City report · Lao Cai, Vietnam
Lào Cai Air quality today
Air quality in Lào Cai currently reads AQI 41 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 41
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 7.0
- tree cover
- 56.2%
- trees in this area
- 170K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Lao Cai, Vietnam (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 22, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Lào Cai · AQI 41 (Good)
Lào Cai's tree count comes to 170,201 trees across 12.12 km² of land, already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Lào Cai today: AQI 41, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 13:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 6 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 6 station cities within 245 km, e.g. Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
7.0
PM10
6.3
NO₂
2.4
O₃
84.0
SO₂
3.3
CO
310.0
- 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 Lào Cai's daily AQI at 42 on average, from 21 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 151 on Nov 5.
Where Lào Cai stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Lào Cai: Healthy tree cover
56.2% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.12 km² of land.
Trees in this area
170,201
Target trees
170,201
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Lào Cai lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Lào Cai has lost about 1,150 hectares of forest (about 1,600 football pitches): 13% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (88%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2020: satellite photo from May 2020 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km southeast of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 1,150 haabout 1,600 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 13%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 1,020 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 61 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 50 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2010, when about 144 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 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2002 | 11 ha | 2 ha | 14 ha |
| 2003 | 42 ha | 2 ha | 44 ha |
| 2004 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 4 ha |
| 2005 | 26 ha | 1 ha | 27 ha |
| 2006 | 82 ha | 3 ha | 85 ha |
| 2007 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2008 | 84 ha | 7 ha | 91 ha |
| 2009 | 4 ha | under 1 ha | 5 ha |
| 2010 | 138 ha | 6 ha | 144 ha |
| 2011 | 104 ha | 3 ha | 107 ha |
| 2012 | 33 ha | 3 ha | 36 ha |
| 2013 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 6 ha |
| 2014 | 14 ha | 4 ha | 18 ha |
| 2015 | 11 ha | 3 ha | 13 ha |
| 2016 | 46 ha | 9 ha | 54 ha |
| 2017 | 31 ha | 7 ha | 38 ha |
| 2018 | 49 ha | 12 ha | 61 ha |
| 2019 | 42 ha | 9 ha | 51 ha |
| 2020 | 38 ha | 9 ha | 47 ha |
| 2021 | 56 ha | 24 ha | 80 ha |
| 2022 | 66 ha | 15 ha | 80 ha |
| 2023 | 50 ha | 11 ha | 61 ha |
| 2024 | 31 ha | 5 ha | 36 ha |
| 2025 | 47 ha | 3 ha | 50 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Lào Cai?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good57% · 661 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good28% · 328 ha
- Loggingcan grow back10% · 121 ha
Also: mining and energy, shifting farming, storms, floods and other natural causes, 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
- 21,100 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 20,000 ha
- Overall change
- −1,070 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Lào Cai shrank from about 21,100 hectares to 20,000 hectares, a net loss of about 1,070 hectares (−5.1%). New forest grew on about 1,280 hectares, but 2,350 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
In the same region
Measured cities near Lào Cai
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Bắc Quang92.1 km
Vietnam
- Tree cover
- 83%
- Air quality
- 33
- Wenshan City101.7 km
China
- Tree cover
- 31%
- Air quality
- 60
- Mengzi115.1 km
China
- Tree cover
- 24%
- Air quality
- 77
- Thị Trấn Thuận Châu120.0 km
Vietnam
- Tree cover
- 83%
- Air quality
- 31
- Gejiu128.3 km
China
- Tree cover
- 42%
- Air quality
- 77
- Yên Bái128.8 km
Vietnam
- Tree cover
- 66%
- Air quality
- 58
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Frequently asked
Questions about Lào Cai
What is the air quality (AQI) in Lào Cai right now?
The latest reading for Lào Cai shows an AQI of 41 (Good), observed Nov 11, 13:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 6 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Lào Cai 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 Lào Cai been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Lào Cai's daily AQI at 42 on average, from 21 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 151 on Nov 5. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Lào Cai lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Lào Cai has lost about 1,150 hectares of forest (about 1,600 football pitches): 13% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (88%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 61 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 50 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Lào Cai shrank from about 21,100 hectares to 20,000 hectares, a net loss of about 1,070 hectares (−5.1%). New forest grew on about 1,280 hectares, but 2,350 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Lào Cai?
Lào Cai has an estimated 170,201 trees across the 12.12 km² of land measured — 56.2% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Lào Cai need?
Lào Cai has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Lào Cai'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 Lao Cai; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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