Air quality comparison · Fiji, 118 km apart
Lautoka vs Suva Air quality index (AQI) today
Lautoka has cleaner air than Suva right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 51 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Suva averaged AQI 30 against 31, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days. Lautoka has lost more forest since 2001. Suva has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Lautoka42Suva51
Head to head
Lautoka vs Suva at a glance
Suva is ahead on 3 of 6 measures, and Lautoka on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Lautoka | Suva | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 42 (better) | 51 |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 6.7 (better) | 9.2 |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 31 | 30 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 518 ha | 102 ha (better) |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 30.5% | 44.4% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 0 | 0 |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Lautoka and Suva right now?
Lautoka has cleaner air than Suva right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 51 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Suva is read from a nearby ground station and Lautoka is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
LautokaSuva
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).
Lautoka: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Suva: Ground station · Laucala, 2.4 km away. Data: OpenAQ · AirGradient, UNICEF / UNSW.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 7 days?
But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Suva averaged AQI 30 against 31, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 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
- Lautoka2Suva5
- Average AQI
- Lautoka31Suva30
- Worst day, AQI
- Lautoka43Suva38
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Lautoka | Suva |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 24 | 22 |
| Nov 6 | 20 | 26 |
| Nov 7 | 23 | 19 |
| Nov 8 | 34 | 32 |
| Nov 9 | 39 | 37 |
| Nov 10 | 32 | 38 |
| Nov 11 | 43 | 33 |
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 Lautoka and Suva today?
Lautoka (AQI 42, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Suva (AQI 51, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Exercise outdoors
- Lautoka
- A good day to be active outside.
- Suva
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
Windows
- Lautoka
- Open them to air the house.
- Suva
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
Masks
- Lautoka
- Not needed.
- Suva
- Not needed for most people.
Air purifier
- Lautoka
- Not needed.
- Suva
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
Against everywhere else
How do Lautoka and Suva compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Lautoka's air is cleaner than 68% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Suva's is cleaner than 61%.
Cleaner air than…
- Lautoka
- Beats 68%
- Suva
- Beats 61%
More tree cover than…
- Lautoka
- Beats 69%
- Suva
- Beats 88%
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, Lautoka or Suva?
Lautoka has lost more: about 518 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 102 ha around Suva. 80 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: 2012, with 85 ha lost.
Worst year: 2019, with 12 ha lost.
| Lautoka | Suva | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 518 ha | 102 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 5.4% | under 1% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 80 ha | 59 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Logging (59%) | Towns and roads (55%) |
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.
Lautoka
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 6 km southeast of the city center.
Suva
2018: satellite photo from July 2018 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northeast of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Lautoka or Suva?
Suva has more tree cover: 44.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 30.5% around Lautoka, or about 70,859 trees against 86,716.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Lautoka | Suva | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 86.7K (better) | 70.9K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 0 | 0 |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 1.9M kg (better) | 1.6M 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
Lautoka vs Suva: your questions answered
Is Lautoka cleaner than Suva?
On air quality, yes, right now: Lautoka reads AQI 42 against 51, a gap of 9 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 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Suva averaged AQI 30 against 31, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Lautoka and Suva today?
In Lautoka, at AQI 42: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. In Suva, at AQI 51: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Which has lost more forest, Lautoka or Suva?
Lautoka has lost more: about 518 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 102 ha around Suva. 80 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Lautoka or Suva?
Suva has more tree cover: 44.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 30.5% around Lautoka, or about 70,859 trees against 86,716. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Lautoka and Suva need?
Lautoka needs about 0 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Suva about 0 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Lautoka and Suva 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. Suva is read from a nearby ground station and Lautoka 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 Lautoka vs Suva 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 7, 2026 and Jun 11, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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