This chapter focuses on preventable risk factors to health among adolescents and adults, including smoking, alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, unhealthy nutrition, lack of physical activity, overweight, and environmental risk factors such as air pollution. While tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption have decreased over time, the use of new tobacco and nicotine products has increased, and harmful alcohol drinking patterns are widespread. Regarding nutrition and physical activity, less than one in eight European adults reported consuming the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day in 2019, and less than one in three performed at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week. As a result, more than one in two European adults were overweight or obese in 2019. Air pollution also has serious public health consequences in EU countries, causing an estimated 300 000 deaths due to fine particulate matter pollution alone in 2019, although this number has reduced in most countries as emissions are declining.
Health at a Glance: Europe 2022
State of Health in the EU Cycle
Health at a Glance: Europe
