City report · Cuba
Santiago de Cuba Air quality today
Air quality in Santiago de Cuba currently reads AQI 18 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 18
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 3.0
- tree cover
- 20.6%
- trees in this area
- 62.6K
- more trees needed
- 28.6K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Santiago de Cuba, Cuba (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 12, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Santiago de Cuba · AQI 18 (Good)
Santiago de Cuba's tree count comes to 62,646 trees across 12.17 km² of land, 9 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 28,586 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Santiago de Cuba today: AQI 18, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 15:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Model estimate · no ground station nearby
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
3.0
PM10
3.9
NO₂
0.9
O₃
73.0
SO₂
4.9
CO
115.0
- 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 Santiago de Cuba's daily AQI at 28 on average, from 20 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 42 on Nov 6.
Where Santiago de Cuba stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Santiago de Cuba: Below target
20.6% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.17 km² of land.
Trees in this area
62,646
Target trees
91,232
More trees needed
28,586
CO₂ if planted / yr
628.9 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Santiago de Cuba lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Santiago de Cuba has lost about 1,080 hectares of forest (about 1,500 football pitches): 7.6% 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 March 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 6 km southeast of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 1,080 haabout 1,500 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 7.6%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 1,010 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss is speeding up: about 63 hectares a year in 2021–2025, up from 33 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2025, when about 206 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 | 173 ha | 2 ha | 175 ha |
| 2002 | 10 ha | under 1 ha | 10 ha |
| 2003 | 65 ha | under 1 ha | 65 ha |
| 2004 | 39 ha | 3 ha | 42 ha |
| 2005 | 8 ha | 8 ha | 16 ha |
| 2006 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2007 | 15 ha | under 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2008 | 11 ha | under 1 ha | 11 ha |
| 2009 | 38 ha | 1 ha | 40 ha |
| 2010 | 6 ha | under 1 ha | 6 ha |
| 2011 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2012 | 76 ha | 4 ha | 80 ha |
| 2013 | 60 ha | 3 ha | 63 ha |
| 2014 | 17 ha | under 1 ha | 17 ha |
| 2015 | 25 ha | 7 ha | 32 ha |
| 2016 | 10 ha | under 1 ha | 10 ha |
| 2017 | 57 ha | 1 ha | 58 ha |
| 2018 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 6 ha |
| 2019 | 67 ha | under 1 ha | 67 ha |
| 2020 | 23 ha | under 1 ha | 24 ha |
| 2021 | 51 ha | 5 ha | 55 ha |
| 2022 | 12 ha | 2 ha | 14 ha |
| 2023 | 20 ha | under 1 ha | 20 ha |
| 2024 | 19 ha | under 1 ha | 19 ha |
| 2025 | 179 ha | 27 ha | 206 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Santiago de Cuba?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good74% · 797 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good13% · 145 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good6.5% · 70 ha
Also: storms, floods and other natural causes, logging, 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
- 13,100 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 12,900 ha
- Overall change
- −256 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Santiago de Cuba stayed about the same size, at about 12,900 hectares: new forest grew on about 200 hectares, and about 456 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 Santiago de Cuba
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Palma Soriano27.7 km
Cuba
- Tree cover
- 56%
- Air quality
- 14
- Bayamo94.1 km
Cuba
- Tree cover
- 47%
- Air quality
- 14
- Manzanillo140.0 km
Cuba
- Tree cover
- 52%
- Air quality
- 14
- Las Tunas157.3 km
Cuba
- Tree cover
- 40%
- Air quality
- 8
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Frequently asked
Questions about Santiago de Cuba
What is the air quality (AQI) in Santiago de Cuba right now?
The latest reading for Santiago de Cuba shows an AQI of 18 (Good), observed Nov 10, 15:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Santiago de Cuba today?
At AQI 18 (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 Santiago de Cuba been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Santiago de Cuba's daily AQI at 28 on average, from 20 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 42 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 Santiago de Cuba lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Santiago de Cuba has lost about 1,080 hectares of forest (about 1,500 football pitches): 7.6% 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 is speeding up: about 63 hectares a year in 2021–2025, up from 33 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Santiago de Cuba stayed about the same size, at about 12,900 hectares: new forest grew on about 200 hectares, and about 456 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Santiago de Cuba?
Santiago de Cuba has an estimated 62,646 trees across the 12.17 km² of land measured — 20.6% tree cover, 9 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Santiago de Cuba need?
Santiago de Cuba needs roughly 28,586 more trees to close a 9-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 628.9 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Santiago de Cuba'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 Santiago de Cuba; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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