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Asia · air quality report · 471 cities

India air quality today The AQI right now, city by city

Right now the 471 cities Airleaf measures in India average AQI 143 (unhealthy for sensitive groups). The worst air is in Nāgaur, at AQI 533, and the cleanest in Soyībug, at AQI 26.

At ground stations alone, which measure rather than estimate, the average is AQI 150 across 219 cities. 70% of the 471 measured cities are over AQI 100 today, where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, and 2% have Good air.

Average right now

AQI 143

Unhealthy for sensitive groups

US EPA index, across 471 cities
cities measured
471
worst air: Nāgaur
533
cleanest air: Soyībug
26
average tree cover
27.3%

Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.

India · average AQI 143

Air quality right now in the 8 largest cities in India

Mumbai

2 km around Lower Parel

Unhealthy for sensitive groups

Air quality now

AQI 129

14.9%
tree cover

61.9K more trees would reach 35% tree cover

Satellite image Oct 23, 2026

New Delhi

2 km around Sansad Marg Area

Very unhealthy

Air quality now

AQI 231

56.6%
tree cover

Healthy tree cover

Satellite image Oct 10, 2026

Bengaluru

2 km around Nunegundlapalli

Unhealthy

Air quality now

AQI 160

36.7%
tree cover

10.4K more trees would reach 40% tree cover

Satellite image Oct 14, 2026

Hyderabad

2 km around Aziz Bagh

Unhealthy

Air quality now

AQI 160

19.1%
tree cover

65.7K more trees would reach 40% tree cover

Satellite image Oct 14, 2026

Ahmedabad

2 km around Old City

Unhealthy for sensitive groups

Air quality now

AQI 130

12.4%
tree cover

68.7K more trees would reach 35% tree cover

Satellite image Oct 15, 2026

Chennai

2 km around Parle Town

Unhealthy

Air quality now

AQI 163

22.1%
tree cover

54.9K more trees would reach 40% tree cover

Satellite image Oct 11, 2026

Kolkata

2 km around Lebutala

Moderate

Air quality now

AQI 82

28.7%
tree cover

4.1K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Oct 25, 2026

Surat

2 km around Zampa Bazaar

Unhealthy for sensitive groups

Air quality now

AQI 114

10.3%
tree cover

75.3K more trees would reach 35% tree cover

Satellite image Oct 28, 2026

Across the country

How clean is the air across India today?

70% of the 471 measured cities are over AQI 100 today, where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, and 2% have Good air. Sensitive groups should limit long or intense outdoor activity.

471 measured cities

  • Good9 (2%)
  • Moderate133 (28%)
  • Unhealthy for sensitive groups120 (25%)
  • Unhealthy162 (34%)
  • Very unhealthy32 (7%)
  • Hazardous15 (3%)

Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.

In aggregate

India in numbers

Every figure below is read the same way over the same 2 km area per city, so they add up and compare like for like. Averaged across the 471 of 471 cities measured so far in India.

Average air quality
AQI 143Mean of the latest reading per city
Average tree cover
27.3%363 of 471 below their target
Trees counted
39.1MAcross every measured area
More trees needed
18.4MTo bring each area to its target

Worst air quality right now

  1. 1Nāgaur1h ago533
  2. 2Hisar1h ago474
  3. 3Bharatpur1h ago395
  4. 4Rewāri1h ago390
  5. 5Bhiwadi1h ago390
  6. 6Chūru1h ago343
  7. 7Jammu38m ago340
  8. 8Gwalior1h ago322
  9. 9Būndi1h ago300
  10. 10Bikaner1h ago268

Cleanest air right now

  1. 1Soyībug1h ago26
  2. 2Srinagar1h ago26
  3. 3Bhubaneswar1h ago58
  4. 4Haldia1h ago58
  5. 5Rājkot1h ago60
  6. 6Ooty1h ago68
  7. 7Jaigaon38m ago70
  8. 8Balasore1h ago71
  9. 9Gandhinagar1h ago71
  10. 10Rasapūdipalem1h ago71

Greenest cities in India

  1. 1Dārjiling88.2%
  2. 2Malappuram82.8%
  3. 3Gangtok82.7%
  4. 4Ponnāni82.6%
  5. 5Hābra80.1%
  6. 6Shimla77.1%
  7. 7Uluberiya76.6%
  8. 8Shāntipur76.5%
  9. 9Kanhangad76.2%
  10. 10Bangaon73.8%

Least tree cover in India

Excludes barren and desert sites

  1. 1Hanumāngarh5.4%
  2. 2Sūjāngarh6.1%
  3. 3Hāthras6.8%
  4. 4Srinagar7.1%
  5. 5Bharatpur7.3%
  6. 6Loni7.4%
  7. 7Pithampur7.6%
  8. 8Nāgaur7.7%
  9. 9Malegaon7.9%
  10. 10Yamuna Nagar8.1%

Against everywhere else

How does India compare with other countries?

