Air quality
Air quality in Sofia today
Updated
Moderate (US AQI 59) Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Sun, Oct 25, 10:18 pm (20:18 UTC).
Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Sofia, Sofia-Capital, Bulgaria, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.
- US AQI now
- 59 Moderate
- PM2.5
- 23 µg/m³ 1.5× WHO 24-h guideline
- PM10
- 26 µg/m³
- Ozone
- 44 µg/m³
Air quality in Sofia right now
Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Sofia, Sofia-Capital, Bulgaria is 59, which falls in the "Moderate" band (up to 100). Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors.
PM2.5 is 23 µg/m³, 1.5 times the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 26 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 44 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 8.4 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).
NASA FIRMS shows 104 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 69 km), but particle levels are not elevated enough to point to smoke right now.
Sofia vs the rest of Bulgaria
Across 4 Bulgaria cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 53 (Moderate). Sofia at 59 is 6 points worse than average.
It ranks 3 of 4 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is Varna (35) and the most polluted Plovdiv (63).
For context, the median across 3,556 cities worldwide is 58.
Air quality in cities near Sofia
| City | Distance | US AQI | Category | PM2.5 µg/m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montana | 80 km | 54 | Moderate | 17.4 |
| Plovdiv | 132 km | 63 | Moderate | 22.4 |
| Skopje | 174 km | 73 | Moderate | 21.8 |
| Pristina | 176 km | 64 | Moderate | 28.4 |
| Dráma | 185 km | 43 | Good | 8.8 |
| Alexandria, Teleorman County | 216 km | 52 | Moderate | 9.6 |
| Xánthi | 217 km | 37 | Good | 7 |
| Thessaloníki | 231 km | 46 | Good | 11.1 |
Model vs measured
The nearest measured PM2.5 reading is 11 µg/m³ from Sensor.Community (median of 345 sensors), centred about 5 km from the city centre. That is 12 µg/m³ below the model estimate of 23 µg/m³. Low-cost sensors can read high in humid air; reference monitors are more accurate but sparser.
Advice for sensitive groups
At 59, most people are fine outdoors. If you are unusually sensitive to air pollution, keep long or intense workouts to the cleaner hours shown above.
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. |
Values on this page are modelled by CAMS (Copernicus) and served by Open-Meteo; they are estimates for the area around the city centre, not readings from an official monitor.
Nearby cities
More for Sofia
Air quality elsewhere
Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Sensor.Community, NASA FIRMS.