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Pollution falls by 40% around Barcelona schools
Children in Barcelona now breathe less pollution around their schools than they did seven years ago. Nitrogen dioxide concentrations outside schools fell by 40% between 2018 and 2025, according to the latest report by Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, although there is still some way to go before reaching the levels the WHO considers safer.
The improvement is beginning to bring some schools closer to the requirements that Europe will apply in the coming years. In 2025, 26% of primary schools were already recording levels compatible with the future European NO₂ limit for 2030. All schools currently comply with the regulations in force.
The health benchmark is considerably more demanding. The World Health Organization recommends not exceeding an annual average of 10 micrograms of NO₂ per cubic metre, and no school in Barcelona has yet reached that level. The future European legal limit will be 20 micrograms per cubic metre.
Pollution is not distributed equally across Barcelona either. Eixample and Ciutat Vella remain among the districts with the greatest exposure, heavily shaped by traffic density and the layout of their streets. In 2018, their school surroundings exceeded 40 micrograms per cubic metre; they have now clearly reduced those figures, although they are still around levels above the 2030 European target.
At the other end are areas with less traffic pressure, such as Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Les Corts. The difference matters especially at schools because children spend many hours each day in these settings and are one of the groups most sensitive to the effects of air pollution.
The improvement is already reflected in health indicators across the city. In 2025, the ASPB estimates that pollution was related to 7% of deaths, 30% of new childhood asthma cases and 10% of new lung cancers. These are still high figures, but lower than in recent years.
Compared with the 2020-2024 period alone, annual deaths attributable to chronic exposure have fallen by 15%, equivalent to around 200 fewer. New childhood asthma cases associated with pollution have fallen by 25%, around 200 cases, and lung cancer cases by 22%, around 30 fewer cases.
Motorised traffic remains the main source of NO₂ and explains much of the differences still seen between neighbourhoods. The data show a tangible improvement at school gates, but also an outstanding goal: ensuring that breathing air compatible with health recommendations no longer depends on the street or district where the school is located.