City report · Equatorial Guinea
Malabo Air quality today
Air quality in Malabo currently reads AQI 40 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 40
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 6.2
- tree cover
- 8.8%
- trees in this area
- 16.7K
- more trees needed
- 40.3K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Santa Isabel, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Jan 3, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Malabo · AQI 40 (Good)
Malabo's tree count comes to 16,726 trees across 7.6 km² of land, 21 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 40,294 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Malabo today: AQI 40, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 16:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 4 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 4 station cities within 245 km, e.g. Douala and Okrika
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
6.2
PM10
2.9
NO₂
1.6
O₃
50.0
SO₂
1.1
CO
160.0
- 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 Malabo's daily AQI at 37 on average, from 27 on Nov 6 to an hourly peak of 56 on Nov 9.
Where Malabo stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Malabo: Critically low
8.8% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 7.6 km² of land.
Trees in this area
16,726
Target trees
57,020
More trees needed
40,294
CO₂ if planted / yr
886.5 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Malabo lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Malabo has lost about 3,040 hectares of forest (about 4,300 football pitches): 19% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (84%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads.
2017: satellite photo from January 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 5 km south of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 3,040 haabout 4,300 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 19%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 2,540 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss is speeding up: about 98 hectares a year in 2021–2025, up from 57 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2010, when about 886 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 | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2002 | 268 ha | 18 ha | 286 ha |
| 2003 | 18 ha | 3 ha | 21 ha |
| 2004 | 4 ha | 6 ha | 10 ha |
| 2005 | 97 ha | 8 ha | 105 ha |
| 2006 | 51 ha | 7 ha | 58 ha |
| 2007 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2008 | 31 ha | 2 ha | 33 ha |
| 2009 | 134 ha | 12 ha | 146 ha |
| 2010 | 859 ha | 27 ha | 886 ha |
| 2011 | 137 ha | 6 ha | 143 ha |
| 2012 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2013 | 71 ha | 3 ha | 74 ha |
| 2014 | 332 ha | 157 ha | 489 ha |
| 2015 | 3 ha | 4 ha | 6 ha |
| 2016 | 62 ha | 5 ha | 67 ha |
| 2017 | 65 ha | 27 ha | 92 ha |
| 2018 | 19 ha | 15 ha | 34 ha |
| 2019 | 45 ha | 11 ha | 56 ha |
| 2020 | 27 ha | 8 ha | 36 ha |
| 2021 | 72 ha | 14 ha | 86 ha |
| 2022 | 9 ha | 15 ha | 24 ha |
| 2023 | 112 ha | 32 ha | 144 ha |
| 2024 | 83 ha | 85 ha | 167 ha |
| 2025 | 41 ha | 27 ha | 68 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Malabo?
- Towns and roadscleared for good58% · 1,760 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good26% · 787 ha
- Shifting farmingcan grow back13% · 403 ha
Also: logging, 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
- 15,600 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 12,200 ha
- Overall change
- −3,420 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Malabo shrank from about 15,600 hectares to 12,200 hectares, a net loss of about 3,420 hectares (−22%). New forest grew on about 7 hectares, but 3,420 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 Malabo
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Limbe55.7 km
Cameroon
- Tree cover
- 40%
- Air quality
- 54
- Buea67.6 km
Cameroon
- Tree cover
- 38%
- Air quality
- 54
- Douala107.4 km
Cameroon
- Tree cover
- 4%
- Air quality
- 72
- Kumba122.6 km
Cameroon
- Tree cover
- 27%
- Air quality
- 67
- Esuk Oron130.3 km
Nigeria
- Tree cover
- 43%
- Air quality
- 59
- Calabar143.0 km
Nigeria
- Tree cover
- 8%
- Air quality
- 58
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Frequently asked
Questions about Malabo
What is the air quality (AQI) in Malabo right now?
The latest reading for Malabo shows an AQI of 40 (Good), observed Nov 10, 16:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 4 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 Malabo today?
At AQI 40 (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 Malabo been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Malabo's daily AQI at 37 on average, from 27 on Nov 6 to an hourly peak of 56 on Nov 9. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Malabo lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Malabo has lost about 3,040 hectares of forest (about 4,300 football pitches): 19% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (84%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads. Forest loss is speeding up: about 98 hectares a year in 2021–2025, up from 57 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Malabo shrank from about 15,600 hectares to 12,200 hectares, a net loss of about 3,420 hectares (−22%). New forest grew on about 7 hectares, but 3,420 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Malabo?
Malabo has an estimated 16,726 trees across the 7.6 km² of land measured — 8.8% tree cover, 21 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Malabo need?
Malabo needs roughly 40,294 more trees to close a 21-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 886.5 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Malabo'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 Santa Isabel; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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