Pollution in China is one aspect of the broader topic of environmental issues in China. Various forms of pollution have increased following the industrialisation of China, causing widespread environmental and health problems.Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Penguin Books, 2005 and 2011 (). See chapter 12 entitled "China, Lurching Giant" (pages 258–377).
Pollution statistics
Soil The immense population growth in the People's Republic of China since the 1980s has resulted in increased soil pollution. The State Environmental Protection Administration believes it to be a threat to the environment, food safety and sustainable agriculture. 38,610 square miles (100,000 km2) of China's cultivated land have been polluted, with contaminated water being used to irrigate further 31.5 million acres (21,670 km2.), and another 2 million acres (1,300 km2) have been covered or destroyed by solid waste. The affected area accounts for one-tenth of China's cultivable land. An estimated 6 million tonnes of food grain are contaminated by heavy metals every year, causing direct losses of 29 billion yuan (US$2.57 billion). The presence of heavy metals (including mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, nickel, chromium, and zinc) in the contaminated soil have adverse health effects on human metabolism. Ingestion, contact through the skin, diet through the soil-food chain, respiratory intake, and oral intake can deliver toxic substances to humans.
Waste As China's waste production increases, insufficient efforts to develop capable recycling systems have been attributed to a lack of environmental awareness. In 2012, the waste generation in China was 300 million tons (229.4 kg/cap/yr).Waste Atlas (2012). Country Data: CHINA
A ban came into effect on 15 June 2008 that prohibited all supermarkets, department stores and shops throughout China from giving out free plastic bags, therefore encouraging people to use cloth bags. Stores must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and are banned from adding that price onto the price of products. The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bagsthose less than 0.025 millimeters (0.00098 in) thickare also banned. The State Council called for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets.""China bans free plastic shopping bags", AP Press via the International Herald Tribune, 9 January 2008 This ban, however, does not affect the widespread use of paper shopping bags at clothing stores or the use of plastic bags at restaurants for takeout food. A survey by the International Food Packaging Association found that in the year after the ban was implemented, 10 percent fewer plastic bags found their way into the garbage.David Biello, Scientific American, Does banning plastic bags work?
A particularly significant source of waste is the agricultural sector. In fact, Chinese farms generate more pollution than factories, according to a large survey by the government. Pesticides and fertilizer residues, packaging associated, bags and mulch film are largely left untreated in landfills, often due to a lack of waste management infrastructure.
"White pollution" The term "white pollution" (, less often "white garbage" ) appears local to China and later South Asia, far less used and recognized outside of the region. It refers to the white plastic shopping bags, Styrofoam containers, and other light-colored materials that began turning up in visible volume in agricultural fields, the landscape, and waterways in the mid-to-late 1990s. The first references to the term "white pollution" appeared in official language at least as early as 1999 when the first bans were imposed by the State Council.
Electronic waste
In 2024, China produced 12.1 million tons of electronic waste.The Global E-waste Monitor 2024. E-Waste Monitor, 2024, https://ewastemonitor.info/the-global-e-waste-monitor-2024/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2026. The annual amount is expected to increase as the Chinese economy grows. In addition to domestic waste production, large amounts of electronic waste are imported from overseas. Legislation has banned the importation of electronic waste. Requiring proper disposal of domestic waste has recently been introduced but has been criticized as insufficient and susceptible to fraud. There have been local successes, such as in the city of Tianjin, where 38,000 tons of electronic waste were disposed of properly in 2010, though much electronic waste is still improperly handled.Mitch Moxley, "E-Waste Hits China", Inter Press Service, 2011 http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56572
Industrial pollution
In a 1997 report targeting China's policy towards industrial pollution, the World Bank stated that "hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and incidents of serious respiratory illness have been caused by exposure to industrial air pollution". Since the Industrial Revolution, air pollution has been a major source of worry for human growth. Using an original survey in China, a first causal estimate of pollution's impact on political opinions was given. The survey further stated that dueorms have had some effect. It was determined that continued environmental reforms were likely to have a large effect on reducing industrial pollution.
