The Chinese capital of Beijing is on the verge of being “unfavorable for human living”, according to the report by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, while Shanghai could barely meet average standards of an environmentally friendly city.

Stockholm was ranked best in terms of their environment among 40 major cities around the world, with Moscow at the bottom.

“Beijing’s severe pollution is much worse than the average level … and the environment is far from meeting the [safety] standards,” the study concludes, according to state-owned China News Service.