Air pollution — key message 1

Air pollution damages human health and the environment. Considerable progress has been made in Europe to reduce emissions and exposure to different air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) and lead (Pb). However, despite reductions, certain air pollutants, especially particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and some organic compounds, still pose a threat to human health. For the EEA-32 group of countries, it has been estimated that in 2005 almost 5 million lost life years could be attributed to air pollution with fine particles (PM2.5) alone.