City report · Madhya Pradesh, India
Bhopal Air quality today
Air quality in Bhopal currently reads AQI 217 (Very unhealthy): Health alert — everyone should avoid long outdoor exertion.
Air quality right now
AQI 217
Very unhealthy
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 142.0
- tree cover
- 25.0%
- trees in this area
- 64.1K
- more trees needed
- 51.3K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Chowki Talaiya, Talaiya, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462001, India (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Oct 27, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Bhopal · AQI 217 (Very unhealthy)
Bhopal's tree count comes to 64,088 trees across 10.26 km² of land, 20 points below the 45% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 51,271 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Bhopal today: AQI 217, Very unhealthy
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 20:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Idgah Hills, Bhopal - MPPCB, 2.4 km away · median of 3 stations
Health signal
Health alert — everyone should avoid long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
142.0
PM10
349.0
NO₂
106.3
O₃
17.8
SO₂
22.3
CO
4.4
Data: OpenAQ · CPCB, Central Pollution Control Board, Government of India (GODL-India)
- Outdoor exercise
- Everyone should avoid long or hard exercise outdoors; sensitive groups, all outdoor exertion
- Windows
- Keep them closed
- Mask
- Wear an N95 if you go out
- Air purifier
- Run one on high
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Bhopal's daily AQI at 106 on average, from 77 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 153 on Nov 8.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from India's AQI (CPCB) · The full guide
Where Bhopal stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Bhopal: Critically low
25.0% tree cover against a 45% healthy-neighborhood target, across 10.26 km² of land.
Trees in this area
64,088
Target trees
115,359
More trees needed
51,271
CO₂ if planted / yr
1,128 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Bhopal lost?
There was very little forest around Bhopal in 2000, about 67 hectares, and about 8 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 April 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
The worst year was 2001, when about 4 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 | 2 ha | 3 ha | 4 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 | 1 ha | 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 Bhopal?
- Towns and roadscleared for good36% · 3 ha
- Storms, floods and other natural causescan grow back14% · 1 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown51% · 4 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
- 495 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 599 ha
- Overall change
- +104 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Bhopal grew from about 495 hectares to 599 hectares, a net gain of about 104 hectares (+21%). New forest grew on about 120 hectares, while 16 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 Bhopal
What is the air quality (AQI) in Bhopal right now?
The latest reading for Bhopal shows an AQI of 217 (Very unhealthy), measured Nov 11, 20:00 local time by 3 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Idgah Hills, Bhopal - MPPCB, 2.4 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Health alert — everyone should avoid long outdoor exertion.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Bhopal today?
At AQI 217 (Very unhealthy): everyone should avoid long or hard exercise outdoors; sensitive groups, all outdoor exertion. Windows: keep them closed. Masks: wear an N95 if you go out. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Bhopal been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Bhopal's daily AQI at 106 on average, from 77 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 153 on Nov 8. On 6 of those days the average was above 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Bhopal's AQI 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.
How much forest has the area around Bhopal lost since 2001?
There was very little forest around Bhopal in 2000, about 67 hectares, and about 8 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 Bhopal grew from about 495 hectares to 599 hectares, a net gain of about 104 hectares (+21%). New forest grew on about 120 hectares, while 16 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Bhopal?
Bhopal has an estimated 64,088 trees across the 10.26 km² of land measured — 25.0% tree cover, 20 percentage points short of the 45% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Bhopal need?
Bhopal needs roughly 51,271 more trees to close a 20-point shortfall against its 45% tree-cover target — about 1,128 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Bhopal's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Chowki Talaiya, 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 Chowki Talaiya; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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