London, Feb 04 : Only eight out of 74 biggest Chinese cities have met the government's basic air quality standards in 2014, the environment ministry said.

The most polluted cities of China were in north-eastern Hebei, the province surrounding the capital city of Beijing. While the northern industrial city of Baoding had the dirtiest air, the southern city of Haikou, in Hainan province, was found to have the cleanest air, reported the BBC.

Beijing and Shanghai failed the assessment that was based on readings of pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone.

The statement was published on environment ministry's website and noted that the 2014 outcome was an improvement over the previous year when just three cities met the air quality standards.

It also added that "the country's air pollution situation remained serious" currently.

China declared a "war on air pollution" last year and began assessing the air quality in Chinese cities. The government shut down more than 8,000 coal-burning factories in Hebei last year as officials pledged to restrict coal consumption, scrap millions of cars and rely more on clean energy sources. However, the country is still dependent on coal for its energy needs. (ANI)