Brussels, 24 November 2023 (MIA) - Almost 400,000 deaths in Europe in 2021 were attributable to air pollution, and some could have been avoided if pollutants had been reduced to the levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its air quality guidelines, reads a report released by the European Union on Friday.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) noted that within the EU, pollution caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which affects people with heart diseases in particular, led to 253,000 deaths in 2021. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), most harmful to people with diabetes, resulted in 52,000 deaths, and short-term exposure to ozone (O3) led to 22,000 deaths.

Including a larger set of European countries outside the EU, there were 389,000 air pollution-related deaths in Europe, the EEA said.  

"Air pollutant concentrations in 2021 remained well above the levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its air quality guidelines," reads the report.

"Reducing air pollution to these guideline levels would prevent a significant number of attributable deaths in EU Member States (EU-27)," it adds. 

The highest number of deaths from PM2.5 in 2021 occurred in Poland, Italy and Germany, while countries in northern Europe such as Iceland, Scandinavia and Estonia saw the lowest impact.