Country comparison · 282 cities measured
Russia vs Vietnam Air quality index (AQI) and deforestation
Russia has cleaner air than Vietnam right now: its cities average AQI 32 against 53.
Russia has lost more forest since 2001. Vietnam has more tree cover in its cities.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Russia32Vietnam53
Head to head
Russia vs Vietnam at a glance
Russia is ahead on 3 of 5 measures, and Vietnam on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Russia | Vietnam | |
|---|---|---|
| Average air qualityUS AQI, all measured cities. | 32 (better) | 53 |
| Cities over AQI 100Not fine for sensitive groups. | 2% (better) | 9% |
| Forest lost since 2001The whole country. | 91.7 million ha | 3.85 million ha (better) |
| Share of its forest lostOf what it had in 2000. | 12% (better) | 23% |
| Average tree coverAcross its measured cities. | 34.1% | 35.8% (better) |
Air quality today
Is Russia cleaner than Vietnam?
On air quality, yes, right now. Russia has cleaner air than Vietnam right now: its cities average AQI 32 against 53.
2% of the measured cities in Russia are over AQI 100 today, the point where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, against 9% in Vietnam.
How each country's cities split across the air quality bands
Russia
- Good128 (76%)
- Moderate37 (22%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups3 (2%)
Vietnam
- Good43 (38%)
- Moderate61 (54%)
- Unhealthy for sensitive groups7 (6%)
- Unhealthy3 (3%)
Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.
Against everywhere else
How do Russia and Vietnam compare with other countries?
Right now the cities of Russia average cleaner air than 85% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and those of Vietnam than 48%.
Cleaner air than…
- Russia
- Beats 85%
- Vietnam
- Beats 48%
More tree cover than…
- Russia
- Beats 76%
- Vietnam
- Beats 79%
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which country has lost more forest, Russia or Vietnam?
Russia has lost more: about 91.7 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 3.85 million ha in Vietnam, or 24 times as much. 1 million ha of Russia'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: 2021, with 6.49 million ha lost.
Worst year: 2016, with 357,000 ha lost.
| Russia | Vietnam | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 91.7 million ha | 3.85 million ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 12% (better) | 23% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 1 million ha (better) | 1.41 million ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Holding steady | Slowing down |
| Main known cause | Wildfires (73%) | Logging (47%) |
Trees
Which country has more tree cover, Russia or Vietnam?
Vietnam does: its measured cities average 35.8% tree cover against 34.1%, a gap of 1.6 percentage points.
| Russia | Vietnam | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingSummed across measured cities. | 17.3M (better) | 12.0M |
| Cities below their targetShort of the canopy target. | 37% (better) | 44% |
| Trees still neededTo reach those targets. | 1.3M (better) | 1.4M |
Behind the averages
The cities behind Russia and Vietnam
An average says nothing about how far apart the best and worst places are. These are the measured cities at each end.
Russia
- Greenest measured city
- Solikamsk73.3% tree cover
- Worst air right now
- CherepovetsAQI 149
Vietnam
- Greenest measured city
- Thị Trấn Thuận Châu82.6% tree cover
- Worst air right now
- Phúc YênAQI 152
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: 168 in Russia and 114 in Vietnam, 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. Russia rests on 168 cities against 114, so its average is the steadier of the two. Forest figures come from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
Frequently asked
Russia vs Vietnam: your questions answered
Is Russia cleaner than Vietnam?
On air quality, yes, right now: Russia's cities average AQI 32 against 53 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, Russia or Vietnam?
Russia has lost more: about 91.7 million ha of forest from 2001 to 2025, against 3.85 million ha in Vietnam, or 24 times as much. 1 million ha of Russia'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, Russia or Vietnam?
Vietnam does: its measured cities average 35.8% tree cover against 34.1%, a gap of 1.6 percentage points.
How many cities are the Russia and Vietnam figures based on?
168 measured cities in Russia and 114 in Vietnam. 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 Russia and Vietnam?
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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