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Premature deaths caused by fine particle air pollution have fallen 10% annually across Europe, but the invisible killer still accounts for 307,000 premature deaths a year, the European Environment Agency said Monday (15 November). If the latest air quality guidelines from the World Health Organisation were followed by EU members, the latest number of fatalities recorded in 2019 could be cut in half, according to an EEA report. Deaths linked to fine particular matter – with a diameter below 2.5 micrometres or PM2.5 – were estimated at 346,000 for 2018.
The clear reduction in deaths for the following year were put down partly to favourable weather but above all to a progressive improvement in air quality across the continent, the European Union’s air pollution data centre said. The EEA also registers premature deaths linked to two other leading pollutants, but says it does not count them in its overall toll to avoid doubling up. Deaths caused by nitrogen dioxide – mainly from car, trucks and thermal power stations – fell by a quarter to 40,000 between 2018 and 2019. Fatalities linked to ground-level ozone in 2019 also dropped 13% to 16,800 dead. Air pollution remains the biggest environmental threat to human health in Europe, the agency said.
The EU wants to slash premature deaths due to fine air pollution by at least 55 percent in 2030 compared to 2005. If air pollution continues to fall at the current rate, the agency estimates the target will be reached by 2032. However an ageing and increasingly urbanised population could make that more difficult.
Source: Euractiv
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