Air pollution harms human health and the environment. In Europe, emissions of many air pollutants have decreased substantially over the past decades, resulting in improved air quality across the region. However, air pollutant concentrations are still too high, and air quality problems persist. A significant proportion of Europe’s population live in areas, especially cities, are exposed to levels of air pollution deemed harmful by the World Health Organization. More…

Air pollution is not the same everywhere. Different pollutants are released into the atmosphere from a wide range of sources, including industry, transport, agriculture, waste management and households. Certain air pollutants are also released from natural sources, including volcanic eruptions, windblown dust, sea-salt spray and plants. In terms of air pollution, road transport emissions are often more harmful than those from other sources, as these happen at ground level and tend to occur in cities, close to people. More…

Many European countries provide online information about air quality. The European Environmental Agency provides information on the current air quality situation based on measurements from more than 2000 air quality monitoring stations across Europe. However, there are still many places where air pollution is not monitored. Together we can provide a better picture of how is air quality. Join European Clean Air Day and monitor the air quality where you live. More…

There are several different reports on air quality. The 2018 World Air Quality Report presents PM2.5 air quality data as aggregated through the IQAir AirVisual platform in 2018. The data included is a subset of information provided through the platform, including only PM2.5 measured from ground-based stations with high data availability. You can check ranking of your city and decide if you would like take actions to improve air quality and protect your health. More…