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

Short answer. Peru's official air quality index, the INCA, set by the environment ministry in 2016, has four colour bands: good (0-50), moderate (51-100), poor (101 up to the alert threshold) and red, above it, when the health authority may declare national alert levels ¹. SENAMHI publishes air quality monitoring and a forecast for Metropolitan Lima ². On a "poor" day, avoid exercise and outdoor activities ¹.

Where can I check air quality right now?

SENAMHI, the national weather service, runs an air quality page for Metropolitan Lima with monitoring, forecast ("pronóstico") and FAQ tabs ². On 27 October 2026 the page announced that its monitoring network was under preventive maintenance ². Phaenyx found no national real-time air quality page covering cities outside Lima.

What do the index levels mean?

Ministerial Resolution 181-2016-MINAM sets the INCA. Values from 0 to 100 mean the national air quality standards (ECA) are met ¹:

For fine particles (PM2.5, 24-hour average), the bands are 0-12.5, 12.6-25, 25.1-125 and above 125 µg/m³ ¹. The resolution defines sensitive people as children under 5, adults over 65, pregnant women, and people with chronic respiratory diseases (asthma, allergic rhinitis, obstructive lung disease) or heart disease ¹.

The INCA is the official national index. SENAMHI's air quality page, a regional site covering only Metropolitan Lima, shows a different six-step scale based on the US EPA method, from "buena" (0-50) to "muy insalubre" (201-300), with advice for each step ². Check which scale a figure uses before comparing. See Air quality index explained.

How polluted is the air on average?

The population-weighted median of Peruvian cities shows about 18 µg/m³ of PM2.5 (annual mean 2021-2023) ³, more than three times the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³ ⁵. Nitrogen dioxide is about 3.4 µg/m³ ⁴, below the WHO guideline of 10 µg/m³ ⁵. 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?

At "poor" (orange), the official advice is to keep an eye on air quality reports and avoid exercise and outdoor activities ¹. At red, the pollutant can affect anyone's health and seriously affect sensitive people ¹. On the EPA-based scale of SENAMHI's Lima page (a regional site, not the official INCA), from "insalubre para grupos sensibles" (101-150), sensitive groups should cut prolonged or intense effort, and people with asthma should follow their action plan and keep quick-relief medicine at hand ².

Phaenyx found no national official guidance specific to wildfire smoke or dust. See Wildfire smoke, A clean-air room at home, Masks for smoke, Pollution episodes, Sensitive people and polluted air and Children and polluted air. A household plan can note who at home is sensitive to polluted air.

Frequently asked questions

What is a "good" INCA value in Peru?

0 to 50, shown in green ¹.

Who declares an air pollution alert in Peru?

The health authority, once the index goes above the alert threshold (VUEC) ¹.

Can I see live air quality outside Lima?

Only for Lima: SENAMHI's page covers Metropolitan Lima ², and no national real-time page for other cities was found.

Who counts as sensitive?

Children under 5, adults over 65, pregnant women, and people with chronic respiratory or heart disease ¹.