Air quality comparison · Vietnam, 1117 km apart
Haiphong vs Ho Chi Minh City Air quality index (AQI) today
Ho Chi Minh City has cleaner air than Haiphong right now: AQI 44 (Good) against 61 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. But over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Haiphong averaged AQI 48 against 75, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days. Haiphong has lost more forest since 2001. Haiphong has more tree cover.
Vietnam
AQI 61
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 14.5 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Ground station
- Reading
- Nov 11, 22:00 local
Vietnam
AQI 44
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 8 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Ground station
- Reading
- Nov 12, 00:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Haiphong61Ho Chi Minh City44
Head to head
Haiphong vs Ho Chi Minh City at a glance
Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City are level, each ahead on 3 of 6 measures. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Haiphong | Ho Chi Minh City | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 61 | 44 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 14.5 | 8 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 6 days. | 48 (better) | 75 |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 132 ha | 50 ha (better) |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 19.4% (better) | 9.7% |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 27.5K (better) | 63.8K |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City right now?
Ho Chi Minh City has cleaner air than Haiphong right now: AQI 44 (Good) against 61 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Both readings come from nearby ground stations.
HaiphongHo Chi Minh City
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).
Haiphong: Ground station · Quảng Ninh/K11 - Minh Thành, Vietnam, 24.1 km away. Data: World Air Quality Index Project, Vietnam Center For Environmental Monitoring Portal (cổng thông tin quan trắc môi trường).
Ho Chi Minh City: Ground station · CMT8, 6.1 km away. Data: OpenAQ · AirGradient, Thomas Versteeg.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 6 days?
But over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Haiphong averaged AQI 48 against 75, 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
- Haiphong6Ho Chi Minh City0
- Average AQI
- Haiphong48Ho Chi Minh City75
- Worst day, AQI
- Haiphong51Ho Chi Minh City79
The daily numbers (6 days)
| Day | Haiphong | Ho Chi Minh City |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 49 | 70 |
| Nov 6 | 50 | 78 |
| Nov 7 | 51 | 72 |
| Nov 8 | 47 | 77 |
| Nov 9 | 43 | 79 |
| Nov 10 | 45 | 76 |
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 Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City today?
Haiphong (AQI 61, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Ho Chi Minh City (AQI 44, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Exercise outdoors
- Haiphong
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Ho Chi Minh City
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- Haiphong
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- Haiphong
- Not needed for most people.
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- Haiphong
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Haiphong's air is cleaner than 47% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Ho Chi Minh City's is cleaner than 67%. Within Vietnam, that is 25% and 61% of its 114 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Haiphong
- Beats 47%
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Beats 67%
More tree cover than…
- Haiphong
- Beats 45%
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Beats 20%
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, Haiphong or Ho Chi Minh City?
Haiphong has lost more: about 132 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 50 ha around Ho Chi Minh City. 72 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: 2001, with 33 ha lost.
Worst year: 2001, with 17 ha lost.
| Haiphong | Ho Chi Minh City | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 132 ha | 50 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 14% | 9% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 72 ha | 37 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Towns and roads (54%) | Towns and roads (42%) |
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.
Haiphong
2017: satellite photo from October 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Ho Chi Minh City
2017: satellite photo from January 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Haiphong or Ho Chi Minh City?
Haiphong has more tree cover: 19.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 9.7% around Ho Chi Minh City, or about 50,281 trees against 30,473.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Haiphong | Ho Chi Minh City | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 50.3K (better) | 30.5K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 27.5K (better) | 63.8K |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 1.1M kg (better) | 670K 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
Haiphong vs Ho Chi Minh City: your questions answered
Is Ho Chi Minh City cleaner than Haiphong?
On air quality, yes, right now: Ho Chi Minh City reads AQI 44 against 61, a gap of 17 points on the US EPA index. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day. But over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Haiphong averaged AQI 48 against 75, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City today?
In Haiphong, at AQI 61: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. In Ho Chi Minh City, at AQI 44: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Which has lost more forest, Haiphong or Ho Chi Minh City?
Haiphong has lost more: about 132 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 50 ha around Ho Chi Minh City. 72 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Haiphong or Ho Chi Minh City?
Haiphong has more tree cover: 19.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 9.7% around Ho Chi Minh City, or about 50,281 trees against 30,473. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City need?
Haiphong needs about 27,473 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Ho Chi Minh City about 63,774 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City 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. Both readings come from nearby ground stations. Nothing is adjusted for population, city limits or climate.
How often does the Haiphong vs Ho Chi Minh City 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 11, 2026 and Apr 26, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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