Just over 180,000 deaths in the European Union were attributable to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations above World Health Organization WHO guideline levels in 2023, according to the latest European Environment Agency (EEA) air quality health impact assessment published today.
The EEA briefing ‘Harm to human health from air pollution in Europe: burden of disease status, 2025’ confirms the nineteen-year trend that the estimated impact on health attributable to long-term exposure to three key air pollutants (fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone) continues to drop. However, almost everyone living in European cities (95%) is exposed to air pollution levels considerably above recommended WHO levels.
Premature deaths attributable to fine particulate matter fell by 57% in the EU between 2005 and 2023. This indicates that the EU’s zero-pollution action plan’s target of a 55% reduction in impact, was achieved for 2023.
This year’s assessment is being published to coincide with the EU Clean Air Forum being held on 1-2 December in Bonn, Germany. The event draws policymakers, scientists, and civil society from across Europe to discuss efforts to improve air quality.
Premature deaths can be avoided
Reducing air pollution to WHO guideline levels could have prevented 182,000 deaths attributable to fine particulate matter exposure, 63,000 to ozone (O3) exposure and 34,000 to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure in the EU in 2023, according to EEA estimates.
Eastern and south-eastern European countries suffer the most significant health impacts from air pollution due to high pollution levels.
Key information for each country is included in a separate factsheet annex to this press release, including information on national level health impacts.
Quality of life suffers significantly
In addition to premature deaths, the impacts from living with diseases related to air pollution are significant. For some diseases caused and/or aggravated by air pollution, such as asthma, the main impact is poorer health. For others, such as ischemic heart disease and lung cancer, it is premature death. New evidence suggests that air pollution may also cause dementia. Dementia’s disease burden is estimated to be higher than that of other relevant diseases, the EEA briefing says.
New EU air quality rules in place
The revised ambient air quality directive, which entered into force last year, brings the EU air quality standards closer to the WHO recommendations, supporting further reductions in the health impacts of air pollution over the coming years. Still, air pollution continues to be the top environmental health risk to Europeans (followed by other factors such as exposure to noise, chemicals and the increasing effects of climate-related heatwaves on health), causing chronic illness and attributable deaths, especially in cities and urban areas.
Background
The EEA analysis covers 41 European countries, including the 27 EU Member States, other EEA member and cooperating countries and additional European microstates. Türkiye is not included in the PM2.5 estimations as the number of background monitoring stations from which data are available was too low to produce concentration maps for fine particulate matter. Consequently, PM2.5 estimations were made for 40 countries.
The EEA has been estimating number of deaths attributable to exposure to air pollution since 2014. The EEA uses the recommendations for health impacts set out in the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines. As with previous years, the health impacts of different air pollutants should not be added together to avoid double counting due to some overlaps in data. This is the case for both mortality and illness.
