Print  Font Size: 

Atmospheric Environment

The overall urban air quality across China was basically the same as that of 2003 with certain improvement in some cities with very heavy air pollution. The percentage of cities failing to meet Grade III air quality standard decreased, but so did the percentage of cities meeting Grade II air quality standard. Among the 342 cities under air quality monitoring in 2004, 132 cities met Grade II standard for ambient air quality (the standard for resident areas), accounting for 38.6%, and 3.1 percentages points lower than that of 2003. 141 reached Grade III standards, taking up 41.2% and 9.7 percentages points higher than that of 2003; 69 cities had air quality worse than Grade III, accounting for 20.2%, and 6.6 percentage points drop than that of the previous year.

The percentage of urban population with air quality meeting Grade II standard was 33.1% of all the monitored cities, 3.3 percentage points lower than that of 2003. The remaining 66.9% urban citizens were exposed to the air inferior to Grade II quality standard.

(Note: ">"in the figure means failing to meet Grade III standard.)
Percentage comparison of urban air quality at different quality standard in 2003 and 2004

Percentages of the population exposed to air at different qualities

Big cities and metropolises with a population exceeding one million usually had the highest failing rate in meeting air quality standard in terms of major pollutants such as SO2 and particulate matters. As a result, they had a low up-to-standard percentage in terms of urban air quality.

To do a quick search, highlighting any word(s) then click Help!