ETC HE Report 2024/17: EEA´s revision of the European air quality index bands

The European Air quality index has been updated and now its bands take into consideration the World Health Organization global air quality guidelines, published in 2021. A subindex per pollutant is calculated based on hourly data (including for PM, for which running 24-hours averages were considered before) and on the risk of short-term mortality. The worst pollutant subindex categorizes the index. The health messages linked to the different index categories remain unchanged.

03 Jul 2025

Alberto González Ortiz (EEA), Joana Soares (NILU), Jaume Targa (4sfera), Maria Colina (4sfera), Laia Azcón (4sfera), Lorena Banyuls (4sfera), Myriam Tobollik (UBA), Silvia Monge (EEA), Ragnhildur Finnbjornsdottir (EEA)