2023 Annual Air Quality Index Statistics by Sector

Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs

This content is intended for the public covered by the exceptions of the Charter of the French language and its regulations. If you read on, you confirm that you fall within one of these exceptions.

2023 Annual Air Quality Index Statistics by Sector

Air quality varied greatly among the 17 urban sectors for which the AQI was calculated. In 2023, the percentage of days when air quality was rated “Poor*” ranged from 3.6% (Lévis – Parc Georges-Maranda sector) to 26.3% (Rouyn-Noranda - Downtown sector).

Overall, the average percentage of days when the air quality was rated “Good” was 45.6%, while it was rated “Acceptable” 45.7% of the time and “Poor” 8.7% of the time. Compared to the previous year, results in the “Acceptable” and “Poor” categories rose by 3% and 5% respectively, while the figure for the “Good” category fell by 7%.

The forest fires in summer 2023 (French) are responsible for this decline in air quality.

It should be noted that, unlike regional statistics, which are mainly based on homogeneous measurements of fine particulate matter and ozone, sector statistics may take into account contaminants from a local source that is not detected on a regional level. As a result, the value of the AQI in a sector may differ from that of the region in which the sector is located.

Local sources of air emissions that affect a given sector’s AQI vary from one location to the next.

*Occurs when the concentration of at least one of the contaminants considered when calculating the AQI exceeds its hourly reference value.