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Africa · air quality report · 34 cities

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

Right now the 34 cities Airleaf measures in Tanzania average AQI 53 (moderate). The worst air is in Songea, at AQI 157, and the cleanest in Geita, at AQI 15.

9% of the 34 measured cities are over AQI 100 today, where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, and 53% have Good air.

Average right now

AQI 53

Moderate

US EPA index, across 34 cities
cities measured
34
worst air: Songea
157
cleanest air: Geita
15
average tree cover
20.7%

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

Tanzania · average AQI 53

Air quality right now in the 8 largest cities in Tanzania

Dodoma

2 km around Dodoma

Good

Air quality now

AQI 42

6.4%
tree cover

74.1K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Sep 19, 2026

Dar es Salaam

2 km around Dar es Salaam

Good

Air quality now

AQI 35

7.7%
tree cover

70.0K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Sep 6, 2026

Mwanza

2 km around Mwanza

Good

Air quality now

AQI 21

23.5%
tree cover

15.6K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Sep 17, 2026

Zanzibar

2 km around Mwembetanga

Good

Air quality now

AQI 43

19.8%
tree cover

19.7K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Sep 16, 2026

Arusha

2 km around Arusha

Good

Air quality now

AQI 32

31.4%
tree cover

Healthy tree cover

Satellite image Sep 19, 2026

Mbeya

2 km around Mbeya

Moderate

Air quality now

AQI 67

13.7%
tree cover

51.2K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Sep 24, 2026

Morogoro

2 km around Morogoro

Good

Air quality now

AQI 39

23.7%
tree cover

19.8K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Jul 18, 2026

Kahama

2 km around Kahama

Good

Air quality now

AQI 27

5.9%
tree cover

75.7K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Sep 25, 2026

Across the country

How clean is the air across Tanzania today?

9% of the 34 measured cities are over AQI 100 today, where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, and 53% have Good air. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.

34 measured cities

  • Good18 (53%)
  • Moderate13 (38%)
  • Unhealthy for sensitive groups2 (6%)
  • Unhealthy1 (3%)

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

In aggregate

Tanzania 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 34 of 34 cities measured so far in Tanzania.

Average air quality
AQI 53Mean of the latest reading per city
Average tree cover
20.7%27 of 34 below their target
Trees counted
2.1MAcross every measured area
More trees needed
1.3MTo bring each area to its target

Worst air quality right now

  1. 1Songea41m ago157
  2. 2Iringa17h ago108
  3. 3Musoma14h ago104
  4. 4Kasulu8h ago90
  5. 5Bukoba4h ago78
  6. 6Makumbako7h ago77
  7. 7Tunduma6h ago76
  8. 8Mpanda18h ago67
  9. 9Mbeya6h ago67
  10. 10Tarime17h ago66

Cleanest air right now

  1. 1Geita2h ago15
  2. 2Moshi22h ago17
  3. 3Sengerema4h ago17
  4. 4Mwanza6h ago21
  5. 5Shinyanga1h ago23
  6. 6Singida43m ago25
  7. 7Bariadi7h ago26
  8. 8Kahama6h ago27
  9. 9Arusha6h ago32
  10. 10Dar es Salaam49m ago35

Greenest cities in Tanzania

  1. 1Tarime47.9%
  2. 2Kibaha39.6%
  3. 3Ifakara37.2%
  4. 4Moshi34.8%
  5. 5Bukoba33.0%
  6. 6Arusha31.4%
  7. 7Mtwara28.6%
  8. 8Musoma26.9%
  9. 9Handeni26.0%
  10. 10Tanga25.8%

Least tree cover in Tanzania

Excludes barren and desert sites

  1. 1Tunduma3.4%
  2. 2Nzega3.6%
  3. 3Kahama5.9%
  4. 4Dodoma6.4%
  5. 5Dar es Salaam7.7%
  6. 6Tabora7.9%
  7. 7Singida8.4%
  8. 8Makumbako8.6%
  9. 9Shinyanga9.3%
  10. 10Sengerema10.6%

Against everywhere else

How does Tanzania compare with other countries?

Right now the cities of Tanzania average cleaner air than 50% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and more tree cover than 42%.

