City report · Chhattisgarh, India
Bhilai Air quality today
Air quality in Bhilai currently reads AQI 98 (Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
AQI 98
Air quality right now
Moderate
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 34.3
- tree cover
- 16.5%
- trees in this area
- 51.4K
- more trees needed
- 42.0K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Shanti Nagar, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh 490021, India (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Oct 23, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Bhilai · AQI 98 (Moderate)
Bhilai's tree count comes to 51,370 trees across 12.46 km² of land, 13 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 42,030 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Bhilai today: AQI 98, Moderate
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 20:30 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Hathkhoj, Bhilai - CECB, 2.7 km away · median of 2 stations
Health signal
Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
34.3
PM10
67.9
NO₂
41.6
O₃
5.8
SO₂
41.8
CO
0.6
Data: OpenAQ · CPCB, Central Pollution Control Board, Government of India (GODL-India)
- 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 Bhilai's daily AQI at 163 on average, from 134 on Nov 4 to an hourly peak of 215 on Nov 8.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from India's AQI (CPCB) · The full guide
Where Bhilai stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Bhilai: Critically low
16.5% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.46 km² of land.
Trees in this area
51,370
Target trees
93,400
More trees needed
42,030
CO₂ if planted / yr
924.7 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Bhilai lost?
There was almost no forest around Bhilai 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 January 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 279 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 405 ha
- Overall change
- +126 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Bhilai grew from about 279 hectares to 405 hectares, a net gain of about 126 hectares (+45%). New forest grew on about 135 hectares, while 10 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
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Frequently asked
Questions about Bhilai
What is the air quality (AQI) in Bhilai right now?
The latest reading for Bhilai shows an AQI of 98 (Moderate), measured Nov 11, 20:30 local time by 2 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Hathkhoj, Bhilai - CECB, 2.7 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Bhilai today?
At AQI 98 (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 Bhilai been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Bhilai's daily AQI at 163 on average, from 134 on Nov 4 to an hourly peak of 215 on Nov 8. On 7 of those days the average was above 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Bhilai's AQI the same as India's AQI (CPCB)?
No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. India's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) publishes the National Air Quality Index on its own scale: 0–50 good, 51–100 satisfactory, 101–200 moderate, 201–300 poor, 301–400 very poor and 401–500 severe. The two scales don't line up. At moderate fine-particle levels the US scale reads higher: 55 µg/m³ of PM2.5 is 149 on the US AQI but about 92, "satisfactory", on India's. In heavy smog India's reads higher: 100 µg/m³ is 182 on the US AQI and about 232, "poor", on India's. CPCB also averages particles over 24 hours, so its figure moves more slowly than an hourly reading.
How much forest has the area around Bhilai lost since 2001?
There was almost no forest around Bhilai 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. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Bhilai grew from about 279 hectares to 405 hectares, a net gain of about 126 hectares (+45%). New forest grew on about 135 hectares, while 10 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Bhilai?
Bhilai has an estimated 51,370 trees across the 12.46 km² of land measured — 16.5% tree cover, 13 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Bhilai need?
Bhilai needs roughly 42,030 more trees to close a 13-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 924.7 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Bhilai's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Shanti Nagar, via OpenAQ; the 7-day trend is the Open-Meteo / CAMS model's estimate. 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 Shanti Nagar; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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