Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat)

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact: ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

The data sources an indicator which is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 11 on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and SDG 3 on good health and well-being which is embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under the 'European Green Deal'.

The indicator estimates the years of life lost (YLL) and premature deaths due to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5). PM2.5 are particulates whose diameter is less than 2.5 micrometres and which can be carried deep into the lungs where they can cause inflammation and exacerbate the condition of people suffering heart and lung diseases.

Premature deaths are deaths that occur before a person reaches an expected age. This expected age is typically the life expectancy for a country, stratified by sex. Premature deaths are considered preventable if their cause can be eliminated.

Years of life lost (YLL) are defined as the years of potential life lost due to premature death. YLL is an estimate of the number of years that people in a population would have lived had there been no premature deaths. The YLL measure takes into account the age at which deaths occur and therefore the contribution to the total is greater for a death occurring at a younger age and lower for a death occurring at an older age.

i. total number of years of life lost

ii. number of years of life lost, per 100 000 people (rate)

iii. number of premature deaths

iv. number of premature deaths, per 100 000 people (rate)

Calendar year.

The number of premature deaths have been calculated according to methodology described in EEA´s briefing Assessing the risks to health from air pollution (https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/assessing-the-risks-to-health/assessing-the-risks-to-health); Eionet Report ETC/ATNI 13/2019 (https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-atni/products/etc-atni-reports/etc-atni-report-13-2019-health-risk-assessment-of-air-pollution-in-europe-methodology-description-and-2017-results); and Eionet ETC/ATNI Report 10/2021.

EEA/European Topic Centre on Air pollution, transport, noise and industrial pollution

Data provider: European Environment Agency (EEA)

Every year

The indicator is updated annually.

T+2 years

New data points are disseminated within two years after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between EU Member States and the other presented countries.

> 10 years

Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2005.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

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