City report · Cairo, Egypt
Cairo Air quality today
Air quality in Cairo currently reads AQI 162 (Unhealthy): Everyone should limit long outdoor exertion; sensitive groups more so.
AQI 162
Air quality right now
Unhealthy
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 78.6
- tree cover
- 1.3%
- trees in this area
- 4.1K
- more trees needed
- 122K
Measured across a 2 km radius around 'Abdin, El-Darb El-Ahmar, Abdeen, Cairo Governorate, Egypt (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 19, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Cairo · AQI 162 (Unhealthy)
Cairo's tree count comes to 4,084 trees across 12.57 km², 39 points below the 40% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 121,580 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Cairo today: AQI 162, Unhealthy
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 07:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 45 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 2 station cities within 45 km, e.g. New Cairo 1 and Obour
Health signal
Everyone should limit long outdoor exertion; sensitive groups more so.
PM2.5
78.6
PM10
38.1
NO₂
53.4
O₃
8.0
SO₂
61.3
CO
564.0
- Outdoor exercise
- Everyone should cut down long or hard exercise; sensitive groups should avoid it
- Windows
- Keep them closed
- Mask
- Wear an N95 outdoors
- Air purifier
- Run one
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Cairo's daily AQI at 64 on average, from 53 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 117 on Nov 5.
Where Cairo stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Cairo: Critically low
1.3% tree cover against a 40% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
4,084
Target trees
125,664
More trees needed
121,580
CO₂ if planted / yr
2,675 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Cairo lost?
There was very little forest around Cairo in 2000, about 74 hectares, and about 4 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 September 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
The worst year was 2002, when about 2 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 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 2 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 Cairo?
- Towns and roadscleared for good66% · 2 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown34% · 1 ha
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
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 Cairo
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Qalyub13.6 km
Egypt
- Tree cover
- 17%
- Air quality
- 65
- Kirdāsah13.8 km
Egypt
- Tree cover
- 19%
- Air quality
- 69
- Al Ḩawāmidīyah18.1 km
Egypt
- Tree cover
- 33%
- Air quality
- 136
- New Cairo21.5 km
Egypt
- Tree cover
- 5%
- Air quality
- 77
- Ḩalwān25.1 km
Egypt
- Tree cover
- 11%
- Air quality
- 102
- Al-'Ubūr29.0 km
Egypt
- Tree cover
- 5%
- Air quality
- 77
Also compared:Cairo vs AlexandriaCairo vs Port SaidCairo vs SuezCairo vs Al Mansurah
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Frequently asked
Questions about Cairo
What is the air quality (AQI) in Cairo right now?
The latest reading for Cairo shows an AQI of 162 (Unhealthy), observed Nov 11, 07:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 45 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Everyone should limit long outdoor exertion; sensitive groups more so.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Cairo today?
At AQI 162 (Unhealthy): everyone should cut down long or hard exercise; sensitive groups should avoid it. Windows: keep them closed. Masks: wear an N95 outdoors. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Cairo been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Cairo's daily AQI at 64 on average, from 53 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 117 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 Cairo lost since 2001?
There was very little forest around Cairo in 2000, about 74 hectares, and about 4 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.
What is the tree count in Cairo?
Cairo has an estimated 4,084 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 1.3% tree cover, 39 percentage points short of the 40% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Cairo need?
Cairo needs roughly 121,580 more trees to close a 39-point shortfall against its 40% tree-cover target — about 2,675 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Cairo'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 'Abdin; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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