Residents of the Niederaussem power plant in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia can see the air polluted.
Picture: Picture Alliance
According to data from the EU Environment Agency, an estimated 307,000 people in the EU died prematurely due to air pollution in 2019, and tens of thousands of them were in Germany. Overall, the air quality is getting better and better.
SecondAccording to environmental experts, improving air quality will prevent many premature deaths due to pollution. As announced by the European Union Environment Agency EEA on Monday, an estimated 307,000 people in the European Union died prematurely due to fine dust (PM2.5) pollution in the surrounding air in 2019, of which tens of thousands in Germany.More than half of these premature deaths occurred in I -Approximately 178,000 or 58%-If all EU member states comply with the World Health Organization’s new guidelines, it can theoretically be avoided.
Does not meet WHO standards
this WHO In September, their recommended limits for pollutants in the air became stricter. Therefore, the organization believes that it is reasonable in terms of health, even much lower than the current EU guidelines applicable to Germany.
The European Economic Area, headquartered in Copenhagen, now emphasizes in a comprehensive analysis, air quality In Europe, 2019 is better than 2018. Nevertheless, according to the information, in addition to 307,000 premature deaths caused by fine dust, 40,400 people were caused by long-term pollution of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and 16,800 people were caused by ground-level ozone (O3). Due to the possibility of double counting, these values should not be added. In the case of Germany, UNEP sets these figures at 53,800, 6000 and 3350.
