(Yicai Global) Jan. 3 -- Beijing's air quality has improved last year as PM2.5 level dropped 17.6 percent from a year ago, logging the sixth year of decreasing air pollution. 

The annual average was 42 micrograms per cubic meter, the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau said in a statement on its Weibo account. That was 53 percent less than in 2013 when the city started publishing such data.

Beijing had 240 days of "excellent air quality" last year and four of those labeled as heavily polluted. The capital city had no severely polluted days, according to the environmental authority. 

Editor: Emmi Laine