European Environment Agency (EEA), 9 April 2025

Air quality steadily improving but EU standards still not fully met, latest EEA data analysis shows

Air quality is steadily improving across Europe with most air pollution monitoring stations achieving current EU annual limits for some of the most harmful air pollutants. However, additional measures to improve air quality, especially in cities, will be required to fully meet current EU standards as well as recently agreed future air quality standards by 2030, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA) air quality data analysis for 2023 and 2024 published today.

The latest data collected from monitoring stations showed specifically that EU standards were broadly met for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (99% of stations) and for nitrogen dioxide (NO2 )(98% of stations), two significantly harmful air pollutants. Despite this, World Health Organization (WHO) guideline levels are not widely met in Europe and air pollution remains the region’s largest environmental health risk, causing diseases, lowering quality of life and leading to preventable deaths.