These 10 Cities Are Your Best Bet At Escaping China's Epic Pollution Problem

We always hear about pollution problems in China. But surely the whole country is covered in smog, right?

Inspired by a map put together by Eli Bildner at Tea Leaf Nation, we've created a map of China's 10 least-polluted cities using the CN Air Quality iPhone app. We've annotated it with the Air Quality Index — which measures sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide and particulate matter levels — for each.

The consensus safest locations to avoid respiratory problems appear to be concentrated on the southeastern coast, with a couple key spots in the west.

The pattern seems to cohere with an argument put forward by Jefferies — that pollution is the cost of healthy industrial activity and rising living standards.

Check it out:

And here is the list of American cities with equivalent AQI's, using data listed on USA.com:

CN Air Quality/USA.com