Cleaner air could have saved at least 178,000 lives across the EU in 2019
Air pollution continued to cause a significant burden of premature death and disease in Europe in 2019. A European Environment Agency (EEA) analysis, published today, shows that improving air quality to the levels recently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) could prevent more than half of the premature deaths caused by exposure to fine particulate matter.
The EEA briefing ’Health impacts of air pollution in Europe’ presents updated estimates on how three key pollutants – fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone – affected Europeans’ health in 2019. The briefing also assesses the potential benefits of improving air quality towards new guideline levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). And, the briefing measures progress towards the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan’s target of reducing the number of premature deaths due to exposure to fine particulate matter by more than 55% by 2030.
