China’s Most Polluted Cities of 2013

Greenpeace China released the summary of its 2013 survey of Chinese air quality, and the results are clear: The air isn’t.

Of the 74 cities in the report, none of them met the World Health Organization’s recommendations for particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5). Only five met the Chinese government’s less stringent standards for PM2.5 levels. In 2012, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection established an annual standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter for PM2.5. The WHO recommends a maximum of 10 micrograms per cubic meter, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard is 12. By any measure, China’s air is excessively polluted.

The worst polluted province is Hebei. Seven of its cities measured over 3 times the Chinese standard for PM2.5, and all six of the worst polluted cities are in Hebei. The worst city of all was Xingtai in southern Hebei. It averaged 155.2 micrograms per cubic meter.

Beijing, often the focus of media attention, finished 13th, with an average of 90.1, behind Xi’an and Tianjin among big cities, and just ahead of Wuhan and Chengdu.

Overall, northern China is much more polluted than southern China. Each of the top 13 most polluted cities were north of the Huai River, a traditional dividing line located in Henan.

Southern coastal cities are the least polluted. Each of Guangdong’s cities ranked among the 20 least polluted cities, and six of the nine average less than 50 micrograms per cubic meter. Both of Fuzhou’s cities, Fujian and Xiamen, met China’s standards, averaging 33.2 and 31.3 respectively. Finally, Haikou, on the paradise island of Hainan, south of Guangdong, was the least polluted of all, averaging 25.6 micrograms per cubic meter.

The 74 cities were chosen because they are among the first to implement new air quality standards put in place by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The top 20 worst polluted cities are as follows:

Other notable cities:

The 10 least polluted cities:

View Greenpeace’s full report (in Chinese) here.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article mislabeled Xi’an as being a part of Shanxi province. Xi’an is actually a part of Shaanxi province.