City report · Laos
Pakse Air quality today
Air quality in Pakse currently reads AQI 16 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 16
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 2.9
- tree cover
- 22.7%
- trees in this area
- 46.6K
- more trees needed
- 15.0K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Pakse, Laos (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Jun 23, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Pakse · AQI 16 (Good)
Pakse's tree count comes to 46,568 trees across 8.21 km² of land, 7 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 14,976 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Pakse today: AQI 16, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 22:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Saphai Secondary School - Sanasomboun, Champasack ມັດທະຍົມ ສະຜ່າຍ, 12.4 km away · median of 2 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
2.9
PM10
—
NO₂
—
O₃
—
SO₂
—
CO
—
Data: OpenAQ · AirGradient, UNICEF
- 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 Pakse's daily AQI at 28 on average, from 10 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 61 on Nov 6.
Where Pakse stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Pakse: Below target
22.7% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 8.21 km² of land.
Trees in this area
46,568
Target trees
61,544
More trees needed
14,976
CO₂ if planted / yr
329.5 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Pakse lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Pakse has lost about 497 hectares of forest (about 700 football pitches): 9.9% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (99%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from January 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northeast of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 497 haabout 700 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 9.9%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 490 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2008, when about 64 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 | 8 ha | 1 ha | 9 ha |
| 2003 | 10 ha | under 1 ha | 10 ha |
| 2004 | 8 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2005 | 11 ha | under 1 ha | 11 ha |
| 2006 | 52 ha | under 1 ha | 52 ha |
| 2007 | 62 ha | under 1 ha | 62 ha |
| 2008 | 64 ha | under 1 ha | 64 ha |
| 2009 | 43 ha | under 1 ha | 44 ha |
| 2010 | 13 ha | under 1 ha | 13 ha |
| 2011 | 11 ha | under 1 ha | 11 ha |
| 2012 | 4 ha | under 1 ha | 4 ha |
| 2013 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 6 ha |
| 2014 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 6 ha |
| 2015 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2016 | 17 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2017 | 13 ha | under 1 ha | 13 ha |
| 2018 | 31 ha | under 1 ha | 31 ha |
| 2019 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2020 | 9 ha | under 1 ha | 9 ha |
| 2021 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2022 | 34 ha | under 1 ha | 34 ha |
| 2023 | 32 ha | under 1 ha | 32 ha |
| 2024 | 30 ha | under 1 ha | 30 ha |
| 2025 | 11 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Pakse?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good94% · 469 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good2.7% · 13 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good1.4% · 7 ha
Also: 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
- 8,190 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 7,910 ha
- Overall change
- −279 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Pakse shrank from about 8,190 hectares to 7,910 hectares, a net loss of about 279 hectares (−3.4%). New forest grew on about 270 hectares, but 549 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 Pakse
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Ubon Ratchathani102.8 km
Thailand
- Tree cover
- 30%
- Air quality
- 39
- Phong Điền233.5 km
Vietnam
- Tree cover
- 54%
- Air quality
- 25
- Ðông Hà234.4 km
Vietnam
- Tree cover
- 31%
- Air quality
- 23
- Huế243.3 km
Vietnam
- Tree cover
- 21%
- Air quality
- 33
- Kon Tum252.3 km
Vietnam
- Tree cover
- 17%
- Air quality
- 7
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Frequently asked
Questions about Pakse
What is the air quality (AQI) in Pakse right now?
The latest reading for Pakse shows an AQI of 16 (Good), measured Nov 11, 22:00 local time by 2 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Saphai Secondary School - Sanasomboun, Champasack ມັດທະຍົມ ສະຜ່າຍ, 12.4 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Pakse today?
At AQI 16 (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 Pakse been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Pakse's daily AQI at 28 on average, from 10 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 61 on Nov 6. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Pakse lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Pakse has lost about 497 hectares of forest (about 700 football pitches): 9.9% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (99%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Pakse shrank from about 8,190 hectares to 7,910 hectares, a net loss of about 279 hectares (−3.4%). New forest grew on about 270 hectares, but 549 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Pakse?
Pakse has an estimated 46,568 trees across the 8.21 km² of land measured — 22.7% tree cover, 7 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Pakse need?
Pakse needs roughly 14,976 more trees to close a 7-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 329.5 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Pakse's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Pakse, 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 Pakse; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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