240,000 people die prematurely because of bad air

City dwellers particularly at risk: 240,000 people die prematurely because of bad air

Berlin: Cars, trucks and delivery vehicles drive towards the city center on the Kaiserdamm in the capital. Despite better air quality, around 240,000 people in the EU died prematurely in 2020 as a result of exposure to particulate matter in the air around them. The EU Environment Agency EEA published this estimate on Thursday.

Air quality in the EU is constantly improving. Nevertheless, around 240,000 people will die prematurely in 2020 because of particulate matter, as the EU agency EEA estimates. In cities, the pollution is almost always above the WHO limit.

Copenhagen. Around 240,000 people in the EU died prematurely in 2020 due to the air pollution in their area with fine dust. The EU Environment Agency EEA published this estimate on Thursday. People who live in cities are therefore particularly at risk: almost all city dwellers (96 percent) are exposed to fine dust levels that are above the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline values of five micrograms per cubic meter, it said.

Although air quality in EU countries has improved in recent years and the number of premature deaths from pollution is falling, it still poses the greatest environmental health risk, it said. According to the Environment Agency, around 49,000 were due to chronic exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and 24,000 to ground-level ozone (O3) in addition to the premature deaths due to particulate matter.

RND/dpa

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