Environment

Bucharest, Sofia, Zagreb among 24 cities with EU’s highest air pollution costs

Bucharest Sofia Zagreb among 24 cities with EU’s highest air pollution costs

Photo: Bucharest (Pixabay)

Published

October 27, 2020

Country

Comments

comments icon

0

Share

Published:

October 27, 2020

Country:

Comments:

comments icon

0

Share

Bucharest, Sofia, and Zagreb are on the list of the 24 cities with the highest total damage from air pollution, according to a study conducted by CE Delft on health-related social costs in 432 cities in the European Union, United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland.

In total, over 130 million people live in the places covered in the 30 countries, with an average of 301,754 inhabitants per city. In 2018, total social costs for all 432 cities surpassed EUR 166 billion. The average cost per city is over EUR 385 million, the study finds.

Social costs are costs affecting welfare and comprise both direct health care expenditures and indirect health impacts

Social costs affect welfare and they comprise both direct health care expenditures (e.g. for hospital admissions) and indirect health impacts (e.g. diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or reduced life expectancy due to air pollution). They affect welfare because people have a clear preference for healthy life years in a good and clean environment.

Air pollution in cities stems from transport activities, household heating and a range of other activities including agriculture and industry. The study focused on the role of transport in explaining the social costs.

A 1% increase in the average journey time to work increases the social costs of PM10 emissions by 0.29% and those of NO2 emissions by 0.54%. A 1% increase in the number of cars in a city increases overall social costs by almost 0.5%, the Health costs of air pollution in European cities and the linkage with transport study reads.

Every inhabitant of a European city suffered a welfare loss of over EUR 1,250 a year on average

In 2018, every inhabitant of a European city suffered an average welfare loss of over EUR 1,250 a year owing to direct and indirect health losses associated with poor air quality. It is equivalent to 3.9% of income earned in cities.

air pollution eu cities

There is a substantial spread between the figures among cities. In the Romanian capital Bucharest, total welfare loss amounts to over EUR 3,000 per capita/year, while in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain it is under EUR 400.

In Bulgaria, Romania and Poland, health-related social costs are between 8% and 10% of income earned

In many cities in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland, health-related social costs are 8% to 10% of income earned. Most relate to premature mortality: for the 432 cities investigated, the average contribution of mortality to total social costs is 76.1%.

Comments (0)

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Enter Your Comment
Please wait... Please fill in the required fields. There seems to be an error, please refresh the page and try again. Your comment has been sent.

Related Articles

Successful completion of the WISE serbia mentorship program trust, support, and personal transformation

WISE Serbia mentorship program successfully completed: trust, support, and personal growth

24 June 2025 - The first mentorship program of the WISE Serbia women’s network in sustainable energy, the green economy, and climate action was successfully concluded with an event held in Belgrade

Ireland ends coal use Spain Italy Greece set to follow

Ireland ends coal use – Spain, Italy, Greece set to follow

24 June 2025 - The last coal plants in several countries in the European Union are operating only barely or occasionally

Western Balkan coal plants cut harmful emissions 2024 breaches extreme

Western Balkan coal plants cut harmful emissions in 2024 but breaches remain extreme

19 June 2025 - SO2 emissions from NERP-bound coal plants in BiH, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Serbia were six times above legal limits last year

serbia air quality ebrd loan sinisa mali sara pavkov Matteo Colangeli

Serbia secures EUR 50 million loan for air quality projects

12 June 2025 - The Government of Serbia has secured a EUR 50 million loan to be invested in a series of air quality protection projects