City report · Basra, Iraq
Basrah Air quality today
Air quality in Basrah currently reads AQI 53 (Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
AQI 53
Air quality right now
Moderate
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 8.9
- tree cover
- 0.1%
- trees in this area
- 314
- more trees needed
- 93.9K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Al Khalij Al Arabi Al Thalith, Basrah, Basra Governorate, Iraq (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 16, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Basrah · AQI 53 (Moderate)
Basrah's tree count comes to 314 trees across 12.57 km², 30 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 93,934 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Basrah today: AQI 53, Moderate
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 02:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 145 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 3 station cities within 145 km, e.g. Kuwait City and Al Jahra
Health signal
Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
8.9
PM10
130.9
NO₂
13.2
O₃
45.0
SO₂
13.0
CO
159.0
- Outdoor exercise
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier
- Windows
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution
- Mask
- Not needed for most people
- Air purifier
- Worth running if you are sensitive
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Basrah's daily AQI at 147 on average, from 103 on Nov 9 to an hourly peak of 306 on Nov 7.
Where Basrah stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Basrah: Critically low
0.1% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
314
Target trees
94,248
More trees needed
93,934
CO₂ if planted / yr
2,067 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Basrah lost?
There was almost no forest around Basrah in 2000, so there has been almost nothing to lose since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here.
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
In the same region
Measured cities near Basrah
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Az Zubayr15.0 km
Iraq
- Tree cover
- 0%
- Air quality
- 65
- Khorramshahr39.4 km
Iran
- Tree cover
- 3%
- Air quality
- 44
- Abadan53.6 km
Iran
- Tree cover
- 7%
- Air quality
- 37
- Umm Qaşr54.2 km
Iraq
- Tree cover
- 1%
- Air quality
- 66
- Al Qurnah65.4 km
Iraq
- Tree cover
- 3%
- Air quality
- 36
- Al Madīnah70.3 km
Iraq
- Tree cover
- 14%
- Air quality
- 31
Also compared:Basrah vs BaghdadBasrah vs Al Mawşil al JadīdahBasrah vs ErbilBasrah vs Karbala
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Frequently asked
Questions about Basrah
What is the air quality (AQI) in Basrah right now?
The latest reading for Basrah shows an AQI of 53 (Moderate), observed Nov 11, 02:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 145 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Basrah today?
At AQI 53 (Moderate): fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier. Windows: fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution. Masks: not needed for most people. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Basrah been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Basrah's daily AQI at 147 on average, from 103 on Nov 9 to an hourly peak of 306 on Nov 7. On 7 of those days the average was above 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Basrah lost since 2001?
There was almost no forest around Basrah in 2000, so there has been almost nothing to lose since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here.
What is the tree count in Basrah?
Basrah has an estimated 314 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 0.1% tree cover, 30 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Basrah need?
Basrah needs roughly 93,934 more trees to close a 30-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 2,067 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Basrah's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 2 km radius around Al Khalij Al Arabi Al Thalith; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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