Country comparison
Iran vs Iraq
Averaged across every city Airleaf has measured in each country — 97 in Iran and 49 in Iraq — 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.
Iraq averages more tree cover — 6.5% against 6.4%.
Iran averages cleaner air — AQI 75 against 78.
- Tree cover gap
- 0.1 points
- Iraq is ahead.
- Air quality gap
- 3 AQI
- Iran is cleaner.
- Cities behind it
- 97 vs 49
- How much each average rests on.
Average tree cover
Mean across measured cities, each over the same 2 km radius.
6.4%
6.5%
Average air quality index
US EPA index. Lower is better.
75
78
Cities measured
How much each average rests on.
97
49
Trees still needed
Summed across measured cities, to reach their canopy targets. Fewer is better.
7.7M
3.7M
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 — 97 in Iran and 49 in Iraq — 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. Iran rests on 97 cities against 49, so its average is the steadier of the two. Both firm up as coverage grows.
Frequently asked
Iran and Iraq, answered
Which country has more tree cover, Iran or Iraq?
Iraq, averaging 6.5% across its measured cities against 6.4% — a gap of 0.1 percentage points.
Which has cleaner air, Iran or Iraq?
Iran, averaging AQI 75 against 78 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?
97 measured cities in Iran and 49 in Iraq. 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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