3.3 Environmental noise and impacts on human health

Living in an area affected by transport noise is associated with an increased risk of developing a wide range of health issues, including cardiovascular, metabolic and mental health diseases. This briefing evaluates the current status and future outlook of transport noise pollution in Europe and its associated impacts on human health, using data reported by countries under the Environmental Noise Directive (END).

Key policies

• END: The main legislation for managing and reducing environmental noise through strategic noise map and noise action plan reporting. It addresses noise from major roads, railways and airports; outside urban areas; and roads, railways, airports and industries in urban areas above 100,000 people. It does not set noise limits or binding obligations to implement actions in the affected areas.
• ZPAP: Under the ZPAP's noise reduction target, the European Commission aims to reduce the share of people ‘chronically disturbed by transport noise’ by 30% by 2030 compared to 2017.

Past trends (10-15 years)

Trends/developments show a mixed picture

A slight decrease in the population affected by harmful noise levels is estimated to have taken place between 2017 and 2022. However, 2022 data still show a large number of people living in areas with transport noise levels considered harmful to health (Figure 1). Approximately 150 million people, or over 30% of Europe’s population, may be exposed to unhealthy noise levels according to the WHO recommendations, rising to over 50% in many urban areas. Road traffic is the primary source of noise pollution in both urban and rural areas, while railway and aircraft noise, though affecting fewer people, are also significant contributors to local noise issues.

Long-term exposure to noise from transport can lead to a wide range of health issues. The main health impacts are shown in Figure 1. Nearly 17 million people experience high annoyance due to transport noise, while 4.6 million individuals suffer significant sleep disturbances. In 2021, transport noise was estimated to contribute to approximately 50,000 cases of cardiovascular diseases, 22,000 cases of type 2 diabetes and 66,000 premature deaths.

Outlook (10-15 years)

Trends/developments show a mixed picture

Under an optimistic scenario that includes implementing a substantial set of additional measures, the number of people highly annoyed by transport noise is predicted to decline by about 21% by 2030. Under a conservative scenario, this number is predicted to remain unchanged (Figure 2).

The large number of people exposed to road traffic noise (Figure 1) significantly influences the overall outlook, which indicates that more effort is needed to address this type of noise. Efforts are also needed to mitigate the negative health impacts from the projected growth in rail activity and, therefore, rail traffic noise.

To achieve greater progress, measures should focus not only on areas with severe noise problems (i.e. hotspots), but also on areas with moderate noise levels that are generally below national limits. Therefore, implementing a combination of measures which reduce noise at the source is highly important. New EU regulations tackling noise at the source and setting obligations to act upon critical levels could help reduce the number of people affected by noise.

Prospects of meeting policy targets 2030/2050

2030 Largely not on track to meet targets

While a decrease in the number of people exposed to noise is anticipated, the outlook indicates that achieving a reduction of at least 30% in the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise levels is unlikely by 2030 without additional measures. The primary challenges to meeting the zero-pollution target include the difficulty in reducing the large number of individuals exposed to road traffic noise, and the anticipated growth in transport and population in urban areas which outweighs implemented mitigation measures' benefits.

2050 No policy specific targets

Robustness

This assessment is based on reported data on population exposure to noise submitted under the END. The data for 2022 are approximately 84% complete. A gap-filling exercise has been conducted to complete the missing noise data. A 2017 baseline, comparable to the 2022 data, has been estimated to assess changes between 2017 and 2022. Health impacts are calculated using relationships derived from meta-analysis. Since health impacts begin below the thresholds set in the END, an extrapolation of the population exposed to noise above the WHO recommended levels has been made. This extrapolation is used to highlight the differences between the number of people exposed to noise above the END thresholds and the WHO recommendations. The outlook depends on predictions of traffic growth and future policy objectives, which introduce further uncertainties.

Charts/maps

Figure 1. Number of people exposed to long-term transport noise levels considered harmful to health in Europe based on the END thresholds and WHO recommendations, along with estimated health impacts in 2021

Figure 2. Estimated percentage change in number of people highly annoyed by transport noise in Europe under conservative and optimistic scenarios, 2017-2030