Transport noise

Noise pollution caused by transport activity is a significant environmental impact. Exposure to noise from transport sources was estimated to impact the health and well-being of approximately 1.09 billion people in Europe in 2022. This means over 20% of the EU-27 population live in areas where road noise levels can cause adverse health effects. This percentage can reach up to 50% in some urban areas. Road traffic is the main source of noise pollution in both urban and non-urban areas. Data reported under the END suggest around 90 million people in the EU were exposed to harmful levels of road traffic noise above END thresholds in 2022. Railway and aircraft noise has a far lower impact in terms of the overall population, though both are significant sources of local noise pollution. Negative health effects start to occur below the END threshold of 55 decibels (dB) for day-evening-night levels (L_den). The WHO recommends reducing noise levels to 53dB L_den for road traffic, 54dB L_den for rail traffic and 45dB L_den for air traffic. Transport sources covered under the terms of the END concern major infrastructure such as roads (over 3 million vehicle passages a year), railways (more than 30,000 train passages per year) and airports (over 50,000 aircraft movements per year), as well as all roads, railways and airports in urban areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Figure 17 shows the number of people exposed to transport noise levels above 55dB during the day-evening-night period for 2012, 2017 and 2022. Long-term exposure at these levels can cause adverse health effects including annoyance, sleep disturbance, increased risk for developing cardio-metabolic problems and even premature death. Figure 17 also shows conservative and optimistic scenarios for 2030. The conservative scenario assumes fulfilment of the current legal requirements to reduce noise at source and the implementation of some non-binding mitigation measures by 2030. These include compliance with current EU noise regulation for motor vehicles, a 25% electrification of the road vehicle fleet and improved landing and take-off procedures for aircraft.

Environmental noise in Europe 2025

The optimistic scenario assumes implementation of more ambitious noise mitigation measures that go beyond current regulations by 2030 (ETC HE Report 2024/7).  This includes measures such as reduced speed limits on urban roads, a 50% electrification of the road vehicle fleet, rail maintenance and grinding, quieter aircraft and aircraft night curfews. Under this optimistic scenario, the number of people exposed to harmful transport noise levels of above 55dB L_den is predicted to decline by about 18% by 2030 compared to an estimated 2017 baseline. Under the conservative scenario, the number of people affected by noise is predicted to increase by 2%. Reductions in the number of highly annoyed people under optimistic and conservative scenarios are 21% and 0%, respectively. The decline in high annoyance is more pronounced than that of people exposed to noise levels above 55dB L_den, as high annoyance accounts for the shift of people from higher to lower noise levels above 55dB L_den resulting from the implemented measures.

The main obstacle to reaching a significant reduction in noise overall is the difficulty in reducing exposure to road traffic noise. The projected growth in population and transport activity also outweighs the benefits of implementing the measures (see sections on passenger transport activity and freight transport activity). Although the scale of the impacts of rail noise is much lower than that of road traffic noise, increased efforts should be made to outweigh the negative health impacts resulting from the projected growth in rail activity, new rail infrastructure and faster trains. Regarding aircraft noise, even if the number of people affected is reduced by as much as the optimistic scenario projects, a very high number of people will still be exposed to levels the WHO considers harmful to health, i.e. above 45dB L_den