Air quality comparison · Indonesia, 128 km apart
Dumai vs Pekanbaru Air quality index (AQI) today
Dumai has cleaner air than Pekanbaru right now: AQI 32 (Good) against 53 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Dumai averaged AQI 31 against 51, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days. Dumai has lost more forest since 2001. Dumai has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Dumai32Pekanbaru53
Head to head
Dumai vs Pekanbaru at a glance
Dumai is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Pekanbaru on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Dumai | Pekanbaru | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 32 (better) | 53 |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 6.2 (better) | 10.3 |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 31 (better) | 51 |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 7,970 ha | 5,150 ha (better) |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 21.7% (better) | 11.3% |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 26.1K (better) | 58.7K |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Dumai and Pekanbaru right now?
Dumai has cleaner air than Pekanbaru right now: AQI 32 (Good) against 53 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Pekanbaru is read from a nearby ground station and Dumai is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
DumaiPekanbaru
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).
Dumai: Estimate · model corrected with 14 station cities within 185 km, e.g. Port Dickson and Malacca. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 14 ground-station cities within 185 km, US EPA index.
Pekanbaru: Ground station · Pekanbaru, Indonesia, 6.2 km away. Data: World Air Quality Index Project, BMKG | Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 7 days?
Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Dumai averaged AQI 31 against 51, 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
- Dumai6Pekanbaru0
- Average AQI
- Dumai31Pekanbaru51
- Worst day, AQI
- Dumai42Pekanbaru66
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Dumai | Pekanbaru |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 27 | 61 |
| Nov 6 | 41 | 49 |
| Nov 7 | 22 | 45 |
| Nov 8 | 33 | 66 |
| Nov 9 | 24 | 50 |
| Nov 10 | 25 | 46 |
| Nov 11 | 42 | 42 |
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 Dumai and Pekanbaru today?
Dumai (AQI 32, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Pekanbaru (AQI 53, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Exercise outdoors
- Dumai
- A good day to be active outside.
- Pekanbaru
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
Windows
- Dumai
- Open them to air the house.
- Pekanbaru
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
Masks
- Dumai
- Not needed.
- Pekanbaru
- Not needed for most people.
Air purifier
- Dumai
- Not needed.
- Pekanbaru
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
Against everywhere else
How do Dumai and Pekanbaru compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Dumai's air is cleaner than 77% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Pekanbaru's is cleaner than 57%. Within Indonesia, that is 92% and 80% of its 156 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Dumai
- Beats 77%
- Pekanbaru
- Beats 57%
More tree cover than…
- Dumai
- Beats 50%
- Pekanbaru
- Beats 24%
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, Dumai or Pekanbaru?
Dumai has lost more: about 7,970 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 5,150 ha around Pekanbaru. 7,070 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: 2014, with 1,390 ha lost.
Worst year: 2017, with 501 ha lost.
| Dumai | Pekanbaru | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 7,970 ha | 5,150 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 51% | 42% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 7,070 ha | 5,150 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Slowing down | Slowing down |
| Main known cause | Farms, pasture and plantations (85%) | Farms, pasture and plantations (65%) |
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.
Dumai
2018: satellite photo from April 2018 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km west of the city center.
Pekanbaru
2017: satellite photo from June 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km west of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Dumai or Pekanbaru?
Dumai has more tree cover: 21.7% of the land within 2 km of its center against 11.3% around Pekanbaru, or about 68,173 trees against 35,500.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Dumai | Pekanbaru | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 68.2K (better) | 35.5K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 26.1K (better) | 58.7K |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 1.5M kg (better) | 781K kg |
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
Dumai vs Pekanbaru: your questions answered
Is Dumai cleaner than Pekanbaru?
On air quality, yes, right now: Dumai reads AQI 32 against 53, a gap of 21 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 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Dumai averaged AQI 31 against 51, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Dumai and Pekanbaru today?
In Dumai, at AQI 32: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. In Pekanbaru, at AQI 53: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Which has lost more forest, Dumai or Pekanbaru?
Dumai has lost more: about 7,970 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 5,150 ha around Pekanbaru. 7,070 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Dumai or Pekanbaru?
Dumai has more tree cover: 21.7% of the land within 2 km of its center against 11.3% around Pekanbaru, or about 68,173 trees against 35,500. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Dumai and Pekanbaru need?
Dumai needs about 26,075 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Pekanbaru about 58,748 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Dumai and Pekanbaru 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. Pekanbaru is read from a nearby ground station and Dumai 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 Dumai vs Pekanbaru 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 (Aug 7, 2026 and Sep 14, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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