Pollution from nitrogen dioxide (NO2), most harmful to people with diabetes, resulted in 52,000 deaths and short-term ozone (O3) exposure led to 22,000 deaths.
Including a larger set of European countries outside the EU, there were 389,000 pollutant-related deaths in Europe, the EEA said in its report for 2021, released on Friday.
"Air pollutant concentrations in 2021 remained well above the levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its air quality guidelines," the EEA said in the report.
"Reducing air pollution to these guideline levels would prevent a significant number of attributable deaths in EU member states."
NO2 and short-term O3 exposure had the biggest impact on deaths in Turkey, Italy and Germany, according to the report.
Persons:
Flavio Lo Scalzo, Piotr Lipinski, Susan Fenton
Organizations:
Allianz, REUTERS, Rights, World Health, European Environment Agency, European Union, World Health Organization, WHO, Thomson
Locations:
Milan, Italy, Rights BRUSSELS, Europe, PM2.5, Poland, Germany, Iceland, Scandinavia, Estonia, Turkey