Air pollution remains the most significant environmental threat to the health of Europeans. In its new report published on Thursday 24 November, the European Environment Agency (EEA) estimates that “exposure to fine particle concentrations above World Health Organization recommendations has resulted in 238,000 premature deaths” across the European Union (EU).
This is up slightly from 2019, when fine particles, which penetrate deep into the lungs, caused the premature death of some 231,000 people. This increase is explained in particular by the fact that Covid-19 has hit people with comorbidities linked to air pollution (cancer, lung disease or type 2 diabetes) the hardest.
Otherwise, “comparing 2020 to 2019, the number of premature deaths attributable to air pollution has increased for [particules fines] PM2.5 but decreased for [le dioxyde d’azote] NO2 and [l’ozone] O3 »details the AEE in its study.
Nearly a million deaths in the early 1990s
According to the EEA, 96% of the urban population in the EU was exposed in 2020 to concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) above the WHO recommended level of 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
For ozone particles (O3), particularly from road traffic and industrial activities, the trend in 2020 was downward with more than 24,000 deaths, i.e. a drop of 3% over one year. For nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a gas produced mainly by vehicles and thermal power plants, more than 49,000 premature deaths have been recorded, a 22% drop which is partly explained by the decrease in road traffic during the pandemic. of Covid-19.
The agency, based in Copenhagen, does not add balance sheets because it would lead to double counting.
This overall annual increase contrasts with the steady decline estimated in recent years: between 2005 and 2020, the drop in premature deaths due to air pollution stands at 45%. According to its annual report, the EEA estimates that the EU is on track to meet its target of reducing premature deaths by more than 50% by 2030 compared to 2005. In the early 1990s, fine particles caused nearly one million premature deaths in the 27 EU countries. In 2005, 431,000 people still died from it.