Air quality comparison · Tanzania, 853 km apart
Dar es Salaam vs Mwanza Air quality index (AQI) today
Mwanza has cleaner air than Dar es Salaam right now: AQI 21 (Good) against 53 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Mwanza averaged AQI 36 against 52, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days. Dar es Salaam has lost more forest since 2001. Mwanza has more tree cover.
Tanzania
AQI 53
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 10.4 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Ground station
- Reading
- Nov 11, 20:00 local
Tanzania
AQI 21
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 3.2 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 11, 08:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Dar es Salaam53Mwanza21
Head to head
Dar es Salaam vs Mwanza at a glance
Mwanza is ahead on 6 of 6 measures, and Dar es Salaam on 0. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Dar es Salaam | Mwanza | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 53 | 21 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 10.4 | 3.2 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 6 days. | 52 | 36 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 262 ha | 28 ha (better) |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 7.7% | 23.5% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 70.0K | 15.6K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza right now?
Mwanza has cleaner air than Dar es Salaam right now: AQI 21 (Good) against 53 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Dar es Salaam is read from a nearby ground station and Mwanza is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
Dar es SalaamMwanza
Concentrations at the same moment as the index above, for the pollutants both places report. Lower is better. The dark marks on the PM2.5 and PM10 rows show the WHO's 24-hour guidelines (15 and 45 µg/m³).
Dar es Salaam: Ground station · Morroco, Dar es Salaam, 5.1 km away. Data: OpenAQ · AirGradient, Pumzi Salama.
Mwanza: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 6 days?
Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Mwanza averaged AQI 36 against 52, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days. A single reading can catch a city on a bad afternoon; the week says whether it was the weather or the place.
- Cleaner days
- Dar es Salaam0Mwanza6
- Average AQI
- Dar es Salaam52Mwanza36
- Worst day, AQI
- Dar es Salaam57Mwanza48
The daily numbers (6 days)
| Day | Dar es Salaam | Mwanza |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 46 | 33 |
| Nov 6 | 53 | 48 |
| Nov 7 | 51 | 42 |
| Nov 8 | 54 | 48 |
| Nov 9 | 57 | 25 |
| Nov 10 | 51 | 20 |
Daily averages from the CAMS atmospheric model for both places, so the week compares like with like. They can differ from today's reading at the top of the page wherever that comes from a ground station.
What it means today
Is it safe to go outside in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza today?
Dar es Salaam (AQI 53, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Mwanza (AQI 21, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Exercise outdoors
- Dar es Salaam
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Mwanza
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- Dar es Salaam
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Mwanza
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- Dar es Salaam
- Not needed for most people.
- Mwanza
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- Dar es Salaam
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Mwanza
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Dar es Salaam and Mwanza compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Dar es Salaam's air is cleaner than 56% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Mwanza's is cleaner than 88%. Within Tanzania, that is 52% and 94% of its 34 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Dar es Salaam
- Beats 56%
- Mwanza
- Beats 88%
More tree cover than…
- Dar es Salaam
- Beats 16%
- Mwanza
- Beats 55%
Includes model estimates as well as station readings, so it can differ from our most polluted and cleanest air rankings, which use station readings only.
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which has lost more forest, Dar es Salaam or Mwanza?
Dar es Salaam has lost more: about 262 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 28 ha around Mwanza. 260 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Measured within 10 km of each center, from the yearly satellite maps of forest loss: a wider circle than the one for tree cover, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Worst year: 2006, with 56 ha lost.
Worst year: 2007, with 10 ha lost.
| Dar es Salaam | Mwanza | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 262 ha | 28 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 25% | 10% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 260 ha | 24 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Towns and roads (97%) | Towns and roads (53%) |
Satellite timelapses
Watch both change, year by year
A clear satellite photo a year of the land around each city. Press play, turn on the forest cleared since the first year, or drag the before and after.
Dar es Salaam
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Mwanza
2017: satellite photo from June 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Dar es Salaam or Mwanza?
Mwanza has more tree cover: 23.5% of the land within 2 km of its center against 7.7% around Dar es Salaam, or about 56,256 trees against 24,166.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Dar es Salaam | Mwanza | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 24.2K | 56.3K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 70.0K | 15.6K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 532K kg | 1.2M kg (better) |
Tree cover on the satellite image
The same 2 km radius around each center, with the tree cover the satellite found marked on it.
Reading these numbers
How this comparison is made
Air quality index
The US EPA index, computed from current pollutant concentrations: ground stations where a place has them nearby, and the CAMS atmospheric model everywhere else. It moves hour to hour, so it is a snapshot rather than a verdict on either place. The guideline marks are from the WHO's 2021 air quality guidelines.
Trees and forest
Tree cover is the share of ground under canopy within 2 km of each center, read from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail. It measures that circle, not the whole municipality, which is what makes the two comparable. Forest loss comes from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
More on the method on the About Airleaf page.
Frequently asked
Dar es Salaam vs Mwanza: your questions answered
Is Mwanza cleaner than Dar es Salaam?
On air quality, yes, right now: Mwanza reads AQI 21 against 53, a gap of 32 points on the US EPA index. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day. Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Mwanza averaged AQI 36 against 52, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza today?
In Dar es Salaam, at AQI 53: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. In Mwanza, at AQI 21: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Which has lost more forest, Dar es Salaam or Mwanza?
Dar es Salaam has lost more: about 262 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 28 ha around Mwanza. 260 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Dar es Salaam or Mwanza?
Mwanza has more tree cover: 23.5% of the land within 2 km of its center against 7.7% around Dar es Salaam, or about 56,256 trees against 24,166. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Dar es Salaam and Mwanza need?
Dar es Salaam needs about 69,987 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Mwanza about 15,560 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Dar es Salaam and Mwanza measured the same way?
The method is the same: the US EPA index for air, and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail over an identical radius for trees. Dar es Salaam is read from a nearby ground station and Mwanza is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like. Nothing is adjusted for population, city limits or climate.
How often does the Dar es Salaam vs Mwanza comparison update?
The air readings refresh about once an hour, and each reading's local time is shown at the top of the page. Tree cover comes from the latest clear satellite image of each area (Sep 6, 2026 and Sep 17, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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