Air pollution costs European economies US$ 1.6 trillion a year in diseases and deaths, new WHO study says

A staggering US$ 1.6 trillion is the economic cost of the approximate 600 000 premature deaths and of the diseases caused by air pollution in the WHO European Region in 2010, according to a study conducted for the Region. The amount is nearly equivalent to one tenth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire European Union in 2013.

The study was published in April 2015 by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a 3-day high-level meeting on environment and health in Europe opened. Over 200 representatives from European countries and international and nongovernmental organizations gathered in Haifa, Israel, on 28–30 April 2015 to look at achievements, gaps and challenges and set future priorities.