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Key message
Figures
Health and environment context
Policy relevance and context
Assessment
Metadata
References
Further information
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This summary is based on annual mean PM10 concentrations measured in urban background locations. National estimates are calculated as population-weighted means of average PM10 concentrations in cities. It also contains information on the environment and health context, the policy relevance and context, and an assessment of the situation in the WHO European Region. The calculations have been made with total (all age) city populations as the weighting factor in calculating the country mean indicator. This is because of the lack of children-specific data for many of the cities and on the assumption that the proportion of children in total city populations does not vary significantly between the (large) cities in each country. |
Key message | |
Country average PM10 exposure levels varied from 16 μg/m3 (Finland, Ireland) to 50-52 μg/m3 (Bulgaria, Romania). A wide (three-fold) variation in the level of exposure of children to PM10 was observed in some countries. The country average level of the indicator has not changed substantially in the last few years in most of the WHO European Region. In 2006, PM10 levels were higher by at least 5 μg/m3 than in 2004 in four countries (Austria, Hungary, Norway and Poland) and lower by at least 5 μg/m3 in another four countries(Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Slovenia). Most (90%) people (including children) in European cities where PM10 is monitored are exposed to PM10 levels exceeding the WHO air quality guideline level (AQG) (20 μg/m3) (1), giving rise to a substantial risk to children’s health. For 13% of people, the European Union (EU) limit value of 40 μg/m3 is exceeded. PM10 data from regular monitoring are available for 566 cities from 27 countries, and the data cover 22% of urban population of the Region. This compares with 416 cities from 26 countries in 2004. An approximate assessment indicates that the pollution levels and corresponding health risks may be even higher in many of the countries from which data is not available. |
Figures | |
Presentation of data Fig. 1 presents the total population distribution of annual PM10 concentrations in 2006 (or the last available year). This distribution is an approximation of the distribution of the exposure of children based on the assumption of similarity in the proportion of children in cities’ populations. Fig. 2 presents population-weighted means of PM10 concentrations measured in the 405 cities providing PM10 data from the three years 20042006 (out of the 566 cities in Fig. 1). The AQG level for annual mean PM10 concentrations is exceeded in most countries, and the EU limit value is exceeded in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia in all period 2004-2006. Fig. 1. Percentage of children living in cities with various PM10 levels, 2006  Note. In several countries the assessment is based on one city only. Source: AirBase for PM10 concentration data (2); EUROSTAT for city population data (3). Fig. 2 Changes in exposure of children to PM10 in cities, 2004 - 2006  Note: EU limit value: 40 μg/m3, Air Qualiuty Guidelines: 20 μg/m3 Source: AirBase for PM10 concentration data (2); EUROSTAT for city population data (3). Download Excel table with figure data Rationale Long-term average exposure to particulate matters (PM10) determines both the risks of chronic effects of pollution on children’s health, such as impaired development of lung function, and the frequency of acute effects, such as the aggravation of asthma or incidence of respiratory symptoms. This indicator is also well correlated with the risk of a wide range of health effects, including increased mortality, in adults. The measure of exposure combines the PM10 concentration and the size of the population subject to the exposure. |
Table 1: Availability of data for the indicator RPG3_Air_Ex2_PM  Sources: AirBase for PM10 concentration data (2); EUROSTAT for city population data (3), WHO Regional Office for Europe, European health for all database (HFA-DB) for urban population percentages (2005 data). |
Health and environment context | |
Very young children, probably including unborn babies, are particularly sensitive to air pollutants (4). The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship between particulate air pollution and deaths from respiratory complaints in the post-neonatal period. Evidence is also sufficient to infer a causal relationship between exposure to ambient air pollutants and adverse effects on lung function development. Both reversible deficits of lung function as well as chronically reduced lung growth rates and lower lung function levels are associated with exposure to particulates. The available evidence is also sufficient to assume a causal relationship between exposure to PM and aggravation of asthma, as well as the increased prevalence and incidence of cough and bronchitis. In the light of the accumulated evidence, WHO revised its AQG for PM in 2005 (1). For PM2.5, the AQG values are 10 μg/m3 (annual average) and 25 μg/m3 (24-hour mean, not to be exceeded more than 3 days/year). For PM10 the corresponding values were set as 20 μg/m3 and 50 μg/m3. Since there are insufficient data for children, these guideline values are based on evidence emerging from studies on adults. However, reduction of exposure to AQG levels will reduce the risk of health effects in children as well as in adults. This fact sheet focuses on PM, a type of air pollution that is present everywhere that people live and is generated to a great extent by human activities: transport, energy production, domestic heating and a wide range of industries. PM is an air pollutant consisting of a mixture of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air. These particles differ in their physical properties (such as size), chemical composition, etc. PM can either be directly emitted into the air (primary PM) or be formed secondarily in the atmosphere from gaseous precursors (mainly sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and non-methane volatile organic compounds) (5). The risks from various PM have been shown to increase with exposure and there is little evidence to suggest a threshold below which no adverse health effects would be anticipated (1). |
Policy relevance and context | |
