Beijing authorities said Sunday they had met their target of “blue sky” days for 2011, amid growing public criticism that officials are underplaying the pollution problem in the Chinese capital.

The city had 274 days of “grade one or two” air quality compared with 252 days in 2010, according to a statement on the Beijing government’s official news portal.

“Beijing has seen an overall decline in the concentration of various pollutants in 2011,” said Zhuang Zhidong, the deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.