China's air and water quality has improved over the past year, according to the data recently released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).

The proportion of days with "fairly good" air quality in 339 Chinese cities in 2024 was 87.2 percent, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous year, says the MEE data.

The proportion of days with heavy or higher level of pollution was 0.9 percent, down 0.7 percentage points year on year.

Data shows that last year 90.4 percent of 3,641 surface water quality monitored sections in China had "fairly good" water quality -- at or above Grade III in the country's five-tier water quality system, marking a year-on-year increase of 1.0 percentage point.

The share of surface water quality at Grade V, the lowest level, stood at 0.6 percent, down 0.1 percentage point compared with a year earlier, according to the MEE.