Updated 01.17 | Published 01.12
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Over 250,000. That’s how many people died in 2021 in the EU as a result of air pollution with small particles harmful to health, according to a report from the EU Environment Agency (EEA).
Small particles, of the type PM2.5, can for example be a by-product from vehicle exhaust or coal-fired power plants. The size of the particles means that they can get deep into the airways, which increases the risk of bronchial catarrh, asthma and lung diseases.
According to the EEA, the concentration of the particles exceeded the World Health Organization’s recommendation – and the environmental agency believes that many of the deaths could have been avoided if the recommendation had been met.
The number of deaths due to air pollution in 2021 is slightly higher than in 2020 when the same kind of air pollution contributed to the death of almost 240,000 people.
But in the long term, the trend is largely positive. Between 2005 and 2021, premature deaths from air pollution fell by 41 percentage points, according to the report.
However, the EEA emphasizes that air pollution continues to be the biggest environmental threat to the health of Europeans. Despite great progress, “the impact of air pollution on our health remains too high, resulting in deaths and illnesses attributable to air pollution,” Leena Ylä-Mononen, EEA Executive Director, said in the report.