Europe is facing a “serious public health crisis”, with 98 percent of Europeans breathing very harmful polluted air, resulting in 400,000 deaths a year. The worst affected country in Europe is North Macedonia, followed by Serbia, according to research by the British newspaper The Guardian”.
Almost everyone across the continent lives in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution and according to research findings, more than half of the population of North Macedonia and Serbia live with four times more harmful particles in the air than prescribed by the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Analysis of data collected using state-of-the-art methodology – including detailed satellite images and measurements from more than 1,400 ground monitoring stations – reveals a dire picture of the quality of the air we breathe, with 98 percent of people living in areas with highly harmful particulate pollution that exceeds global benchmarks and WHO guidelines. Almost two-thirds live in areas where the air quality is more than double the WHO guidelines, writes The Guardian.
The worst affected country in Europe is North Macedonia. Almost two-thirds of people across the country live in areas with more than four times the WHO guideline of PM2.5 particles, while four areas were found to have air pollution almost six times higher, including the capital Skopje.
Almost all residents in seven Eastern European countries – Serbia, Romania, Albania, North Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – breathe in air that twice exceeds the WHO guidelines.
(Vreme, 21.09.2023)
https://www.vreme.com/vesti/istrazivanje-gardijana-srbija-medju-najzagadjenijim-zemljama-evrope/
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