Country comparison
Mexico vs South Korea
Averaged across every city Airleaf has measured in each country — 114 in Mexico and 56 in South Korea — 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.
South Korea averages more tree cover — 41.8% against 19.5%.
Mexico averages cleaner air — AQI 36 against 58.
- Tree cover gap
- 22.4 points
- South Korea is ahead.
- Air quality gap
- 22 AQI
- Mexico is cleaner.
- Cities behind it
- 114 vs 56
- How much each average rests on.
114 cities measured
56 cities measured
Average tree cover
Mean across measured cities, each over the same 2 km radius.
19.5%
41.8%
Average air quality index
US EPA index. Lower is better.
36
58
Cities measured
How much each average rests on.
114
56
Trees standing
Summed across every measured city in each country.
6.8M
7.1M
Cities below their target
Share of measured cities short of the canopy target. Lower is better.
77% (88)
30% (17)
Trees still needed
Summed across measured cities, to reach their canopy targets. Fewer is better.
4.5M
384K
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 — 114 in Mexico and 56 in South Korea — 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. Mexico rests on 114 cities against 56, so its average is the steadier of the two. Both firm up as coverage grows.
Frequently asked
Mexico and South Korea, answered
Which country has more tree cover, Mexico or South Korea?
South Korea, averaging 41.8% across its measured cities against 19.5% — a gap of 22.4 percentage points.
Which has cleaner air, Mexico or South Korea?
Mexico, averaging AQI 36 against 58 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?
114 measured cities in Mexico and 56 in South Korea. 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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