MOST POLLUTED COUNTRIES IN EUROPE

​There are five major pollutants: 1. ground-level ozone, 2. particle pollution (also known as particulate matter, including PM2.5 and PM 10, 3. carbon monoxide, 4. sulfur dioxide and 5. nitrogen dioxide.

Air pollutants and greenhouse gases are often emitted from the same sources, such as coal-fired power plants and diesel-fueled vehicles. Fine particles are the most damaging air pollutants to health responsible for more than 90% of the approximately 7 million premature deaths per year caused by air pollution. Methane is a precursor of ground-level ozone and is 80 times more potent at warming the planet than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Exposure to ozone causes some 1 million premature deaths every year. Furthermore, some components of fine particles, such as black carbon, are also powerful short-lived climate pollutants. Reducing fine particles therefore helps to achieve local benefits of improving air quality and health, and global benefits of climate change mitigation. These linkages between air pollution and climate pollutants call for integrated approaches to air quality management and climate change mitigation, to ensure that global benefits of air quality management are realized, and at the same time, climate change mitigation choices do not result in increased local air pollution and harm to health.

Ranking in Europe

1. Bosnia & Herzegovina
2. North Macedonia
3. Bulgaria
4. Montenegro
5. Serbia
6. Croatia
7. Kosovo
8. Ukraine
9. Italy
10. Greece
11. Poland
12. Albania
13. Cyprus
14. Romania
15. Slovakia
16. Hungary
17. Czech Republic
18. Malta
19. Lithuania
20. Latvia
21. France
22. Austria
23. Spain
24. Germany
25. Netherlands
26. Denmark
27. Russia
28. Portugal
29. Luxembourg
30. Switzerland
31. Belgium
32. Ireland
33. United Kingdom
34. Andorra
35. Iceland
36. Estonia
37. Norway
38. Finland