There is sufficient evidence to indicate that reducing emissions of major air pollutants leads to reduced levels of particulate air pollution, population exposure and health effects. Pan-European policy context In 2004, the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health adopted the Children’s Health and Environment Action Plan for Europe, which includes four regional priority goals to reduce the burden of environment-related diseases in children. One of the goals (RPG III) aims to prevent and reduce respiratory diseases due to outdoor and indoor air pollution, thereby contributing to a reduction in the frequency of asthmatic attacks, and to ensure that children can live in an environment with clean air (6). Reduction of exposure to PM is essential to the achievement of this goal. The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution can be an important instrument contributing to the reduction of air pollution and population exposure to PM (7). The PM Working Group of the Convention is evaluating the degree of control of pollutants that contribute to the formation of PM, already provided for by existing protocols to the Convention and other instruments, as well as developing further technical and non-technical measures to assist Parties to reduce PM emissions and exposure. EU policy context The Sixth Community Environment Action Programme called for the development of a thematic strategy on air pollution with the objective of attaining "levels of air quality that do not give rise to significant negative impacts on and risks to human health and the environment". This thematic strategy on air pollution, prepared by the Clean Air for Europe programme, was adopted on 21 September 2005 (8). It established interim health-related objectives for air quality in the EU and recommended that current legislation be modernized and better focused on the most serious pollutants and that more is done to integrate environmental concerns into other policies and programmes. Council Directive 1999/30/EC of 22 April 1999 introduced the binding limit values for PM10 concentrations (40 μg/m3 as the annual average and 50 μg/m3 as the daily average not to be exceeded more than 35 days a year) (9). New directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (8) includes a cap on concentrations of PM2.5 (25 μg/m3 as annual average) and targets for reducing the exposure of the population to PM2.5. |
Assessment | |
Ambient PM10 concentrations are a good approximation of the exposure of the population to PM from outdoor sources. Numerous epidemiological studies conducted in Europe and in other parts of the world show links between various indicators of children’s health and outdoor PM10 in concentrations currently being observed in European cities. WHO’s analysis, based on data from the late 1990s, indicates that throughout the Region around 700 deaths annually from acute respiratory infections in children aged 0–4 years can be attributed to PM10 exposure (10). The quantification of impacts of PM on morbidity is more difficult and less precise, but a preliminary analysis indicates that a reduction of exposure to PM10 to 20 µg/m3 would be associated with a 7% decrease in the incidence of coughs and lower respiratory symptoms and a 2% decrease in admissions to hospital of children under 15 years with respiratory conditions (11). A decrease in PM10 concentration of 10 µg/m3 is expected to reduce the number of days that children aged 5–14 years suffer lower respiratory symptoms (wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and cough) by 1.9 days per year per child. It is also estimated to reduce days of bronchodilator usage by 18% in children aged 5-14 years with asthma (5). The estimates of health effects of PM exposure in adults are dominated by the increase in the risk of mortality due to long-time exposure to fine PM (PM2.5) (5). Current exposure to PM from anthropogenic sources leads to the loss of 8.6 months of life expectancy in Europe – from around 3 months in Finland to more than 13 months in Belgium. The total number of premature deaths attributed to exposure amounts to around 348 000 annually in the 25 EU countries. Current legislation related to the emission of pollutants is expected to reduce impacts by around one third. Further reduction, down to around 50% of those estimated for current pollution levels, could be achieved by implementing all currently feasible emission reduction measures (the maximum feasible reduction scenario) (1). |
Metadata | |
Name: Exposure of children to air pollution (particulate matter) in outdoor air Definition: Child population-weighted annual mean particulate matter (PM10) concentration. Code: RPG3_Air_Ex2_PM Data source PM10 data: AirBase (2). Population data: EUROSTAT (3). Description of data PM10 monitoring data are submitted by national authorities to AIRBASE. Only data from urban or suburban background locations, available for at least 75% days of the year, are used. Data quality check and verification of the station’s location classification are carried out by the European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (12). For several countries, the assessment is based on data from one, or a few, cities. In five countries, coverage of the urban population is under 20%. Method for indicator calculation Exp = SUM {(Pi/P)*Ci}, where: Ci = annual mean PM10 concentration in sub-population Pi, P = SUM (Pi), which is the total population in cities with data. Geographical coverage All data from cities with PM10 measured in urban (or suburban) background locations included in AirBase have been used for this analysis (Table 1). PM10 monitoring is not conducted in most of the non-EU countries, which makes it difficult to assess exposure in that part of the Region. Period of coverage PM10 data used for this analysis cover the years 2002–2006. Data from earlier years are available for a limited number of countries. For the EU countries, PM10 monitoring is required by the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme (13) and the strategy developed by the Clean Air for Europe programme, adopted in September 2005 (8). This assures a continuation of monitoring and an increase in coverage of the European population. Frequency of update Air quality data (daily concentration of PM10) are submitted by national authorities to AirBase annually. After data quality checks and data processing, the data are made available on line (with a delay of about one year). City-specific population data are updated less frequently but, since they are used as a weighting factor only, and due to the relative stability of the spatial distribution of population in the countries, the exposure indicator is not affected by the lack of an annual update of population data. Data quality Quality assurance and control procedures apply to the PM10 data submitted to Airbase (2). For more information on meta data and calculation of this indicator, please refer to the methodology . |
References | |
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Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament. Thematic strategy on air pollution. Brussels, Commission of the European Communities, COM(2005) 4006 final, 21.9.2005 (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2005/com2005_0446en01.pdf, accessed 7 March 2007). For this indicator, a Health Impact assessment case study has been carried out:HIA for children's exposure to outdoor PM10 Author: Michal Krzyzanowski, WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany. |
