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Air pollution is a major environmental health risk in Europe, contributing to serious diseases and premature deaths. To estimate its impact, researchers use well-established scientific methods that link long-term exposure to pollutants with increased health risks.

Research and epidemiological evidences have demonstrated the link between air pollution and mortality for over 70 years. It has been evidenced that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3), three of the main air pollutants, increases the risk of diseases like heart disease, stroke, and lung conditions. Studies follow defined groups of people over the years and collect data on almost every known risk factor that may affect their health  (e.g. age, sex, ethnicity, smoking status, lifestyle, etc) and can confound the results. They usually compare an exposed group of individuals to different levels of pollution and locations with an unexposed group. By statistically controlling all known confounding factors that can cause specific health conditions, researchers are able to deduct the extent to which air pollution have contributed to air related health conditions. They are also able to build mathematical functions and curves that link different levels of air pollution to different levels of risk of developing certain health outcomes, or of dying prematurely from them. The biological mechanisms underlying these functions and curves are further supported by laboratory in vitro research and research with animals and can be considered as reliable. At the EEA, we use for mortality the “exposure-response curves” or “exposure-response functions” as recommended by the World Health Organisation in its 2021 update of the Global air quality guidelines.

Using these functions and EU-specific data on air quality, the EEA can calculate how many deaths are attributable to air pollution. As mandated by the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives, Member States collect data on air pollutants such as PM2.5, NO2 and O3 from monitoring stations and provide this data to the EEA. Data is publicly available on our data viewers (ref. FAQ Where can I access the latest air quality data in Europe?).

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