Country comparison · 163 cities measured
Iran vs South Africa Air quality index (AQI) and deforestation
South Africa has cleaner air than Iran right now: its cities average AQI 60 against 63.
South Africa has lost more forest since 2001. South Africa has more tree cover in its cities.
Average of 97 cities
AQI 63
Moderate
Cleaner on average
- Tree cover
- 5.0%
- Forest lost since 2001
- 4,270 ha
Average of 66 cities
AQI 60
Moderate
Cleaner on average
- At ground stations
- AQI 58
- 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.
Iran63South Africa60
Head to head
Iran vs South Africa at a glance
South Africa is ahead on 3 of 5 measures, and Iran on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Iran | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Average air qualityUS AQI, all measured cities. | 63 | 60 (better) |
| Cities over AQI 100Not fine for sensitive groups. | 13% | 8% (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001The whole country. | 4,270 ha (better) | 1.66 million ha |
| Share of its forest lostOf what it had in 2000. | under 1% (better) | 28% |
| Average tree coverAcross its measured cities. | 5.0% | 21.8% (better) |
Air quality today
Is South Africa cleaner than Iran?
On air quality, yes, right now. South Africa has cleaner air than Iran right now: its cities average AQI 60 against 63.
13% of the measured cities in Iran are over AQI 100 today, the point where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, against 8% in South Africa.
How each country's cities split across the air quality bands
Iran
- Good39 (40%)
- Moderate45 (46%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups5 (5%)
- Unhealthy8 (8%)
South Africa
- Good23 (35%)
- Moderate38 (58%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups4 (6%)
- Unhealthy1 (2%)
Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.
Against everywhere else
How do Iran and South Africa compare with other countries?
Right now the cities of Iran average cleaner air than 32% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and those of South Africa than 38%.
Cleaner air than…
- Iran
- Beats 32%
- South Africa
- Beats 38%
More tree cover than…
- Iran
- Beats 9%
- South Africa
- Beats 45%
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which country has lost more forest, Iran or South Africa?
South Africa has lost more: about 1.66 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 4,270 ha in Iran, or 389 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: 2002, with 559 ha lost.
Worst year: 2006, with 105,000 ha lost.
| Iran | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 4,270 ha (better) | 1.66 million ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | under 1% (better) | 28% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 1,370 ha (better) | 169,000 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Holding steady | Slowing down |
| Main known cause | Logging (27%) | Logging (77%) |
Trees
Which country has more tree cover, Iran or South Africa?
South Africa does: its measured cities average 21.8% tree cover against 5.0%, a gap of 16.8 percentage points.
| Iran | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingSummed across measured cities. | 1.5M | 4.4M (better) |
| Cities below their targetShort of the canopy target. | 99% | 73% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach those targets. | 7.9M | 2.2M (better) |
Behind the averages
The cities behind Iran 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.
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: 97 in Iran 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. Iran rests on 97 cities against 66, so its average is the steadier of the two. Forest figures come from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
Frequently asked
Iran vs South Africa: your questions answered
Is South Africa cleaner than Iran?
On air quality, yes, right now: South Africa'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, Iran or South Africa?
South Africa has lost more: about 1.66 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 4,270 ha in Iran, or 389 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, Iran or South Africa?
South Africa does: its measured cities average 21.8% tree cover against 5.0%, a gap of 16.8 percentage points.
How many cities are the Iran and South Africa figures based on?
97 measured cities in Iran 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 Iran 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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