In its 2007 article about China's pollution problem, The New York Times stated that "Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party." The article's main points included:
According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, industrial pollution has made cancer China's leading cause of death. Every year, ambient air pollution alone kills hundreds of thousands of citizens. 500 million people in China are without safe and clean drinking water. Only 1% of the country's 560 million "city people" breathe air considered safe by the European Union, because all of its major cities are constantly covered in a "toxic gray shroud". Before and during the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing was "frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics."See Air pollution at the 2008 Summer Olympics. A similar approach was used for other events such as the 2015 China Victory Day Parade and the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit. Lead poisoning or other types of local pollution continue to kill many children. A large section of the ocean is without marine life because of massive algal blooms caused by the high nutrients in the water. The pollution has spread internationally: sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo; and according to the Journal of Geophysical Research, the pollution even reaches Los Angeles in the US. The Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning in 2003 produced an unpublished internal report which estimated that 300,000 people die each year from ambient air pollution, mostly of heart disease and lung cancer. Chinese environmental experts in 2005 issued another report, estimating that annual premature deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution were likely to reach 380,000 in 2010 and 550,000 in 2020. A 2007 World Bank report conducted with China's national environmental agency found that "[...] outdoor air pollution was already causing 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths a year. Indoor pollution contributed to the deaths of an additional 300,000 people, while 60,000 died from diarrhea, bladder and stomach cancer and other diseases that can be caused by water-borne pollution." World Bank officials said that "China's environmental agency insisted that the health statistics be removed from the published version of the report, citing the possible impact on 'social stability'".
A draft of a 2007 combined World Bank and SEPA report stated that up to 760,000 people die prematurely each year in China due to air and water pollution. High levels of air pollution in China's cities cause 350,000–400,000 premature deaths. Another 300,000 die because of poor-quality indoor air. There are an additional 60,000 premature deaths each year because of poor water quality. Chinese officials asked that some of the results should not be published in order to avoid social unrest.
China has made some improvements in environmental protection in recent years. According to the World Bank, 'China is one of a few countries in the world that have been rapidly increasing their forest cover. It is managing to reduce air and water pollution.
Vennemo et al., in a 2009 literature review in Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, noted the wide discrepancy between the reassuring view presented in some Chinese official publications and the exclusively negative view in some Western sources. The review stated that "although China is starting from a point of grave pollution, it is setting priorities and making progress that resemble what occurred in industrialized countries during their earlier stages of development." Environmental trends were described as uneven. The quality of surface water in the south of China was improving and particle emissions were stable. However, NO2 emissions were increasing rapidly, and SO2 emissions had been increasing before decreasing in 2007, the last year for which data was available.
Conventional approaches to air quality monitoring in China are based on networks of static and sparse measurement stations. However, there are drivers behind current rises in the use of low-cost sensors for air pollution management in cities.
The immense urban growth of Chinese cities has substantially increased the need for consumer goods, vehicles and energy. This in turn increases the burning of fossil fuels, resulting in smog. Exposure to Smog poses a threat to the health of Chinese citizens. A study from 2012 showed fine particles in the air, which cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases were one of the key pollutants that accounted for a large fraction of damage on the health of Chinese citizens.Matus, K.; Nam K.; Selin, N.; Lamsal, L.; Reilly, J.; Paltsev, S. (2012) Health damages from air pollution in China. Global Environment Change. | pp. 55–66 |
Water pollution The water resources of China are affected by both severe water shortages and severe water pollution. The rapid population increase and rapid economic growth, as well as lax environmental oversight, resulted in increased water demand and pollution.
In 1980, the entire country has 440 billion cubic meters of total water consumption. Consumption by agriculture, forestry, husbandry, and country residents was about 88 percent of the total consumption. However, an investigation shows that 19 percent of water in main rivers has been polluted with a total length of 95,000 kilometers. In addition, a survey of 878 rivers in the early 1980s shows that 80 percent of them were polluted to some extent and that fish became extinct in more than 5 percent of the total river length throughout the country. Furthermore, there are over 20 waterways unsuitable for agricultural irrigation due to water pollution. In response, China has taken measures such as rapidly building out the water infrastructure and increased regulation as well as exploring a number of further technological solutions.
A 2025 study titled Lithium Levels in Umbilical Cord Blood from Two Cities in China found unexpectedly high lithium concentrations in newborns.
March 2025, The Thallium Pollution Incident in Leishui, Hunan. Thallium (Tl) has caused increasingly serious environmental pollution in China due to industrial activities and illegal discharges.
Air pollution