Cleaner Air Delivers $715 Billion in Health Benefits

After more than a decade of pollution controls, China’s air quality has reached its best recorded level, bringing major public health benefits.

“The benefits far outweighed the costs,” said Hao Jiming, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Tsinghua University, after measures from 2020 to 2025 were estimated to have prevented about 680,000 premature deaths linked to PM2.5 exposure.

The national average concentration of PM2.5 fell to 28 micrograms per cubic metre in 2025, while Beijing recorded a roughly 70% decline from 89.5 in 2013 to 27 in 2025 and reduced heavily polluted days from 58 to just one. Between 2020 and 2025, 576.1 billion yuan was invested in air-pollution controls, generating an estimated 4.8 trillion yuan ($715 billion) in cumulative health benefits and a further 344.2 billion yuan from reduced carbon emissions. Monitoring has also become more precise, combining satellites, aerial platforms and ground stations, while representatives from neighbouring countries are planning visits to learn from the country’s approach to cleaner air and public health.