Country comparison · 28 cities measured
Kazakhstan vs Kyrgyzstan Air quality index (AQI) and deforestation
Kyrgyzstan has cleaner air than Kazakhstan right now: its cities average AQI 14 against 33.
Kazakhstan has lost more forest since 2001. Kazakhstan has more tree cover in its cities.
A small sample so far: this compares the cities Airleaf has measured, not every city in either country. It firms up as coverage grows past 6 cities each.
Average of 23 cities
AQI 33
Good
Cleaner on average
- At ground stations
- AQI 87
- Tree cover
- 15.7%
- Forest lost since 2001
- 90,400 ha
Average of 5 cities
AQI 14
Good
Cleaner on average
- Tree cover
- 12.5%
- Forest lost since 2001
- 2,670 ha
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Kazakhstan33Kyrgyzstan14
Head to head
Kazakhstan vs Kyrgyzstan at a glance
Kyrgyzstan is ahead on 4 of 5 measures, and Kazakhstan on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | |
|---|---|---|
| Average air qualityUS AQI, all measured cities. | 33 | 14 (better) |
| Cities over AQI 100Not fine for sensitive groups. | 4% | 0% (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001The whole country. | 90,400 ha | 2,670 ha (better) |
| Share of its forest lostOf what it had in 2000. | 2.2% | under 1% (better) |
| Average tree coverAcross its measured cities. | 15.7% (better) | 12.5% |
Air quality today
Is Kyrgyzstan cleaner than Kazakhstan?
On air quality, yes, right now. Kyrgyzstan has cleaner air than Kazakhstan right now: its cities average AQI 14 against 33.
4% of the measured cities in Kazakhstan are over AQI 100 today, the point where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, against 0% in Kyrgyzstan.
How each country's cities split across the air quality bands
Kazakhstan
- Good19 (83%)
- Moderate3 (13%)
- Unhealthy1 (4%)
Kyrgyzstan
- Good5 (100%)
Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.
Against everywhere else
How do Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan compare with other countries?
Right now the cities of Kazakhstan average cleaner air than 85% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and those of Kyrgyzstan than 100%.
Cleaner air than…
- Kazakhstan
- Beats 85%
- Kyrgyzstan
- Beats 100%
More tree cover than…
- Kazakhstan
- Beats 32%
- Kyrgyzstan
- Beats 23%
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which country has lost more forest, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan?
Kazakhstan has lost more: about 90,400 ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 2,670 ha in Kyrgyzstan, or 34 times as much. 3,600 ha of Kazakhstan'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: 2023, with 20,100 ha lost.
Worst year: 2001, with 589 ha lost.
| Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 90,400 ha | 2,670 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 2.2% | under 1% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 3,600 ha | 468 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Speeding up | Speeding up |
| Main known cause | Wildfires (46%) | Logging (22%) |
Trees
Which country has more tree cover, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan?
Kazakhstan does: its measured cities average 15.7% tree cover against 12.5%, a gap of 3.2 percentage points.
| Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingSummed across measured cities. | 1.1M (better) | 196K |
| Cities below their targetShort of the canopy target. | 91% (better) | 100% |
| Trees still neededTo reach those targets. | 1.1M | 275K (better) |
Behind the averages
The cities behind Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
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: 23 in Kazakhstan and 5 in Kyrgyzstan, 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. Kazakhstan rests on 23 cities against 5, so its average is the steadier of the two. Forest figures come from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
Frequently asked
Kazakhstan vs Kyrgyzstan: your questions answered
Is Kyrgyzstan cleaner than Kazakhstan?
On air quality, yes, right now: Kyrgyzstan's cities average AQI 14 against 33 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, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan?
Kazakhstan has lost more: about 90,400 ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 2,670 ha in Kyrgyzstan, or 34 times as much. 3,600 ha of Kazakhstan'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, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan?
Kazakhstan does: its measured cities average 15.7% tree cover against 12.5%, a gap of 3.2 percentage points.
How many cities are the Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan figures based on?
23 measured cities in Kazakhstan and 5 in Kyrgyzstan. 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 Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan?
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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