Belgian cities among most polluted

Not one Belgian city meets the target for atmospheric particulate matter imposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The air in Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels is worse than the air in most other European cities.

Worldwide, only 12% of city dwellers live in a city where the air quality remains within the WHO standard. Belgian cities, especially in Flanders, do not belong to this group, as evidenced by a database of 1,600 cities published by WHO.

"We live in the region with the highest air pollution in Western Europe," says Tim Nawrot, professor of environmental epidemiology at Hasselt University. Nawrot specialises in the effects of particulate matter on health and says that WHO’s findings could mean one year off the life expectancy of the average Belgian urbanite.