India · Kerala · 10 cities
Air quality in Kerala today The AQI right now, city by city
Right now, Kollam has the cleanest air of the 10 cities we track in Kerala (AQI 64, Moderate), and Malappuram the worst (AQI 173, Unhealthy). Malappuram has the most tree cover, at 82.8% — #2 of 470 cities measured in India.
Every city is measured the same way, over the same 2 km around its center: the air quality right now, from ground stations where there are any, and its tree cover.
AQI 96
Average right now
Moderate
- cities tracked
- 10
- average tree cover
- 53.9%
- India: 27.3%
- worst air now: Malappuram
- 173
- cleanest air now: Kollam
- 64
Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous, and it reads differently from India's AQI (CPCB). Measured by Airleaf, refreshed hourly.
Kerala · average AQI 96
Air quality today across Kerala, city by city
| Kanayannur | 91Moderate | 27.5% | 4.2K | #176 of 470 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thiruvananthapuram | 92Moderate | 33.5% | — | #115 of 470 |
| Kozhikode | 76Moderate | 42.1% | — | #62 of 470 |
| Kollam | 64Moderate | 39.0% | — | #82 of 470 |
| Thrissur | 92Moderate | 53.0% | — | #36 of 470 |
| Alappuzha | 85Moderate | 54.3% | — | #32 of 470 |
| Palakkad | 110Unhealthy for sensitive groups | 47.6% | — | #46 of 470 |
| Kanhangad | 99Moderate | 76.2% | — | #9 of 470 |
| Ponnāni | 79Moderate | 82.6% | — | #4 of 470 |
| Malappuram | 173Unhealthy | 82.8% | — | #2 of 470 |
Air quality is the US AQI from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where available, otherwise the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, refreshed hourly. Tree cover is measured within 2 km of each city center from Sentinel-2 imagery; the rank compares every city measured in India.
Is this 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.
India's AQI (CPCB) and the AQI, explainedDeforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Kerala lost?
Since 2001, Kerala has lost about 118,000 hectares of forest (about 170,000 football pitches): 4.5% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (87%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 118,000 haabout 170,000 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 4.5%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 103,000 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 508 ha | 243 ha | 751 ha |
| 2002 | 737 ha | 309 ha | 1,050 ha |
| 2003 | 1,240 ha | 570 ha | 1,810 ha |
| 2004 | 1,160 ha | 434 ha | 1,590 ha |
| 2005 | 1,090 ha | 367 ha | 1,460 ha |
| 2006 | 1,420 ha | 508 ha | 1,930 ha |
| 2007 | 3,470 ha | 837 ha | 4,310 ha |
| 2008 | 2,530 ha | 524 ha | 3,050 ha |
| 2009 | 857 ha | 151 ha | 1,010 ha |
| 2010 | 187 ha | 17 ha | 204 ha |
| 2011 | 4,210 ha | 706 ha | 4,910 ha |
| 2012 | 2,960 ha | 842 ha | 3,800 ha |
| 2013 | 2,080 ha | 791 ha | 2,870 ha |
| 2014 | 2,740 ha | 1,100 ha | 3,850 ha |
| 2015 | 1,850 ha | 911 ha | 2,760 ha |
| 2016 | 6,300 ha | 951 ha | 7,250 ha |
| 2017 | 8,830 ha | 978 ha | 9,810 ha |
| 2018 | 5,720 ha | 586 ha | 6,310 ha |
| 2019 | 6,680 ha | 798 ha | 7,480 ha |
| 2020 | 6,430 ha | 450 ha | 6,880 ha |
| 2021 | 4,990 ha | 391 ha | 5,380 ha |
| 2022 | 6,010 ha | 510 ha | 6,520 ha |
| 2023 | 11,700 ha | 674 ha | 12,300 ha |
| 2024 | 9,690 ha | 580 ha | 10,300 ha |
| 2025 | 9,310 ha | 920 ha | 10,200 ha |
Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 8,950 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 7,550 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2023, when about 12,300 hectares of forest were lost.
What is causing deforestation in Kerala?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good80% · 93,900 ha
- Loggingcan grow back8.5% · 10,100 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good7.3% · 8,650 ha
Also: shifting farming, storms, floods and other natural causes, mining and energy, wildfires, unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
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. How it's measured
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