Country comparison
Malaysia vs Philippines
Averaged across every city Airleaf has measured in each country — 56 in Malaysia and 101 in Philippines — 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.
Philippines averages more tree cover — 52.9% against 45.7%.
Philippines averages cleaner air — AQI 67 against 78.
- Tree cover gap
- 7.2 points
- Philippines is ahead.
- Air quality gap
- 11 AQI
- Philippines is cleaner.
- Cities behind it
- 56 vs 101
- How much each average rests on.
56 cities measured
101 cities measured
Average tree cover
Mean across measured cities, each over the same 2 km radius.
45.7%
52.9%
Average air quality index
US EPA index. Lower is better.
78
67
Cities measured
How much each average rests on.
56
101
Trees still needed
Summed across measured cities, to reach their canopy targets. Fewer is better.
320K
327K
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.
Philippines
- Greenest measured city
- Iligan City98.2% tree cover
- Worst air right now
- San Jose del MonteAQI 138
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 — 56 in Malaysia and 101 in Philippines — 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. Philippines rests on 101 cities against 56, so its average is the steadier of the two. Both firm up as coverage grows.
Frequently asked
Malaysia and Philippines, answered
Which country has more tree cover, Malaysia or Philippines?
Philippines, averaging 52.9% across its measured cities against 45.7% — a gap of 7.2 percentage points.
Which has cleaner air, Malaysia or Philippines?
Philippines, averaging AQI 67 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?
56 measured cities in Malaysia and 101 in Philippines. 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.
Build your own
Compare Malaysia with somewhere else
This place
Malaysia