NEARLY 2,700 people in Spain died from air pollution between 2008 and 2009, according to research by the National College of Health – although a World Health Organisation study for 2012 brings the figure up to 6,860.
But in terms of land mass and population, Spain's air-pollution mortality rate – among the highest in true numbers – is fairly low in comparison with most of Europe.
Even then, Spain has been urged by the EU to cut its contamination rates, and traffic restrictions have been made periodically in Madrid and Barcelona when air-quality readings are low.
Still an ideal expat destination for cleaner air
Most of Spain's air pollution is, logically, in its largest cities, which are very dispersed with vast swathes of barely-inhabited countryside in between, and sea and mountain air and relatively low-density industrialisation means it is not difficult to find a healthy and refreshing oxygen supply.
And the countries which produce most of Spain's European expats suffer a far higher rate of fatal pollution per square kilometre.
In 2012 – the most recent set of figures produced – nearly three times as many people died from pollution effects in the UK as in Spain; three-and-a-half times as many in Italy, and over four times as many in Germany.
The College of Health reached its statistics using a formula applied to the demographic pyramid of each Spanish city and large town, heatwaves and influenza epidemics, says research leader Julio Díaz, whilst the World Health Organisation (WHO) takes into account deaths resulting from ozone factors and CO2.
When Díaz's team used the same basis for the study as the WHO, its own numbers came out slightly higher.
Using the WHO figures, Spain's air pollution death toll is the 12th-highest out of the 41 European countries listed – not including Russia, Kosovo, Liechtenstein or any former Soviet State east of Istanbul - and 9th-highest in the EU, although it should be borne in mind that Spain has the second-largest land mass in Europe, meaning the results are actually much better, for example, Switzerland, with 1,482 deaths in an area that would fit 18 times into the Spanish mainland alone.
German and Polish pollution death toll close to that of Brazil, and the UK's equals México's
The worst result for Europe is Ukraine, with 54,507 residents dying in just one year from conditions caused by air pollution – which include respiratory disorders, heart disease and cancer – followed by Turkey's 32,668, although the country which fares worst in the EU is Poland, with 26,589 deaths in 2012 as a direct result of atmospheric contamination – more than the whole of Brazil.
Germany (26,160) and Italy (21,057) have the second- and third-poorest records, being close to those of Brazil, Thailand and Burma.
Britain is the fourth-worst with 16,355 deaths – just a few hundred behind the whole of México - in a population of 65 million, compared with Spain's 6,860 out of 46 million in a land area one-and-a-half times that of the UK.
Deaths were into five figures in 2012 in Romania (14,497) and France (10,954), the EU's largest country by land mass, and also faring worse than Spain were Hungary (8,147), Bulgaria (8,634) and Belarus (9,450), although the latter is not an EU member.
Although Andorra's 22 and Monaco's nine are relative to their size, Sweden shows the most outstanding results for low air-pollution mortality, with just 40 deaths in 2012, and Iceland's small figure of 21 is likely to be partly due to the fact that all its energy, except vehicle fuel, is from renewable sources thanks to its abundant underground hot springs.
Global figures: 621,000 deaths in India and 93 in Australia
Worldwide, Russia's 140,851 annual deaths and the USA's 38,043 are low considering their size and population, whilst Canada's 1,886 is exceptional and Australia's 93 is bafflingly-small.
China is by far the worst, with 1,032,833 million annual fatalities caused by air-pollution effects, and India is second-worst with 621,138.
Only one person died in 2012 from pollution in Brunei-Darussalam, but the cleanest air seems to be in the Pacific islands: Kiribati's three deaths, Micronesia's six and Vanuatu's whopping 25 are almost disastrous when compared with Samoa, the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Tonga and Tuvalu, where not one single death was recorded from atmospheric contamination.
A zero mortality was also seen in the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Seychelles, and the tiny enclave of San Marino on Italy's east coast.
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