Europe faces a “serious public health crisis”, affecting almost the entire continent living in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution, revealed a Guardian investigation. Extract from the report: Analysis of data collected using cutting-edge methodology – including detailed satellite images and measurements from more than 1,400 ground monitoring stations – reveals a dire picture of dirty air, with 98% people living in areas where fine particle pollution is extremely damaging and exceeds World Health Organization guidelines. Nearly two-thirds live in areas where air quality is more than double WHO guidelines.
The most affected country in Europe is North Macedonia. Nearly two-thirds of the country’s population live in areas where air pollution is four times higher than the WHO PM2.5 guidelines, while four areas have air pollution almost six times higher, including in its capital, Skopje. Eastern Europe is much worse than Western Europe, with the exception of Italy, where more than a third of people in the Po Valley and surrounding northern regions of the country breathe four-year-old air. times higher than the WHO figure for the most dangerous airborne particles.
