City report · Free State, South Africa
Bloemfontein Air quality today
Air quality in Bloemfontein currently reads AQI 39 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 39
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 7.0
- tree cover
- 17.5%
- trees in this area
- 54.8K
- more trees needed
- 39.2K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Willows, Bloemfontein, 9301, South Africa (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 25, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Bloemfontein · AQI 39 (Good)
Bloemfontein's tree count comes to 54,813 trees across 12.53 km² of land, 13 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 39,152 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Bloemfontein today: AQI 39, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 07:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Model estimate · no ground station nearby
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
7.0
PM10
7.2
NO₂
5.9
O₃
65.0
SO₂
3.1
CO
179.0
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Bloemfontein's daily AQI at 27 on average, from 10 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 59 on Nov 5.
Where Bloemfontein stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Bloemfontein: Critically low
17.5% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.53 km² of land.
Trees in this area
54,813
Target trees
93,965
More trees needed
39,152
CO₂ if planted / yr
861.3 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Bloemfontein lost?
There was very little forest around Bloemfontein in 2000, about 40 hectares, and about 2 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 June 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
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 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2006 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2007 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2008 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2009 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2010 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2011 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2012 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 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 Bloemfontein?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good20% · under 1 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown87% · 1 ha
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
- 486 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 501 ha
- Overall change
- +15 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Bloemfontein grew from about 486 hectares to 501 hectares, a net gain of about 15 hectares (+3.1%). New forest grew on about 20 hectares, while 4 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 Bloemfontein
What is the air quality (AQI) in Bloemfontein right now?
The latest reading for Bloemfontein shows an AQI of 39 (Good), observed Nov 11, 07:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Bloemfontein today?
At AQI 39 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Bloemfontein been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Bloemfontein's daily AQI at 27 on average, from 10 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 59 on Nov 5. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Bloemfontein lost since 2001?
There was very little forest around Bloemfontein in 2000, about 40 hectares, and about 2 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 Bloemfontein grew from about 486 hectares to 501 hectares, a net gain of about 15 hectares (+3.1%). New forest grew on about 20 hectares, while 4 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Bloemfontein?
Bloemfontein has an estimated 54,813 trees across the 12.53 km² of land measured — 17.5% tree cover, 13 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Bloemfontein need?
Bloemfontein needs roughly 39,152 more trees to close a 13-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 861.3 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Bloemfontein'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 Willows; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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