Indicator Fact Sheet

Exceedance of the EU human health threshold value for ozone in urban areas

Indicator Fact Sheet

Prod-ID: IND-34-en

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This page was archived on 13 Nov 2014 with reason: Other (New version data-and-maps/indicators/exceedance-of-air-quality-limit-3/assessment was published)

Assessment made on 01 Jan 2001

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Policy issue: Are Europeans effectively protected against exposure to ground level ozone?

Figures

Exceedance of the EU human health threshold value for ozone in EEA18 urban areas

Key assessment

Part of this fluctuation is natural, as the production of ground level ozone partly depends on special weather conditions that vary from year to year. The data is also not completely consistent, particularly before 1994, due to changes in the monitoring networks.

Despite the fluctuations, it is clear that the current limits are exceeded frequently for a large proportion of the EU's population. Estimates for 1999, for example, suggest that 42% of the population was overexposed on 1-25 days, with 12% overexposed for more than 50 days. Only the Northern European countries and Portugal had less more than 10 exceedance days. Although emissions of the substances that lead to ground level ozone are dropping (see ozone precursors), the reductions are unlikely to help meet either today's or tomorrow's targets, with north-west Europe expected to experience around 25 exceedance days per year by 2010.