City report · Saxony, Germany
Dresden Air quality today
Air quality in Dresden currently reads AQI 41 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 41
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 7.3
- tree cover
- 33.3%
- trees in this area
- 101K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Innere Altstadt, Altstadt, Dresden, Germany (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 26, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Dresden · AQI 41 (Good)
Dresden's tree count comes to 100,640 trees across 12.09 km² of land, already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Dresden today: AQI 41, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 17:00 local time via World Air Quality Index Project ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Dresden-Winckelmannstr., Germany, 1.6 km away · median of 2 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
7.3
PM10
11.9
NO₂
—
O₃
—
SO₂
—
CO
—
Data: World Air Quality Index Project, European Environment Agency, Air Quality, Saxon State Office (Luftqualität Sächsisches Landesamt für Umwelt, Landwirtschaft und Geologie)
- 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 Dresden's daily AQI at 67 on average, from 51 on Nov 4 to an hourly peak of 88 on Nov 8.
Where Dresden stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Dresden: Healthy tree cover
33.3% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.09 km² of land.
Trees in this area
100,640
Target trees
100,640
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Dresden lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Dresden has lost about 533 hectares of forest (about 750 football pitches): 6.1% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it was lost to logging, so much of it can grow back. About 59 hectares (11%) was deforestation: forest cleared for good for farms, mines or towns.
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northeast of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 533 haabout 750 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 6.1%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 59 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2020, when about 116 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 | 11 ha | 12 ha |
| 2002 | 1 ha | 10 ha | 11 ha |
| 2003 | 3 ha | 1 ha | 4 ha |
| 2004 | 8 ha | 8 ha | 16 ha |
| 2005 | 5 ha | 4 ha | 8 ha |
| 2006 | 2 ha | 6 ha | 8 ha |
| 2007 | 2 ha | 31 ha | 33 ha |
| 2008 | under 1 ha | 24 ha | 25 ha |
| 2009 | 2 ha | 6 ha | 8 ha |
| 2010 | 5 ha | 5 ha | 10 ha |
| 2011 | 4 ha | 7 ha | 11 ha |
| 2012 | under 1 ha | 5 ha | 5 ha |
| 2013 | under 1 ha | 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2014 | 2 ha | 3 ha | 5 ha |
| 2015 | under 1 ha | 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2016 | 5 ha | 5 ha | 10 ha |
| 2017 | 2 ha | 7 ha | 9 ha |
| 2018 | 1 ha | 13 ha | 14 ha |
| 2019 | 1 ha | 68 ha | 69 ha |
| 2020 | 4 ha | 112 ha | 116 ha |
| 2021 | 3 ha | 63 ha | 66 ha |
| 2022 | 4 ha | 35 ha | 39 ha |
| 2023 | 2 ha | 12 ha | 13 ha |
| 2024 | under 1 ha | 23 ha | 23 ha |
| 2025 | 1 ha | 14 ha | 16 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Dresden?
- Loggingcan grow back87% · 462 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good9.1% · 49 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good2% · 10 ha
Also: unknown causes.
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
- 15,100 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 15,400 ha
- Overall change
- +295 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Dresden stayed about the same size, at about 15,400 hectares: new forest grew on about 475 hectares, and about 180 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 Dresden
What is the air quality (AQI) in Dresden right now?
The latest reading for Dresden shows an AQI of 41 (Good), measured Nov 11, 17:00 local time by 2 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Dresden-Winckelmannstr., Germany, 1.6 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Dresden today?
At AQI 41 (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 Dresden been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Dresden's daily AQI at 67 on average, from 51 on Nov 4 to an hourly peak of 88 on Nov 8. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Dresden lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Dresden has lost about 533 hectares of forest (about 750 football pitches): 6.1% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it was lost to logging, so much of it can grow back. About 59 hectares (11%) was deforestation: forest cleared for good for farms, mines or towns. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Dresden stayed about the same size, at about 15,400 hectares: new forest grew on about 475 hectares, and about 180 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Dresden?
Dresden has an estimated 100,640 trees across the 12.09 km² of land measured — 33.3% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Dresden need?
Dresden has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Dresden's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Innere Altstadt, 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 Innere Altstadt; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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