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EU urban population exposed to harmful levels of air pollutants in 2012 -2014

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Prod-ID: INF-60-en
Published 23 Nov 2016 Last modified 21 Nov 2016
Photo: © Lilla Lakatos, My City/EEA

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Exceedance of air quality standards in urban areas Air quality in Europe is slowly improving. However, between 2000 and 2014, a significant proportion of the urban population in the EU-28 was exposed to concentrations of certain air pollutants above the EU limit or target values. The numbers of people exposed were even higher in relation to the more stringent World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guideline values set for the protection of human health.    For fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), 8 - 17 % of the urban population were exposed to concentrations in excess of the EU target value, while 85 - 97 % were exposed to concentrations above the WHO guideline value (for 2006-2014 only). For particulate matter (PM 10 ), the respective exposure estimates were 16 - 42% for the EU limit value and 50 - 92 % for the WHO guideline value. For ozone (O 3 ), estimates was 8 - 55 % for the EU target value and 94 - 99 % for the WHO guideline value. For nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), estimates were 7 - 31 % in both cases (EU limit value and WHO guideline). For benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), estimates were 17 - 24 % for the EU target value and 81 - 91 % for the estimated reference level (for 2008-2014 only).

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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/stronger-measures-needed/eu-urban-population-exposed-to or scan the QR code.

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