France – air pollution country fact sheet

A significant proportion of Europe's urban population lives in cities where EU air quality standards for the protection of human health are regularly exceeded. Air pollution continues to have significant impacts on the health of Europeans, particularly in urban areas. These health impacts have economic costs, cutting short lives, increasing medical costs and reducing productivity through lost working days. The pollutants with the most serious impacts on human health are particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone.