The European Union (EU) agency’s list comprises 761 cities, including 23 from Portugal, ranked across 10 levels from the cleanest to the most polluted, or reflecting the lowest to highest “total mortality risk values.”
The risk is linked to prolonged exposure to fine particles (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and tropospheric ozone (O3) over the past two years.
The cities with the cleanest air are Oulu and Jyvaskyla, both in Finland, followed by Umea (Sweden), Kuopio (Finland), and Uppsala (Sweden) in fifth place.
Faro ranks 28th, Viana do Castelo 53rd, and Viseu 58th, all with the lowest risk (up to 10%), whereas Setúbal (101), Póvoa do Varzim (109), Sintra (128), Coimbra (138), Vila Franca de Xira (140), and Almada (150) are classified in the second tier (10% to 20%).
At level 4 (30% to 40%) are Seixal (172), Guimarães (182), Paredes (191), Amadora (193), Aveiro (195), Barreiro (200), Odivelas (241), Braga (257), and Vila Nova de Gaia (266). In the next level (40% to 50%), Gondomar (315), Valongo (327), Matosinhos (345), Lisbon (348), and Porto (372) are listed.
The last cities on the list are Vicenza (Italy), in the 760th position, and Slavonski Brod (Croatia), in the 761st, with an estimated risk of 90% to 100%.
The European city air quality viewer, published since 2019, allowing users to check their city’s performance, has been updated in terms of the methodology for calculating the rankings.
The EEA also updated the European Air Quality Index, launched in 2017, which “helps users better understand local air pollution and its health impact.”
The service now features “hourly updates of data on concentrations of major air pollutants from more than 3,500 monitoring stations across Europe.”
The index is determined using a combination of updated data reported by EEA member countries and air quality level forecasts provided by the EU’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS).
