Web report

Europe’s air quality status 2021- update

Briefing Published 07 Dec 2021 Last modified 12 Aug 2025

11 min read

Photo: © Tamas Parkanyi, ImaginAIR /EEA

This page was archived on 12 Aug 2025 with reason: Other (Moved to https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/air-quality-in-europe-2021)

Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe, causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, that, in the most serious cases, lead to premature deaths. This chapter gives the status of concentrations of pollutants in ambient air in 2019 and 2020 presented by pollutant, as relates to both EU air quality standards and WHO guideline levels. The assessment shows that, in spite of improvements in air quality in recent years, exceedances of standards are still common across the EU.