Eastern Europeans are Living Shorter Lives Than Their Western Neighbors Due To Air Pollution

Despite improvements in air quality over the last two decades, Europeans today are breathing starkly different air. The western portion of the continent experiences generally cleaner air compared to the eastern part, where the entire populations of Poland, Belarus, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Armenia, Moldova, Cyprus, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina do not meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline for particulate pollution. And, they’re living shorter lives because of it. In the east, Europeans are losing 10.7 months of life expectancy on average—or a combined 169.9 million years. That’s compared to the 3.8 months, or a combined 124.8 million life-years, lost to residents in the west. Some parts of western Europe even have clean air, with Ireland and Portugal fully meeting the WHO guideline.