Cleaner air than…

Tanzania
Beats 50%

More tree cover than…

Tanzania
Beats 42%

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

Deforestation · 2001–2025

How much forest has Tanzania lost?

Since 2001, Tanzania has lost about 3.69 million hectares of forest (about 37,000 km²): 14% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (84%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.

Forest lost since 2001
3.69 million haabout 37,000 km²
Share of its forest
14%of what there was in 2000
Cleared for good
3.1 million hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest lost each year in Tanzania, 2001–2025

Hectares of forest lost each year

Forest lost each year in Tanzania, 2001–2025. Use the left and right arrow keys to read each year.230K

Show the figures as a table
Forest lost each year in Tanzania, 2001–2025
YearCleared for goodCan grow backTotal
200166,800 ha15,500 ha82,400 ha
200267,900 ha17,500 ha85,300 ha
200370,000 ha14,300 ha84,300 ha
200456,300 ha10,800 ha67,100 ha
200576,800 ha15,100 ha91,800 ha
200675,800 ha9,650 ha85,500 ha
2007106,000 ha16,600 ha122,000 ha
2008147,000 ha17,400 ha165,000 ha
2009130,000 ha14,100 ha144,000 ha
2010123,000 ha16,000 ha139,000 ha
2011123,000 ha15,000 ha138,000 ha
2012132,000 ha23,300 ha155,000 ha
2013143,000 ha38,700 ha182,000 ha
2014159,000 ha39,200 ha199,000 ha
201586,100 ha26,200 ha112,000 ha
2016129,000 ha24,600 ha153,000 ha
2017163,000 ha32,300 ha195,000 ha
2018147,000 ha25,400 ha172,000 ha
2019121,000 ha22,600 ha143,000 ha
2020159,000 ha28,100 ha187,000 ha
2021139,000 ha26,400 ha166,000 ha
2022136,000 ha25,500 ha161,000 ha
2023196,000 ha34,100 ha230,000 ha
2024183,000 ha43,100 ha227,000 ha
2025165,000 ha39,200 ha204,000 ha

Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 198,000 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 170,000 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2023, when about 230,000 hectares of forest were lost.

What is causing deforestation in Tanzania?

  • Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good83% · 3.05 million ha
  • Shifting farmingcan grow back11% · 401,000 ha
  • Loggingcan grow back4% · 147,000 ha

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

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

Tanzania'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

Tanzania as a whole

49.6% of Tanzania was forested as of 2024, against a 30% benchmark. That already clears the benchmark — the city reports above show where cover is still thin locally. Source: World Bank (FAO).

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Every city we track in Tanzania

34 cities, A–Z

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Cleaner air at home in Tanzania

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Frequently asked

Air quality in Tanzania: your questions answered

What is the air quality in Tanzania today?

Right now the 34 cities Airleaf measures in Tanzania average AQI 53 (moderate). The worst air is in Songea, at AQI 157, and the cleanest in Geita, at AQI 15. 9% of the 34 measured cities are over AQI 100 today, where the air stops being fine for sensitive groups, and 53% have Good air.

Which city in Tanzania has the worst air right now?

Songea, at AQI 157 (Unhealthy) on the US EPA index. Everyone should limit long outdoor exertion; sensitive groups more so.

Which city in Tanzania has the cleanest air right now?

Geita, at AQI 15 (Good). Both lists rank current readings, from ground stations wherever Tanzania has at least three cities with one.

Is the air in Tanzania safe to breathe today?

It depends on the city. 18 cities are Good, 13 cities are Moderate, 2 cities are Unhealthy for sensitive groups, 1 city is Unhealthy. At the national average of AQI 53: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.

How much forest has Tanzania lost since 2001?

About 3.69 million ha from 2001 to 2025, 14% of the forest it had in 2000, from the University of Maryland's yearly satellite maps of forest loss. 3.1 million ha of it was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.

Which city in Tanzania has the most trees?

Tarime, with 47.9% tree cover within 2 km of its center, measured from Sentinel-2 satellite images.

How does Airleaf measure air quality in Tanzania?

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. Tree cover is measured over the same 2 km radius in every city, so the cities compare like for like.

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