City report · Gauteng, South Africa
Benoni Air quality today
Air quality in Benoni currently reads AQI 81 (Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
AQI 81
Air quality right now
Moderate
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 27.0
- tree cover
- 13.2%
- trees in this area
- 41.1K
- more trees needed
- 52.4K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Benoni, South Africa (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 14, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Benoni · AQI 81 (Moderate)
Benoni's tree count comes to 41,137 trees across 12.47 km² of land, 17 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 52,357 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Benoni today: AQI 81, Moderate
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 01:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 25 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 2 station cities within 25 km, e.g. Germiston and Thembisa
Health signal
Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
27.0
PM10
66.1
NO₂
75.1
O₃
11.0
SO₂
71.5
CO
445.0
- 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 Benoni's daily AQI at 74 on average, from 45 on Nov 9 to an hourly peak of 155 on Nov 11.
Where Benoni stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Benoni: Critically low
13.2% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.47 km² of land.
Trees in this area
41,137
Target trees
93,494
More trees needed
52,357
CO₂ if planted / yr
1,152 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Benoni lost?
There was very little forest around Benoni in 2000, about 49 hectares, and about 28 hectares of it has been lost 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 July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
The worst year was 2005, when about 12 hectares of forest were lost.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2002 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2003 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2004 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2005 | 12 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
| 2006 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2007 | 6 ha | under 1 ha | 6 ha |
| 2008 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2009 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2010 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2011 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2012 | 4 ha | under 1 ha | 4 ha |
| 2013 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2014 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2015 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2016 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2017 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2018 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2019 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2020 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2021 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2022 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2023 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2024 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2025 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Benoni?
- Towns and roadscleared for good85% · 24 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good9.1% · 3 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good4.3% · 1 ha
Also: unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 2,090 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 2,130 ha
- Overall change
- +46 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Benoni grew from about 2,090 hectares to 2,130 hectares, a net gain of about 46 hectares (+2.2%). New forest grew on about 145 hectares, while 99 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
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. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
In the same region
Measured cities near Benoni
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Etwatwa15.1 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 2%
- Air quality
- 53
- Germiston15.9 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 13%
- Air quality
- 44
- Thembisa23.3 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 2%
- Air quality
- 58
- Tokoza27.0 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 7%
- Air quality
- 78
- Johannesburg27.7 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 4%
- Air quality
- 44
- Nigel31.2 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 14%
- Air quality
- 66
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Frequently asked
Questions about Benoni
What is the air quality (AQI) in Benoni right now?
The latest reading for Benoni shows an AQI of 81 (Moderate), observed Nov 11, 01:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 25 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 Benoni today?
At AQI 81 (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 Benoni been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Benoni's daily AQI at 74 on average, from 45 on Nov 9 to an hourly peak of 155 on Nov 11. On 1 of those days the average was above 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Benoni lost since 2001?
There was very little forest around Benoni in 2000, about 49 hectares, and about 28 hectares of it has been lost since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Benoni grew from about 2,090 hectares to 2,130 hectares, a net gain of about 46 hectares (+2.2%). New forest grew on about 145 hectares, while 99 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Benoni?
Benoni has an estimated 41,137 trees across the 12.47 km² of land measured — 13.2% tree cover, 17 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Benoni need?
Benoni needs roughly 52,357 more trees to close a 17-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 1,152 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Benoni'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 Benoni; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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