BEIJING, Sept. 19 -- Chinese cities reported better air quality in August compared with a year ago, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Friday.

In a monthly report posted on its website, the ministry said the 74 cities under its watch reported air pollution on 19.6 percent of the days last month, down from 33.3 percent in August 2013.

Beijing and its 12 neighboring cities in north China's notoriously smoggy Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region on average suffered from air pollution on 42 percent of the days in August, down from 65.4 percent last year but above last month's average.

The major pollutants in the region were ozone and PM2.5, according to the report.

Beijing was still among the 10 cities that reported the worst air quality last month. The rest were Jinan, Handan, Baoding, Xingtai, Tangshan, Hengshui, Shijiazhuang, Langfang, Shenyang and Zhengzhou -- most of which are in Beijing's neighboring Hebei Province. The last two cities in this list recorded the same index.

China began to include PM2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, and ozone in its new air quality standard in 2013.