Air quality in Georgia: where to check and what to do

Short answer. Check air.gov.ge, the National Environmental Agency's portal: each monitoring station is coloured by the current hour's index, from "good" to "very poor" ¹². Health advice for each level comes from the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC): at "very poor", people with heart or lung disease, children and older adults should avoid all physical activity outdoors ³. Phaenyx found no official air pollution alert system.

Where can I check air quality right now?

On the Air Quality Portal, air.gov.ge, run by the National Environmental Agency ¹. The map colours each automatic station by the air quality index for the monitoring hour; hourly data appear with a 10-minute delay and are not verified, while verified data go into the reports ². Automatic stations measure around the clock in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Telavi, Akhaltsikhe, Zugdidi and Mestia ⁴. Elsewhere, the agency samples some settlements four times a year with passive tubes, which says nothing about today's air ⁴.

What do the index levels mean?

Georgia publishes its own five-level scale, set pollutant by pollutant ². For fine particles (PM2.5, in µg/m³) ²:

The same scale covers PM10, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide ². The portal stresses that the colours show the current hour, not the annual average, "which is significantly different" ². See Air quality index explained.

How polluted is the air on average?

The population-weighted median of Georgian cities shows about 17 µg/m³ of PM2.5 (annual mean 2021-2023) ⁶, more than three times the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³ ⁸. Nitrogen dioxide is about 5.9 µg/m³ ⁷, below the WHO guideline of 10 µg/m³ ⁸. That NO2 figure is a regional background over roughly 80 km: a busy street will be higher.

What should I do on a bad air day, or with smoke or dust?

The NCDC advice for particles, as published on the portal ³:

• Fair: unusually sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy exertion.
• Moderate: people with heart or lung disease, children and older adults should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.
• Poor: those groups should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion; everyone else should reduce it.
• Very poor: those groups should avoid all physical activity outdoors; everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.

The portal also names seniors, young children, pregnant women and people with chronic heart and lung disease as high-risk groups ⁹. See Sensitive people and polluted air and Children and polluted air.

Dust: the agency has reported particle levels rising throughout Georgia because of dust carried from the Sahara, the Arabian Peninsula and Central Asian deserts, for example in November and December 2019 ⁵. See Dust storms.

Smoke: Phaenyx found no official Georgian guidance on wildfire smoke. See Wildfire smoke, A clean-air room at home and Masks for smoke. How warnings reach you is on our Georgia alerts page.

A household plan can note who at home is sensitive to polluted air and where to stay on bad days.

Frequently asked questions

Does Georgia have its own air quality index?

Yes. The National Environmental Agency uses a five-level index, from good to very poor, with published thresholds for six pollutants ².

Is the air quality data official?

Yes, but the hourly values on the map are not verified; verified data are published in the agency's reports ².

Does Georgia send air pollution alerts?

No: Phaenyx found no official air pollution alert system. Check the portal on hazy or dusty days ¹.

Who should be most careful?

People with heart or lung disease, children and older adults ³; the portal also lists pregnant women ⁹.