Air pollution is considered the most significant environmental health risk in Europe. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that 99 % of the global population breathes air that does not meet the recommended WHO standards.
Air pollution has many negative impacts on human health and ecosystems. Breathing polluted air has potentially negative effects on a wide range of organs.
The World Health Organization estimates that poor air quality is responsible for 6.7 million premature deaths globally each year, 3.2 million due to poor household air quality, 3.5 million due to poor ambient air quality.
Within Europe, air pollution causes approximately 1% of cancers and 2% of cancer deaths (9% for lung cancer).