Fine particle pollution caused 238,000 premature deaths in the European Union (EU) in 2020. This figure comes from a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) published on Thursday.
“Exposure to fine particle concentrations above World Health Organization recommendations has resulted in 238,000 premature deaths” in the EU, she writes.
This figure is up slightly from 2019, when fine particles, which penetrate deep into the lungs, caused the premature death of 231,000 people.
This increase contrasts with the constant decline of the last twenty years, with a total decline of 45% between 2005 and 2020, even if the figure remains “significant” underlines the study.
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The increase in deaths in 2020 can be explained in particular by the fact that Covid-19 hit people with comorbidities linked to air pollution (cancer, lung disease or type 2 diabetes) the hardest.
Furthermore, "if we compare 2020 to 2019, the number of premature deaths attributable to air pollution has increased for fine particles (PM2.5, less than 2.5 microns) but has decreased for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3)”, details the EEA in its study.
More than a million deaths from fine particles in the early 1990s
For ozone particles (O3), particularly from road traffic and industrial activities, the trend in 2020 was downward with more than 24,000 deaths, i.e. a drop of 3% over one year.
For nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a gas produced mainly by vehicles and thermal power plants, more than 49,000 premature deaths have been recorded.
This is a decrease of 22%.
It is partly explained by the decrease in road traffic during the pandemic.
The agency, based in Copenhagen (Denmark), does not add balance sheets because it would lead to double counting.
According to its annual report, it estimates that the EU is on track to meet its target of reducing premature deaths by more than 50% by 2030 compared to 2005. In the early 1990s, fine particulates caused almost one million premature deaths in the 27 EU countries.
In 2005, 431,000 people still died from it.
However, air pollution remains the most important environmental threat to the health of Europeans.