Malaysia · Penang · 5 cities
Air quality in Penang today The AQI right now, city by city
Right now, Paya Terubong has the cleanest air of the 5 cities we track in Penang (AQI 48, Good), and Bukit Mertajam the worst (AQI 56, Moderate). Paya Terubong has the most tree cover, at 79.0% — #2 of 56 cities measured in Malaysia.
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 52
Average right now
Moderate
- cities tracked
- 5
- average tree cover
- 48.8%
- Malaysia: 38.7%
- worst air now: Bukit Mertajam
- 56
- cleanest air now: Paya Terubong
- 48
Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous, and it reads differently from Malaysia's API (IPU). Measured by Airleaf, refreshed hourly.
Penang · average AQI 52
Air quality today across Penang, city by city
| Paya Terubong | 48Good | 79.0% | — | #2 of 56 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bukit Mertajam | 56Moderate | 42.3% | — | #23 of 56 |
| Tasek Glugor | 53Moderate | 58.0% | — | #8 of 56 |
| Bayan Lepas | 48Good | 44.1% | — | #20 of 56 |
| Butterworth | 54Moderate | 20.7% | 12.0K | #50 of 56 |
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 Malaysia.
Is this the same as Malaysia's API (IPU)?
No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. Malaysia's Department of Environment (Jabatan Alam Sekitar) publishes its own Air Pollutant Index, the API or Indeks Pencemar Udara (IPU), every hour for each of its monitoring stations on APIMS (apims.doe.gov.my). Both scales call 0–50 good and 51–100 moderate; above that the IPU runs 101–200 unhealthy, 201–300 very unhealthy and over 300 hazardous. The two use different breakpoints and averaging times, so the numbers for the same hour often differ. For the official IPU reading, check the nearest station on APIMS.
Malaysia's API (IPU) and the AQI, explainedDeforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Penang lost?
Since 2001, Penang has lost about 13,300 hectares of forest (about 19,000 football pitches): 29% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (98%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 13,300 haabout 19,000 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 29%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 13,100 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 | 135 ha | 5 ha | 140 ha |
| 2002 | 495 ha | 2 ha | 497 ha |
| 2003 | 185 ha | 1 ha | 186 ha |
| 2004 | 422 ha | 5 ha | 427 ha |
| 2005 | 511 ha | 6 ha | 517 ha |
| 2006 | 577 ha | 5 ha | 582 ha |
| 2007 | 310 ha | 3 ha | 313 ha |
| 2008 | 324 ha | 1 ha | 325 ha |
| 2009 | 689 ha | 5 ha | 694 ha |
| 2010 | 926 ha | 7 ha | 933 ha |
| 2011 | 592 ha | 5 ha | 597 ha |
| 2012 | 691 ha | 2 ha | 693 ha |
| 2013 | 375 ha | 3 ha | 378 ha |
| 2014 | 910 ha | 20 ha | 930 ha |
| 2015 | 517 ha | 14 ha | 531 ha |
| 2016 | 673 ha | 19 ha | 692 ha |
| 2017 | 667 ha | 30 ha | 697 ha |
| 2018 | 530 ha | 11 ha | 541 ha |
| 2019 | 495 ha | 14 ha | 509 ha |
| 2020 | 474 ha | 7 ha | 481 ha |
| 2021 | 510 ha | 5 ha | 515 ha |
| 2022 | 300 ha | 1 ha | 301 ha |
| 2023 | 913 ha | 5 ha | 918 ha |
| 2024 | 387 ha | 15 ha | 402 ha |
| 2025 | 471 ha | 22 ha | 493 ha |
Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 526 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 584 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2010, when about 933 hectares of forest were lost.
What is causing deforestation in Penang?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good55% · 7,370 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good36% · 4,830 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good6.6% · 883 ha
Also: shifting farming, logging, 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.
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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