Beijing has earned the dubious distinction of being the least livable city in China. According to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao emerged as the top city for providing most the wholesome living conditions.

The report used an "Urban Habitability Index" for the purpose of conducting research.

Like Us on Facebook

The research focused on 29 indicators under six categories; safety, natural environment, public transport, access to public service, environmental health hazards and social and humanistic environment.

Zhang Wenzhong, a researcher with the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research and the lead author of the report, said that the study explicitly omitted using home prices as a factor. This was done to curtain the hype factor artificially created by real estate developers.

According to the report, the surveyed cities had an average score 59.92 points. The score is marginally lower than the benchmark of 60 points. Among the top ranking cities are Kunming, Sanya, and Dalian, while Nanchang, Taiyuan, Harbin were ranked the lowest.

The biggest cause of concern for Beijing is its air quality. The city is struggling to control high smog levels. Zhang Wenzhong reported that Beijing has continually performed dismally in various livability studies conducted in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2015. The city's environmental health score declined from 70.01 to 45.52 during the 2009-2015 time frame.

However, Beijing scored better than average in other areas. Beijing ranked higher in terms of the overall social environment, transportation and safety. The researchers emphasized that China needs to take drastic actions to promote livable cities.

TagsChinese Academy of Science, Beijing, Qingdao