Romualdas Ginevičius

Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania

E-mail: romualdas.ginevicius@mruni.eu 

ORCID 0000-0003-2067-4398

Assessment of the impact of air pollution on population mortality in EU countries

Abstract. Particulate matter (PM 2.5), ozone, lead and radon are among the main sources of air pollution. The differences in mortality rates across the European Union due to their impact are very high, ranging from 4 to 16 times. Mortality from PM 2.5 particles is excreted 12.3 – fold compared to ozone, 4.6 – fold for lead and 10.6 – fold for radon. The state of economic development of countries and health expenditures have a significant impact on the rate of human mortality caused by air pollution. Their impact is uneven. Most of these depend on mortality from PM 2.5 particles, to a large extent from lead and ozone, and to a smaller extent to radon. All the countries of the European Union concerned pay considerable attention to health protection, since the level of the costs involved is closely linked to the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). On the other hand, the real situation is illustrated by the trend in population mortality from the sources of air pollution in question. Absolute positive changes in population mortality from particulate matter (PM 2.5) have been observed over the period 2009‒2018 (the situation has improved in all countries); significant positive changes in mortality due to lead air pollution (the situation has improved in 13 countries); moderate and negative changes due to ozone contamination (the situation improved in 11 countries) and very strong negative changes in mortality due to air pollution by ozone (the situation improved in only 8 countries).

Received: December, 2021

1st Revision: June, 2022

Accepted: October, 2022

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2022/15-4/11

JEL Classification: Q51, Q53

Keywords: air pollution by particulate matter PM 2.5, ozone, lead, radon; population mortality, condition, trends