Air quality by country
Air quality in Zambia today
Updated
Moderate: average US AQI 56 across 6 cities Worst now: Solwezi (66); cleanest: Chipata (42).
Live US AQI, PM2.5 and ozone for cities across Zambia, ranked from most polluted to cleanest.
- Average US AQI
- 56 Moderate
- Most polluted now
- Solwezi AQI 66
- Cleanest now
- Chipata AQI 42
- Cities above 100
- 0 unhealthy for sensitive groups or worse
Air quality in Zambia today
Right now the modelled air quality in Zambia averages a US AQI of 56 (Moderate) across the 6 cities we track. By category: 1 Good, 5 Moderate (of 6).
That is 10 points better than the worldwide average of 66 across 3,556 cities.
Solwezi has the worst air at 66 with PM2.5 at 14 µg/m³, while Chipata is cleanest at 42. No tracked city is above 100, the level where sensitive groups are advised to cut back outdoors.
Zambia cities by AQI (most polluted first)
| City | Region | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ | Ozone µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solwezi | North-Western | 66 | Moderate | 14.2 | 87 |
| Lusaka | Lusaka Province | 61 | Moderate | 10.7 | 83 |
| Kabwe | Central Province | 58 | Moderate | 10.1 | 78 |
| Kitwe | Copperbelt | 55 | Moderate | 15.5 | 90 |
| Ndola | Copperbelt | 54 | Moderate | 13.6 | 86 |
| Chipata | Eastern Province | 42 | Good | 9.2 | 54 |
What the US AQI numbers mean
| US AQI | Category | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 0-50 | Good | Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity. |
| 51-100 | Moderate | Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. |
| 101-150 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors. |
| 151-200 | Unhealthy | Everyone should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors; sensitive groups should avoid it and keep windows closed. |
| 201-300 | Very Unhealthy | Health alert: everyone should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors, and sensitive groups should stay indoors. |
| 301-500 | Hazardous | Emergency conditions: everyone should avoid all outdoor physical activity and stay indoors with filtered air if possible. The scale tops out at 500; heavier dust or smoke is shown as 500. |
Modelled by CAMS (Copernicus) via Open-Meteo, refreshed twice a day; read hour by hour from the forecast.
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Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).