Reducing environmental health inequalities

WHO is working to reduce environmental health inequalities so that everyone across the WHO European Region can live healthy lives.

Environmental conditions are a major determinant of health and well-being, but they are not the same for everyone everywhere. Inequalities in environmental risk are interlinked with almost all contemporary environmental challenges, including exposure to air pollution, noise, chemicals, contaminated soil and polluted water, and inadequate access to urban nature. The risk of being affected by extreme weather events is also distributed unequally across populations.

In addition, environmental risks related to housing conditions, such as polluting fuels for cooking and heating, inadequate water and sanitation supply, dampness, and crowding, are also characterized by inequalities. This puts disadvantaged and less wealthy individuals at higher risk of environmental exposures and related health outcomes.

Environmental health inequalities can be significant, and represent a challenge for many national and local governments in ensuring health for all. Although most countries have achieved environmental improvements, the most affected population subgroups have not benefitted equally. The following list reflects some of these persistent inequalities.

• Households below the relative poverty threshold are at least 3 times more likely to live in overcrowded conditions in many countries.
• In some countries, the proportion of the population without access to adequate drinking-water sources is over 5 times higher in the lowest wealth quintile than in the highest.

• Energy poverty is 3–4 times more frequent in households below the relative poverty threshold in most countries across the Region.
• In some countries in the eastern part of the Region, polluting fuels are used by 90% of the least affluent population groups.

At WHO/Europe’s 7th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in July 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, Member States committed to address the cross-cutting challenge of environmental health inequalities, and to establish equitable environments to support health and sustainable development.

WHO compiles evidence to support action on environmental health inequalities, quantifying the magnitude of intra-country inequalities for selected environmental health risks in order to identify country-specific priorities for tackling environmental injustice. Furthermore, WHO encourages national and subnational authorities to:

• collect equity-sensitive data on environmental conditions;  
• incorporate inequality aspects into environmental, health and infrastructural policies; and
• address inequality challenges through participatory planning approaches such as health impact assessments and environmental impact assessments.