The European Environment Agency (EEA) released a report stating that nearly 400,000 deaths in Europe in 2021 were linked to three main air pollutants. The report suggested that some of these deaths could have been prevented if pollutant levels had been reduced in line with World Health Organisation recommendations.
Within the European Union, pollution caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) resulted in 253,000 deaths in 2021, with a particular impact on people with heart diseases. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution caused 52,000 deaths, predominantly affecting individuals with diabetes. Additionally, short-term exposure to ozone (O3) led to 22,000 deaths.
When factoring in a larger group of European countries outside the EU, the EEA found that there were a total of 389,000 pollutant-related deaths in Europe in 2021.
The report highlighted that air pollutant concentrations in 2021 surpassed the levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its air quality guidelines. Meeting these guideline levels would have potentially prevented a significant number of attributable deaths in EU member states.
In terms of geographical impact, the highest number of PM2.5-related deaths in 2021 were recorded in Poland, Italy, and Germany, while countries in northern Europe like Iceland, Scandinavia, and Estonia experienced the lowest impact.
On the other hand, NO2 and short-term O3 exposure had the greatest impact on deaths in Turkey, Italy, and Germany, according to the report. It is clear that air pollution is a serious issue that needs to be addressed across Europe to prevent unnecessary deaths.
