China's air quality was markedly worse in the first two months of this year compared to the same period in 2016, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Friday.
Data collected from 338 cities in the first two months of the year showed that concentrations of small breathable particles known as PM2.5, a key component of smog, rose 12.7 percent year-on-year to 71 micrograms per cubic meter, the ministry said.
China's cities need to bring PM2.5 readings down to 35 micrograms per cubic meter in order to meet state air quality standards.
VCG Photo
Ministry data also showed that average PM2.5 readings in the capital Beijing in January and February reached 95 micrograms per cubic meter, up 69.6 percent from the same period last year.
Readings in the pollution-prone Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as a whole hit an average of 111 micrograms, up 48 percent compared to the first two months of 2016.
Of the top 10 smoggiest cities, six were in Hebei Province in the first two months of the year, with the provincial capital Shijiazhuang ranking the worst, the data showed.
Hebei surrounds Beijing, and it said on Thursday that it would plant trees, establish green belts and make use of rivers and wetlands to create a "green necklace" to protect Beijing from pollution.
