Every year in Europe 400,000 people die from air pollution.

More than 400,000 people in the European Union die prematurely every year as a result of air pollution. This is the result of a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which was published in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The report analyzed data on the impact of the environment on the health and well-being of Europeans. According to this, air pollution remains the greatest environmental health threat in Europe. In 1990, however, the number of premature deaths due to it was still one million.

In second place is noise pollution, which leads to 12,000 premature deaths, the report said. The effects of climate change are also increasingly having their share, for example heat waves and floods. People in urban environments are particularly affected by the consequences of climate change, said Catherine Ganzleben from the EEA. Other factors mentioned by the Environment Agency are chemical compounds, resistance to pathogens resulting from excessive use of antibiotics and polluted drinking water.

The clear difference between the countries in Eastern and Western Europe is also striking. In many Eastern European countries, the rate of premature deaths from environmental factors is much higher than in Western Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina (27 percent) had the highest share of deaths related to environmental pollution, and Iceland and Norway (9 percent) the lowest. The situation in Germany is therefore also comparatively good.

Sourse : WELT.DE