Guides · EEA AEI 2023 · Burden of Disease 2022
Air-quality guides
Poland leads PM2.5 AEI; Italy leads PM2.5-attributable deaths. These guides explain the units and vintages behind that split.
Data updated 2026-09-01
- 16.0 µg/m³
- Poland AEI #1
- 51,000
- Italy deaths #1
- 7
- Guides
- 28
- Countries with AEI
Download the EU-27 AEI extract cited on this page: eea-aei-statistics.csv (CC BY 4.0). Also on Statistics.
The ranking join in one line
According to the EEA Air Quality Status Report 2025 (AEI 2023) and Burden of Disease 2022, Poland is #1 of 28 by PM2.5 AEI (16.0 µg/m³) at premature-death rank 2 ≠ Italy #1 of 27 by PM2.5-attributable premature deaths (51,000) at AEI rank 8.
- 16.0 µg/m³
- Poland PM2.5 AEI (#1 of 28)
- #2
- Poland premature-death rank
- 51,000
- Italy PM2.5 deaths (#1 of 27)
- #8
- Italy PM2.5 AEI rank
Guide index
Understanding PM2.5 vs PM10
Why fine particulate matter is more dangerous than coarse, health pathways, sources, and where the EU and WHO numbers come from.
EU limit values vs WHO 2021 guidelines
The gap between European legal limits and World Health Organization health-evidence guidelines explained, with the 2024 revised directive timeline.
The seven regulated EU air pollutants
PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3, SO2, CO, and benzene, what each pollutant is, where it comes from, and how exposure affects health.
How air pollution affects health
Cardiovascular, respiratory, and cognitive impacts, the WHO 2021 evidence summary translated for a general audience.
Country PM2.5 AEI versus premature deaths
This extract has no city table. The live join is country AEI #1 versus Burden of Disease death-count #1.
What is an air-quality monitoring station?
How traffic, background, and industrial stations differ, why the EEA station-code classification matters, and what 75% data capture actually means.
Wildfire smoke and Saharan dust intrusions
How trans-boundary events drive short-term PM2.5 spikes across Europe and how the EEA handles attribution.
Figures on PlainAirQuality are rendered from this site's database rather than typed into the page. Country values restate the EEA's published series and are held in our dataset pending an automated re-import; station-level values are modelled from those national means, not measured at the station. Figures on this page come from the EEA's published series (population-weighted country exposure and Burden of Disease mortality); anything shown per station is a modelled estimate derived from those national means, never an independent reading. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.