Inhabitants of EU capital cities: how satisfied with the air quality and noise levels?

“Generally speaking, please tell me if you are very satisfied, rather satisfied, rather unsatisfied or not at all satisfied with the quality of the air and the noise level in your city?” inhabitants of 83 European cities were asked in 2015. Results show significant disparities between capital cities in the European Union, with levels of satisfaction regarding air quality ranging from 22% to 88% and for noise levels from 31% to 82%.

Nevertheless, in most capitals, inhabitants are generally satisfied with both the quality of the air and the noise level. Dublin, Helsinki, Vienna and Luxembourg were the EU capital cities with the highest proportions of their inhabitants very or rather satisfied with air quality and noise levels in their town, in contrast notably to inhabitants of Bucharest and Sofia.

Among EU capital cities in 2015, at least three-quarters of inhabitants were very or rather satisfied with the quality of the air in their city in Dublin, Vienna and Helsinki (all 88%), followed by Luxembourg (83%), Stockholm (77%), Ljubljana (76%) and Tallinn (75%). In contrast, the lowest shares of the resident population satisfied with the quality of the air were observed in Bucharest (22%), Sofia (28%), Paris (30%), Madrid (31%) and Rome (32%).

Overall, a majority of inhabitants were satisfied with air quality in 20 of the 28 EU capital cities.

Regarding the level of noise perceived, Dublin registered the highest proportion of the population very or rather satisfied (82%), ahead of Helsinki (81%), Luxembourg (79%), Vienna (78%), Riga (77%), Vilnius (76%) and London (75%). Conversely, Bucharest recorded the lowest share of people globally satisfied with the noise level in the city (31%), followed by Sofia (36%), Athens (43%), Madrid, Rome and Valletta (all 45%) as well as Warsaw (46%).

Overall, a majority of inhabitants were satisfied with noise levels in 21 of the 28 EU capital cities.

Photo: Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Energy Union, and Corina Creţu, Member of the EC in charge of Regional Policy, went to Amsterdam to participate in the informal Ministerial meeting on urban matters.