, Ethiopia or United States?
United States does: its measured cities average 25.1% tree cover against 22.2%, a gap of 3.0 percentage points.
| Ethiopia | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingSummed across measured cities. | 2.0M | 23.3M (better) |
| Cities below their targetShort of the canopy target. | 73% | 64% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach those targets. | 985K (better) | 8.2M |
Behind the averages
The cities behind Ethiopia and United States
An average says nothing about how far apart the best and worst places are. These are the measured cities at each end.
United States
- Greenest measured city
- South Fulton71.7% tree cover
- Worst air right now
- StocktonAQI 105
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 308 in the United States, 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. United States rests on 308 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 United States: your questions answered
Is United States cleaner than Ethiopia?
On air quality, yes, right now: United States's cities average AQI 38 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, Ethiopia or United States?
United States has lost more: about 126 million acres (51 million ha) of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 559,000 ha in Ethiopia, or 91 times as much. 9.87 million acres (4 million ha) of United States'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 United States?
United States does: its measured cities average 25.1% tree cover against 22.2%, a gap of 3.0 percentage points.
How many cities are the Ethiopia and United States figures based on?
30 measured cities in Ethiopia and 308 in the United States. 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 the United States?
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 Ethiopia
More comparisons for United States
Build your own
Compare Ethiopia with somewhere else
This place
Ethiopia