Trends in population-weighted average annual concentrations of PM2.5 in the most disadvantaged and least disadvantaged quintiles of EU-27 NUTS 3 regions, 2007-2019

The graph represents the trend of annual average annual concentrations of particles of a diameter of less than 2.5 microns in ambient air concentration, weighted by population, by year and for the entire EU, for the richest quintile (top 20% in terms of GDP, gross domestic product, per capita) and the poorest quintile (bottom 20% in terms of GDP per capita). In the graph, one can see that both the richest regions and the poorest regions in the EU are improving their air quality (i.e. PM₂.₅ concentrations are decreasing), but the richest are doing so from lower starting levels and significantly faster than the poorest.