Story · Europe map · about 5 min
How has Europe’s air changed since 2010?
The European Environment Agency maps nitrogen dioxide and fine particles for every year. This story sets its 2010 maps beside its 2024 maps and the difference between them, weighted by where people lived in 2020. They are two single years, and the EEA’s two maps follow different method reports, so the changes are a close comparison rather than an exact measure.
Nitrogen dioxide in 2010
In 2010, 87.6% of the 542 million people living in cells with an estimate in both years lived where nitrogen dioxide averaged more than the WHO guideline of 10 µg/m³. Weighted by where people live, the average was 21.3 µg/m³. The darkest cells are in and around the big cities.
Down by almost half
By 2024 the share of those people above the guideline had fallen to 58.0% and the average to 11.8 µg/m³, 45% lower. This map shows 2024 minus 2010: blue where the level fell, which is nearly everywhere, red where it rose. For 97.8% of people the level fell. The two years are single years with their own weather, and the EEA’s two maps follow different method reports, so read it as a close comparison, not an exact one.
Britain and Belgium
Per person, the United Kingdom’s nitrogen dioxide fell from 26.8 to 12.1 µg/m³, 55% lower, and Belgium’s from 26.3 to 11.9. Sweden (62%) and Norway (65%) fell by the biggest shares, from lower starting levels. London’s cell fell by about 28 µg/m³.
Italy and the Po Valley
Italy’s nitrogen dioxide fell from 24.9 to 16.0 µg/m³ per person, 35% lower, a smaller fall than Britain’s, France’s or Germany’s. The whole of the Po Valley, from Turin past Milan towards Venice, is still shaded, and 80.7% of people in Italy live above the guideline.
Fine particles fell most in the east
For fine particles the average per person across the mapped countries fell from 16.6 to 9.9 µg/m³, 40% lower. Poland fell furthest in absolute terms, from 25.8 to 14.5, and Czechia from 21.1 to 11.5. The level fell for 97.4% of people.
Still above the guideline
The WHO guideline for fine particles is 5 µg/m³, and 99.6% of the people mapped lived above it in 2010. In 2024 it was still 96.4%. Serbia changed least, from 21.1 to 19.6 µg/m³, and Romania fell from 17.2 to 14.3.
The far north is the exception
Only in the far north do many people live under the guideline. Finland averages 4.8 µg/m³ per person, down from 7.9, and it is the one country measured here where fewer than half of people (40.5%) live above it. Sweden fell from 8.1 to 5.2.
For classrooms and curious minds
Questions to talk about, alone or in a group.
- A fall of 45% in nitrogen dioxide could come from cleaner traffic, from a different year’s weather, or from a change of method. What would you need to know to tell them apart?
- Why can almost everyone live above the WHO guideline for fine particles even when the level has fallen by 40%?
Try it on the map: Switch between the 2010 map and the 2024 map for your own country. Which cities are still the darkest?
The figures above are calculated from the datasets listed on Data & sources and are approximate: many map layers are modelled or interpolated. Read each layer’s caveats on the map.