Right now the cities of India average cleaner air than 1% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and more tree cover than 59%.

Cleaner air than…

India
Beats 1%

More tree cover than…

India
Beats 59%

See the most polluted and cleanest air rankings for every country.

Is this 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.

India's AQI (CPCB) and the AQI, explained

Deforestation · 2001–2025

How much forest has India lost?

Since 2001, India has lost about 2.6 million hectares of forest (about 26,000 km²): 6.7% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it was lost to shifting farming, so much of it can grow back. About 730,000 hectares (28%) was deforestation: forest cleared for good for farms, mines or towns.

Forest lost since 2001
2.6 million haabout 26,000 km²
Share of its forest
6.7%of what there was in 2000
Cleared for good
730,000 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest lost each year in India, 2001–2025

Hectares of forest lost each year

Forest lost each year in India, 2001–2025. Use the left and right arrow keys to read each year.190K

Show the figures as a table
Forest lost each year in India, 2001–2025
YearCleared for goodCan grow backTotal
200118,100 ha44,000 ha62,100 ha
200216,500 ha36,300 ha52,800 ha
200315,000 ha32,400 ha47,300 ha
200426,800 ha47,500 ha74,300 ha
200521,200 ha40,500 ha61,700 ha
200626,800 ha40,500 ha67,300 ha
200734,300 ha39,500 ha73,800 ha
200839,200 ha46,400 ha85,500 ha
200935,600 ha43,200 ha78,800 ha
201020,900 ha30,100 ha50,900 ha
201148,700 ha39,600 ha88,300 ha
201238,300 ha56,300 ha94,600 ha
201314,900 ha65,700 ha80,600 ha
201427,600 ha111,000 ha139,000 ha
201516,300 ha100,000 ha116,000 ha
201631,000 ha145,000 ha176,000 ha
201735,100 ha155,000 ha190,000 ha
201826,200 ha106,000 ha132,000 ha
201924,700 ha97,000 ha122,000 ha
202028,400 ha110,000 ha139,000 ha
202127,900 ha106,000 ha134,000 ha
202230,900 ha92,000 ha123,000 ha
202346,700 ha97,500 ha144,000 ha
202439,100 ha95,300 ha134,000 ha
202539,600 ha89,500 ha129,000 ha

Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 133,000 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 152,000 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2017, when about 190,000 hectares of forest were lost.

What is causing deforestation in India?

  • Shifting farmingcan grow back59% · 1.54 million ha
  • Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good26% · 670,000 ha
  • Loggingcan grow back9% · 234,000 ha

Also: storms, floods and other natural causes, towns and roads, mining and energy, wildfires, unknown causes.

Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.

India's full deforestation report

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. How it's measured

India as a whole

24.4% of India was forested as of 2024, against a 30% benchmark. Closing that gap nationally would take roughly 16.5B trees across 16.5M hectares. Source: World Bank (FAO).

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Frequently asked

Air quality in India: your questions answered

What is the air quality in India today?

Right now the 471 cities Airleaf measures in India average AQI 143 (unhealthy for sensitive groups). The worst air is in Nāgaur, at AQI 533, and the cleanest in Soyībug, at AQI 26. At ground stations alone, which measure rather than estimate, the average is AQI 150 across 219 cities. 70% of the 471 measured cities are over AQI 100 today, where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, and 2% have Good air.

Which city in India has the worst air right now?

Nāgaur, at AQI 533 (Hazardous) on the US EPA index. Emergency conditions — avoid outdoor activity.

Which city in India has the cleanest air right now?

Soyībug, at AQI 26 (Good). Both lists rank current readings, from ground stations wherever India has at least three cities with one.

Is the air in India safe to breathe today?

It depends on the city. 9 cities are Good, 133 cities are Moderate, 120 cities are Unhealthy for sensitive groups, 162 cities are Unhealthy, 32 cities are Very unhealthy, 15 cities are Hazardous. At the national average of AQI 143: Sensitive groups should limit long or intense outdoor activity.

How much forest has India lost since 2001?

About 2.6 million ha from 2001 to 2025, 7% of the forest it had in 2000, from the University of Maryland's yearly satellite maps of forest loss. 730,000 ha of it was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.

Which city in India has the most trees?

Dārjiling, with 88.2% tree cover within 2 km of its center, measured from Sentinel-2 satellite images.

How does Airleaf measure air quality in India?

Each city's reading is the US EPA air quality index, from ground monitoring stations where one has reported recently nearby, and from the CAMS atmospheric model elsewhere; each city's report says which. India's AQI (CPCB) is a different scale, explained on this page. Tree cover is measured over the same 2 km radius in every city, so the cities compare like for like.

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