City report · Uttar Pradesh, India
Meerut Air quality today
Air quality in Meerut currently reads AQI 220 (Very unhealthy): Health alert — everyone should avoid long outdoor exertion.
Air quality right now
AQI 220
Very unhealthy
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 145.0
- tree cover
- 16.8%
- trees in this area
- 52.7K
- more trees needed
- 88.5K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Shohrab Gate, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh 250002, India (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Oct 25, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Meerut · AQI 220 (Very unhealthy)
Meerut's tree count comes to 52,726 trees across 12.56 km² of land, 28 points below the 45% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 88,504 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Meerut today: AQI 220, Very unhealthy
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 21:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Pallavpuram Phase 2, Meerut - UPPCB, 9.3 km away · median of 2 stations
Health signal
Health alert — everyone should avoid long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
145.0
PM10
277.5
NO₂
121.6
O₃
29.4
SO₂
44.9
CO
1.8
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 Meerut's daily AQI at 190 on average, from 169 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 248 on Nov 5.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from India's AQI (CPCB) · The full guide
Where Meerut stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Meerut: Critically low
16.8% tree cover against a 45% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.56 km² of land.
Trees in this area
52,726
Target trees
141,230
More trees needed
88,504
CO₂ if planted / yr
1,947 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Meerut lost?
There was very little forest around Meerut in 2000, about 5 hectares, and about 3 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 March 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 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 | under 1 ha | under 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 Meerut?
- Towns and roadscleared for good29% · under 1 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good18% · under 1 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown54% · 2 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
- 423 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 503 ha
- Overall change
- +80 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Meerut grew from about 423 hectares to 503 hectares, a net gain of about 80 hectares (+19%). New forest grew on about 106 hectares, while 26 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 Meerut
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Modīnagar21.1 km
India
- Tree cover
- 19%
- Air quality
- 185
- Hāpur28.7 km
India
- Tree cover
- 9%
- Air quality
- 185
- Ghāziābād43.6 km
India
- Tree cover
- 18%
- Air quality
- 263
- Loni47.8 km
India
- Tree cover
- 7%
- Air quality
- 262
- Muzaffarnagar54.6 km
India
- Tree cover
- 12%
- Air quality
- 176
- Greater Noida56.3 km
India
- Tree cover
- 18%
- Air quality
- 184
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Frequently asked
Questions about Meerut
What is the air quality (AQI) in Meerut right now?
The latest reading for Meerut shows an AQI of 220 (Very unhealthy), measured Nov 11, 21:00 local time by 2 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Pallavpuram Phase 2, Meerut - UPPCB, 9.3 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Health alert — everyone should avoid long outdoor exertion.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Meerut today?
At AQI 220 (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 Meerut been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Meerut's daily AQI at 190 on average, from 169 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 248 on Nov 5. On 7 of those days the average was above 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Meerut'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 Meerut lost since 2001?
There was very little forest around Meerut in 2000, about 5 hectares, and about 3 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 Meerut grew from about 423 hectares to 503 hectares, a net gain of about 80 hectares (+19%). New forest grew on about 106 hectares, while 26 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Meerut?
Meerut has an estimated 52,726 trees across the 12.56 km² of land measured — 16.8% tree cover, 28 percentage points short of the 45% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Meerut need?
Meerut needs roughly 88,504 more trees to close a 28-point shortfall against its 45% tree-cover target — about 1,947 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Meerut's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Shohrab Gate, 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 Shohrab Gate; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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