Pollution
12% of EU population reported pollution in their area
In 2023, 12.2% of the EU population reported that pollution, grime or environmental issues affected their household, a decrease from 15.1% in 2019.
Malta had the highest share of population reporting such problems (34.7%), followed by Greece (20.5%) and Germany (16.8%).
By contrast, Croatia reported the lowest share (4.2%), ahead of Sweden (5.0%) and Slovakia (5.8%).
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/news/maps/population-exposed-pollution-grime-2023.html
Source dataset: ilc_mddw02
At EU level, exposure to pollution, grime or other environmental problems increased with the degree of urbanization. While 6.8% of people living in rural areas were affected, this share was 10.5% in town and suburbs and 17.2% in cities.
For more information
- Statistics Explained article on quality of life indicators - natural and living environment
- Thematic section on quality of life
- Database on quality of life
- Key figures on European living conditions -2024 edition
Methodological note
The data presented in this article comes from the 'Labour market and housing conditions’ module, collected every three years as part of EU statistics on income and living conditions.
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