Air pollution in China, how bad is it? (Series 2/4)

According to the data provided by the Ministry of Environmental Protection , nearly 500 thousand people died from air-pollution related diseases every year. In 2014, 175 days of Beijing's air quality are classified as "polluted",

Tianjin 197 days,

Chengdu, 125 days,

Shenyang,152 days,

Lanzhou, 112 days,

Shijiazhuang, 264 days


Notably cities in the north suffered far worse than southern cites. This is because northern cites have lower average temperature, therefore they burn more coals to keep warm.

China's environmental protection ministry claim that in early 2014 , central and eastern provinces of China has been affected by smog, affecting an area of ​​about 1.43 million square kilometers, about 810,000 square kilometers, 20 cities, experienced heavy smog. The situation is expected to be worsen.

In 2015, Beijing declared its first ever 72-hour pollution red alert, 22 millions people in Beijing are advised to stay indoors if possible due to concerns they’ll be exposed to hazardous levels of microscopic-sized particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and lead to ailments such as heart attack, stroke, lung cancer and asthma. The observed air pollution is calculated to contribute to 1.6 million deaths/year in China , roughly 17% of all deaths in China.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/04/10/five-revelations-from-the-u-s-embassys-beijing-pollution-data-dump/