City report · Afghanistan
Kabul Air quality today
Air quality in Kabul currently reads AQI 142 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups): Sensitive groups should limit long or intense outdoor activity.
Air quality right now
AQI 142
Unhealthy for sensitive groups
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 54.1
- tree cover
- 10.4%
- trees in this area
- 32.7K
- more trees needed
- 77.3K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Kabul, Afghanistan (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 12, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Kabul · AQI 142 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups)
Kabul's tree count comes to 32,673 trees across 12.57 km², 25 points below the 35% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 77,283 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Kabul today: AQI 142, Unhealthy for sensitive groups
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 21:30 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 3 station cities within 245 km, e.g. Shabqadar and Peshawar
Health signal
Sensitive groups should limit long or intense outdoor activity.
PM2.5
54.1
PM10
34.1
NO₂
12.2
O₃
90.0
SO₂
13.9
CO
1876.0
- Outdoor exercise
- Children, older adults and people with asthma or heart disease should cut down long or hard exercise
- Windows
- Close them to keep the outside air out
- Mask
- Sensitive groups: an N95 outdoors
- Air purifier
- Run one, especially in bedrooms
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Kabul's daily AQI at 57 on average, from 45 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 80 on Nov 4.
Where Kabul stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Kabul: Critically low
10.4% tree cover against a 35% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
32,673
Target trees
109,956
More trees needed
77,283
CO₂ if planted / yr
1,700 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Kabul lost?
There was almost no forest around Kabul in 2000, so there has been almost nothing to lose 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 June 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
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 Kabul
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Gardez103.6 km
Afghanistan
- Tree cover
- 2%
- Air quality
- 66
- Ghazni128.6 km
Afghanistan
- Tree cover
- 5%
- Air quality
- 47
- Baghlān183.1 km
Afghanistan
- Tree cover
- 7%
- Air quality
- 35
- Bannu216.7 km
Pakistan
- Tree cover
- 14%
- Air quality
- 196
Also compared:Kabul vs HerātKabul vs Mazār-e SharīfKabul vs Kandahār
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Frequently asked
Questions about Kabul
What is the air quality (AQI) in Kabul right now?
The latest reading for Kabul shows an AQI of 142 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups), observed Nov 10, 21:30 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Sensitive groups should limit long or intense outdoor activity.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Kabul today?
At AQI 142 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups): children, older adults and people with asthma or heart disease should cut down long or hard exercise. Windows: close them to keep the outside air out. Masks: sensitive groups: an N95 outdoors. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Kabul been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Kabul's daily AQI at 57 on average, from 45 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 80 on Nov 4. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Kabul lost since 2001?
There was almost no forest around Kabul in 2000, so there has been almost nothing to lose 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 Kabul?
Kabul has an estimated 32,673 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 10.4% tree cover, 25 percentage points short of the 35% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Kabul need?
Kabul needs roughly 77,283 more trees to close a 25-point shortfall against its 35% tree-cover target — about 1,700 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Kabul'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 Kabul; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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