Air pollution threatens the health of 84.2 million people across 16 regions in Germany. The average PM2.5 level is 7.4 µg/m³—1.5× higher than the WHO guideline.
Brought to you by Amrit Sharma
Germany faces significant air pollution challenges. 100% of states exceed the WHO guideline for clean air. This is putting 84.2 million across 16 states at risk.
The average PM2.5 over 2023 was 7.4µg/m³. That's 1.5 times the WHO guideline for clean air of 5µg/m³.
This is equivalent of everybody, including children, smoking about 123 cigarettes in a year.
Every person in Germany is losing 0.24 years of their life to air pollution. This isn't just a statistic—it's grandparents who won't see their grandchildren graduate. Parents missing birthdays. Lives cut short. Breathing kills.
These stolen years come from diseases you know—COPD that makes every breath a struggle, lung cancer that turns healthy tissue deadly, heart attacks that strike without warning, strokes that change everything in an instant. Air pollution doesn't just kill. It damages your body from the inside, every single day.
Across Germany, 20.2M years of life hang in the balance. That's the collective future being taken from 84.2 million people—simply by breathing.
The top 10 most polluted regions in Germany by PM2.5 levels. These regions face the greatest health burden from air pollution.
Browse detailed air quality data for every region in Germany.