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Published today, European Environment Agency’s (EEA) updated European city air quality viewer shows that people in Uppsala and Umeå, Sweden, and Faro, Portugal, can enjoy the cleanest city air in Europe. Three out of four Europeans live in urban areas and most of them are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution. Improving air quality to levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) could significantly reduce premature deaths caused by air pollution.

The EEA’s European city air quality viewer ranks 375 cities from the cleanest to the most polluted based on average levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The data was collected from over 500 monitoring stations at urban locations across EEA member countries over the past two calendar years, 2022 and 2023.

The viewer shows that only 13 European cities had average fine particulate concentrations that were below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) health-based guideline level of 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air (5 μg/m3). These cities include four northern capitals: Reykjavik, Tallinn, Stockholm and Helsinki.

The European Green Deal’s zero pollution action plan sets a 2030 target of reducing premature deaths caused by fine particulate matter by at least 55%, compared with 2005 levels, and a long-term goal of no significant health impacts by 2050. Earlier this year, the EU institutions reached an agreement on a proposal to update the ambient air quality directives with the aim to align the EU air quality standards closer to the WHO’s guideline levels and help deliver on the objectives of the zero pollution action plan. 

The European city air quality viewer provides an indication on the typical air quality in European cities over the past two years. The viewer focuses on long-term concentrations of PM2.5, as it is the air pollutant with the highest negative health impacts. Later this year, the EEA will publish an analysis on the impacts of air pollution on ecosystems and human health. This includes estimates on deaths and ill health that can be attributed to poor air quality. 

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