Air quality in New Zealand: where to check and what to do

Short answer. In New Zealand, outdoor air is monitored by regional councils and unitary authorities, and Land, Air, Water Aotearoa (LAWA) presents their results region by region ¹². Phaenyx found no national air quality index scale. If you can see or smell smoke, Health New Zealand advises staying indoors with windows and doors shut, if it is safe to stay, and following emergency services ⁵.

Where can I check air quality right now?

• LAWA: results from about 150 active and historical monitoring sites in 16 regions, including PM10 and PM2.5 for "yesterday" ². The most recent data may not yet be validated by councils, and many sites sit in areas known or suspected to have poor air, so they are not representative of the whole country ².
• Your regional council: in Canterbury, for example, the regional council, Environment Canterbury, monitors air quality, publishes air quality data and takes reports of air quality incidents such as excessive chimney smoke ³. Its open data portal has an Air collection, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 unless stated otherwise ⁴.

For emergency warnings, see our New Zealand alerts page.

What do the index levels mean?

Phaenyx found no official national air quality index scale for New Zealand. LAWA compares data with New Zealand's National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NES-AQ) and the WHO 2021 air quality guidelines ². The WHO guidelines are not standards or legally binding criteria in New Zealand ¹. For how air quality scales generally work, see Air quality index explained.

How polluted is the air on average?

The population-weighted median of New Zealand cities shows about 6 µg/m³ of PM2.5 (annual mean 2021-2023) ⁷, slightly above the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³ ⁹. Nitrogen dioxide is about 1.7 µg/m³ ⁸, well below the WHO guideline of 10 µg/m³ ⁹. That NO2 figure is a regional background over roughly 80 km: a busy street will be higher. These are city medians, not the value in your street.

Health New Zealand cites the HAPINZ 3.0 study: in 2016, human-made air pollution caused the premature deaths of more than 3,300 people aged 30 or older, about 2,000 linked to NO2, mainly from vehicles, and 1,300 to PM2.5, largely from domestic fires ¹.

What should I do during smoke or volcanic ash?

Smoke. If you can see or smell smoke or have received an emergency alert, Health New Zealand advises ⁵: follow emergency services and leave if told to; if it is safe to stay, remain indoors with windows and doors shut; turn off air conditioning or switch it to recirculate; seal windows and doors with blankets and towels; avoid frying, candles and wood burners; disconnect a downpipe that feeds a water tank if ash or fire retardant could reach it; reduce outdoor exercise. Older or pregnant people, young children and people with asthma or heart disease are at particular risk ⁵. With shortness of breath, wheezing or chest pain, see your healthcare provider immediately or call 111; Healthline is free on 0800 611 116 ⁵.

Volcanic ash. Alerts for volcanoes are on the GeoNet website ⁶. Everyone should try to reduce exposure by staying indoors; N95 and P2 masks protect against ash and tiny particles but not against gases ⁶.

See Wildfire smoke, Masks for smoke, Volcanic ash, A clean-air room at home, Sensitive people and polluted air and Children and polluted air. A household plan can note who at home is sensitive and which room you would seal first.

Frequently asked questions

Does New Zealand have a national air quality index?

Phaenyx found none; regional councils monitor outdoor air and LAWA presents the results by region ¹².

Who is most at risk from polluted air?

Health New Zealand lists older people, tamariki, people with heart or lung disease or asthma, diabetics and pregnant women ¹.

Where can I download air data?

Environment Canterbury publishes its data on its open data portal under CC BY 4.0 ⁴.

Sources

1. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora — Air quality — https://www.healthnz.govt.nz/health-topics/keeping-healthy/healthy-homes-environments/air-quality (accessed 2026-10-27)
2. Land, Air, Water Aotearoa (LAWA) — Air Quality (Wayback Machine copy of 2026-04-18) — https://web.archive.org/web/20260418104848/https://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/air-quality (accessed 2026-10-27)
3. Environment Canterbury (Canterbury Regional Council) — Air quality (Wayback Machine copy of 2026-10-11) — https://web.archive.org/web/20261011121440/https://www.ecan.govt.nz/your-region/your-environment/air-quality (accessed 2026-10-27)
4. Environment Canterbury (Canterbury Regional Council) — Environment Canterbury Open Data Portal — https://data.ecan.govt.nz/ (accessed 2026-10-27)
5. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora — Fires, smoke and health — https://www.healthnz.govt.nz/health-topics/keeping-healthy/healthy-homes-environments/hazardous-substances/fires-smoke (accessed 2026-10-27)
6. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora — Volcanic emissions and health — https://www.healthnz.govt.nz/health-topics/keeping-healthy/healthy-homes-environments/protecting-health-natural-disaster/keeping-safe-from-volcanic-ash (accessed 2026-10-27)
7. Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group (ACAG), Washington University in St. Louis — Surface PM2.5, V6.GL.02.04 (annual mean 2021-2023) — https://sites.wustl.edu/acag/datasets/surface-pm2-5/ (accessed 2026-10-27)
8. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) — CAMS global reanalysis (EAC4) — https://ads.atmosphere.copernicus.eu/ (accessed 2026-10-27)
9. WHO — WHO global air quality guidelines (2021) — https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240034228 (accessed 2026-10-27)