The EEA factsheet “Health impacts of air pollution in Europe” presents updated estimates of how three key pollutants – fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, tropospheric ozone – affected the health of Europeans in 2019. The factsheet also assesses the potential benefits of improving air quality towards the new guideline levels recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In addition, the factsheet assesses progress towards the EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan target of reducing the number of premature deaths from exposure to fine particulate matter by more than 55 % by 2030.

According to the latest EEA estimates, 307,000 people died prematurely due to exposure to fine particulate matter pollution in the EU in 2019. At least 58 % or 178 000 of these deaths could have been avoided if all EU Member States had reached the new WHO air quality guideline level of 5 µg/m3.
Air quality in Europe was better in 2019 than in 2018, which also resulted in fewer negative health impacts. The reduction in pollution follows a long-term trend, driven by policies to reduce emissions and improve air quality.
Under the European Green Deal, the EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan sets a target of reducing the number of premature deaths from exposure to fine particulate matter by more than 55 % by 2030, compared to 2005. According to an EEA analysis, the EU is currently on track to meet the target, as the number of such deaths has fallen by around a third between 2005 and 2019.

“Investing in cleaner heating, mobility, agriculture and industry means better health, productivity and quality of life for all Europeans, especially the most vulnerable. These investments save lives and, at the same time, help accelerate progress towards carbon neutrality and enhance biodiversity,” said Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director.

“Breathing clean air should be a fundamental human right. It is a prerequisite for healthy and productive societies. Even with the improvements in air quality that have been achieved in recent years in our region, we still have a long way to go to reach the levels of the new WHO air quality guidelines,” said WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge. “At WHO, we welcome the work the EEA is doing, showing us all the lives that could be saved if the new air quality levels were achieved, providing policymakers with evidence-based evidence on the urgent need to address this health burden.”

The EEA factsheet is published shortly before the European Clean Air Forum, which will take place on 18 and 19 November 2021. The forum will bring together decision-makers, stakeholders and experts to discuss the development and implementation of effective European, national and local air policies, projects and programmes, and to inform the ongoing revision of EU rules, including with regard to strengthening their alignment with the WHO air quality guidelines.

Background

Air pollution is a major cause of premature death and disease and is the biggest environmental health risk in Europe. Cardiovascular diseases and strokes are the most common causes of premature deaths attributed to air pollution, followed by lung diseases and lung cancer.

The EU air quality directives set standards for key air pollutants. These values take into account the 2005 WHO guidelines, as well as aspects of technical and economic feasibility at the time of their adoption.

As the EEA data, published earlier this autumn, show, air pollution levels remain above EU legal limits in most European countries.

The WHO has recently adopted new global air quality guidelines to protect public health. These guidelines are based on a systematic review of the best available scientific evidence on the effects of air pollution on human health, which shows that air pollution is harmful to human health even at lower concentrations than previously thought.

EU air quality standards are a key policy tool and strengthening the alignment of these standards with the WHO recommendations would be an important step towards achieving cleaner air for Europe, together with improved policies to reduce pollution at source.

The EEA’s assessment of potential benefits is based on a scenario under which all regions in the EU-27 that in 2019 were above the level of the WHO air quality guidelines for fine particulate matter would have reached the level of the guidelines in 2019, while all other regions would have maintained their measured concentrations in 2019. Therefore, this scenario and the corresponding estimates represent the minimum potential benefits from air quality improvements, with the possibility that reductions in premature deaths would also be observed in areas where the guideline level had already been reached, but which would likely also benefit from cleaner air in surrounding areas.

The EEA’s analysis of health impacts for 2019 was carried out using the concentration-response functions recommended by the WHO in 2013 to be consistent with the EEA’s estimates from previous years. However, from next year, the EEA is expected to fully align its analysis with the new WHO global air quality guidelines.

Key resources

The European Air Quality Index presents near real-time air quality data for Europe, allowing users to check local air quality in the areas where they live or travel.

The European city air quality viewer compares average fine particulate matter levels in 323 European cities over the last two calendar years.

The National air pollutant emissions data viewer provides access to the most recent air pollutant emissions data reported by EU Member States under the National Emission Reduction Commitments Directive.

The Air Pollution Data Centre provides access to all relevant EEA data on air pollution in Europe.

The study “Air pollution: how it affects our health” shows how exposure to fine particulate matter contributes to disease and premature death in Europe and how this burden is distributed across European society.

Source: www.eea.europa.eu