OREANDA-NEWS. “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 (EU), 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.

This information, based on perception survey indicators produced by the European Commission, is issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on the occasion of the World Environment Day. Today also marks the end of the EU Green Week 2016. In addition a large amount of environment related indicators produced by Eurostat are available on its website.

Dubliners most satisfied with both air quality and noise levels in their city, inhabitants of Bucharest the least satisfied

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 Roma (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, Roma and Valletta (all 45%) as well as Warsaw (46%).