Shenxianju Scenic Area in Taizhou's Xianju county, Zhejiang province. [Photo/IC]

The Ministry of Ecology and the Environment recently released the air quality data from 168 key cities in China from January to October.

Four Zhejiang cities made the top 20 list for air quality. The cities are Zhoushan (4th), Lishui (5th), Taizhou (10th), and Ningbo (17th).

Between January and October, the PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers) densities in the 11 Zhejiang cities at or above prefecture-level ranged from 14 to 26 micrograms per cubic meter. The average percentage of days with excellent or good results in air quality index (AQI) in these cities was 93.6, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous year.

The PM2.5 densities in the province's 55 counties (or county-level cities) ranged from 13 to 29 micrograms per cubic meter. Compared with the same period last year, 38 counties saw a drop in their PM2.5 densities and 12 counties maintained the same level of PM2.5 densities.

The top 10 Zhejiang counties in terms of AQI from January to October were Longquan, Qingyuan, Jingning, Shengsi, Suichang, Taishun, Yunhe, Kaihua, Yuhuan, and Daishan.