City report · Nicaragua
Matagalpa Air quality today
Air quality in Matagalpa currently reads AQI 34 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 34
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 7.6
- tree cover
- 41.7%
- trees in this area
- 131K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Matagalpa, Nicaragua (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of May 12, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Matagalpa · AQI 34 (Good)
Matagalpa's tree count comes to 131,004 trees across 12.57 km², already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Matagalpa today: AQI 34, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 18:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 125 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 2 station cities within 125 km, e.g. Managua and Masaya
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
7.6
PM10
4.7
NO₂
6.9
O₃
25.0
SO₂
0.7
CO
134.0
- 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 Matagalpa's daily AQI at 25 on average, from 14 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 53 on Nov 4.
Where Matagalpa stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Matagalpa: Healthy tree cover
41.7% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
131,004
Target trees
131,004
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Matagalpa lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Matagalpa has lost about 838 hectares of forest (about 1,200 football pitches): 4% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (94%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from February 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km north of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 838 haabout 1,200 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 4%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 791 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 56 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 48 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2023, when about 134 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 | 18 ha | under 1 ha | 19 ha |
| 2002 | 13 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2003 | 18 ha | 2 ha | 20 ha |
| 2004 | 6 ha | under 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2005 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2006 | 17 ha | under 1 ha | 17 ha |
| 2007 | 47 ha | 1 ha | 49 ha |
| 2008 | 25 ha | under 1 ha | 26 ha |
| 2009 | 15 ha | under 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2010 | 46 ha | 2 ha | 48 ha |
| 2011 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2012 | 40 ha | 2 ha | 42 ha |
| 2013 | 22 ha | 2 ha | 24 ha |
| 2014 | 11 ha | under 1 ha | 11 ha |
| 2015 | 10 ha | 1 ha | 11 ha |
| 2016 | 39 ha | under 1 ha | 39 ha |
| 2017 | 76 ha | 2 ha | 79 ha |
| 2018 | 29 ha | 1 ha | 30 ha |
| 2019 | 22 ha | 1 ha | 23 ha |
| 2020 | 66 ha | 2 ha | 68 ha |
| 2021 | 35 ha | 5 ha | 40 ha |
| 2022 | 49 ha | 3 ha | 52 ha |
| 2023 | 119 ha | 15 ha | 134 ha |
| 2024 | 21 ha | under 1 ha | 21 ha |
| 2025 | 30 ha | 2 ha | 32 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Matagalpa?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good94% · 789 ha
- Shifting farmingcan grow back3.8% · 32 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown1.9% · 16 ha
Also: towns and roads.
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
- 24,600 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 24,700 ha
- Overall change
- +78 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Matagalpa stayed about the same size, at about 24,700 hectares: new forest grew on about 316 hectares, and about 238 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 Matagalpa
What is the air quality (AQI) in Matagalpa right now?
The latest reading for Matagalpa shows an AQI of 34 (Good), observed Nov 10, 18:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 125 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Matagalpa today?
At AQI 34 (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 Matagalpa been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Matagalpa's daily AQI at 25 on average, from 14 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 53 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 Matagalpa lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Matagalpa has lost about 838 hectares of forest (about 1,200 football pitches): 4% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (94%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 56 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 48 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Matagalpa stayed about the same size, at about 24,700 hectares: new forest grew on about 316 hectares, and about 238 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Matagalpa?
Matagalpa has an estimated 131,004 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 41.7% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Matagalpa need?
Matagalpa has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Matagalpa'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 Matagalpa; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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