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East Asia

Air quality in China

Capital: BeijingChinese, CantoneseUpdated October 2026
32µg/m³ national average

Air quality in China

People in China breathe an average of 32 µg/m³ of PM2.5 (2023), 6× the WHO guideline. Very polluted.

Air quality by place in China

Measured annual averages from the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database.

PlacePM2.5YearLevel
Lhasa10.3 µg/m³2024Moderate
Shangri-La11 µg/m³2019Moderate
Sanya11.4 µg/m³2024Moderate
Lijiang13.7 µg/m³2024Moderate
Shenzhen17.3 µg/m³2024Polluted
Dali17.6 µg/m³2019Polluted
Xiamen18.8 µg/m³2024Polluted
Kunming19.6 µg/m³2024Polluted
Huangshan20.7 µg/m³2024Polluted
Guangzhou21.1 µg/m³2024Polluted
Qingdao26.7 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Guilin26.9 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Shanghai28.4 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Nanjing28.5 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Zhangjiajie29.6 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Hangzhou30.2 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Beijing31 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Chengdu32 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Chongqing33.2 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Suzhou33.2 µg/m³2024Very polluted
Wuhan35.8 µg/m³2024Severely polluted
Tianjin38.4 µg/m³2024Severely polluted
Changsha39.2 µg/m³2024Severely polluted
Harbin40.3 µg/m³2024Severely polluted
Xi'an44 µg/m³2024Severely polluted
Kashgar90.2 µg/m³2019Severely polluted

Air quality by place

Sources

Compiled and reviewed by SoloSquare. How we compile and score this. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.