52 Noise Exposure Statistics

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These noise exposure figures cover the measurement periods and populations identified in the available source material. Estimates, surveys and forecasts retain their reported scope.

Key Noise Exposure Statistics

The main findings are:

  • About 109 million people, or more than 20% of the EU-27 population, were exposed to long-term road, rail or aircraft noise at or above the END threshold of 55 dB Lden in the latest 2022 mapping.
  • In the EEA’s 2025 report, road traffic exposed an estimated 92 million people above 55 dB day-evening-night, compared with 18 million for rail and 2.6 million for aircraft noise (2022 END reporting round; Europe).
  • Transport noise in Europe was estimated to contribute annually to 73,000 premature deaths, 49,000 new cardiovascular disease cases and 23,000 type 2 diabetes cases (2025 report estimates).
  • In 2023, 18.2% of the EU population reported that noise from neighbours or the street was a problem for their household.
  • CDC estimates that 22 million U.S. workers are exposed to potentially damaging workplace noise each year (annual estimate).
  • More than 1 billion people aged 12–35 are at risk of hearing loss from recreational exposure to loud sound (current WHO estimate; Global, ages 12–35).
  • Using stricter WHO source-specific thresholds, an estimated 145 million people—over 30% of the population—were exposed to unhealthy transport noise levels (2022; EU-27).
  • The number of people highly annoyed by transport noise fell by an estimated 3% between 2017 and 2022 (2017–2022; Europe).
  • An estimated 16.9 million Europeans experience long-term annoyance from transport noise and about 4.6 million severe sleep disturbance (2025 report estimates).
  • The EU household noise-disturbance share fell from 20.6% in 2010 to 18.2% in 2023 (2010–2023).
  • OSHA requires a hearing-conservation program when exposure reaches 85 dBA as an 8-hour time-weighted average (current standard; U.S. covered worksites).
  • Nearly 40% of 12–35-year-olds in middle- and high-income countries are exposed to potentially damaging sound levels in recreational venues (2022 standard estimate; Middle/high-income countries, ages 12–35).
  • Approximately 89 million people were exposed to road traffic noise of at least 55 dB Lden, and about 57 million experienced road noise at night above the reported harmful level (2022; EU-27).
  • WHO recommends reducing aircraft noise to 45 dB Lden and 40 dB Lnight to limit health effects (WHO 2018 guideline thresholds used in EEA assessment; Europe).
  • Transport noise was estimated to cause reading difficulties in more than 500,000 European children and behavioural issues in about 115,000 (2025 report estimates).

Contents

How many people are exposed to environmental noise

  • About 109 million people, or more than 20% of the EU-27 population, were exposed to long-term road, rail or aircraft noise at or above the END threshold of 55 dB Lden in the latest 2022 mapping.

(Exposure of Europe’s population to…)
* Using stricter WHO source-specific thresholds, an estimated 145 million people—over 30% of the population—were exposed to unhealthy transport noise levels (2022; EU-27).

(Exposure of Europe’s population to…)
* Approximately 89 million people were exposed to road traffic noise of at least 55 dB Lden, and about 57 million experienced road noise at night above the reported harmful level (2022; EU-27).

(Exposure of Europe’s population to…)
* About 67 million EU-27 residents in urban areas were exposed to harmful road-traffic noise levels (2022; EU-27 urban areas).

(Exposure of Europe’s population to…)
* In the EEA-33 assessment, 112.8 million people were above the road-noise Lden threshold, including 81.7 million inside urban areas and 31.1 million outside (2017 exposure assessment; EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* The EEA-33 assessment counted 21.6 million people above the rail-noise Lden threshold: 10.7 million urban and 10.9 million outside urban areas (2017 exposure assessment; EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* The EEA-33 assessment counted 4.1 million people above the aircraft-noise Lden threshold, with 3.1 million inside urban areas and 1.0 million outside (2017 exposure assessment; EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* Industrial noise above the Lden threshold affected an estimated 0.8 million people in urban areas in the EEA-33 assessment (2017 exposure assessment; EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)

Noise-map coverage and methods differ across years.

Modelled from reported exposure data and WHO thresholds.

Based on the 2022 END mapping round.

Urban road coverage differs by country.

END thresholds do not capture all exposure below them.

Based on END-covered sources and areas.

Based on END-covered airports and areas.

No outside-urban industrial estimate was reported.

  • In the EEA’s 2025 report, road traffic exposed an estimated 92 million people above 55 dB day-evening-night, compared with 18 million for rail and 2.6 million for aircraft noise (2022 END reporting round; Europe).

(Environmental noise in Europe 2025)
* The number of people highly annoyed by transport noise fell by an estimated 3% between 2017 and 2022 (2017–2022; Europe).

(Environmental noise in Europe 2025)
* WHO recommends reducing aircraft noise to 45 dB Lden and 40 dB Lnight to limit health effects (WHO 2018 guideline thresholds used in EEA assessment; Europe).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* The EEA-33 assessment estimated 17.1 million people above the rail-noise Lnight threshold, 1.3 million above the aircraft threshold and 0.4 million above the urban-industry threshold (2017 exposure assessment; EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* WHO recommends reducing road-traffic noise to 53 dB Lden and 45 dB Lnight to limit health effects (WHO 2018 guideline thresholds used in EEA assessment; Europe).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* WHO recommends reducing rail-traffic noise to 54 dB Lden and 44 dB Lnight to limit health effects (WHO 2018 guideline thresholds used in EEA assessment; Europe).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* Relative to 2022, meeting the 2030 target would require reducing the highly annoyed population by another 5.6 million and the highly sleep-disturbed population by 2 million (2022–2030 target path; EU-27).

(Health impacts of exposure to…)
* Most European countries have 30%–60% of their urban population exposed above 55 dB Lden from road traffic (2022; European urban areas).

(Exposure of Europe’s population to…)

Draws on country submissions under the 2022 END round.

Uses the report’s harmonised baseline.

Health-based guideline thresholds, not a measured prevalence estimate.

Night counts use END reporting thresholds and do not cover all sources or areas.

EEA target-path calculation.

Urban road coverage differs by country.

Health outcomes, life-years and economic burden

  • Transport noise in Europe was estimated to contribute annually to 73,000 premature deaths, 49,000 new cardiovascular disease cases and 23,000 type 2 diabetes cases (2025 report estimates).

(Environmental noise in Europe 2025)
* An estimated 16.9 million Europeans experience long-term annoyance from transport noise and about 4.6 million severe sleep disturbance (2025 report estimates).

(Environmental noise in Europe 2025)
* Transport noise was estimated to cause reading difficulties in more than 500,000 European children and behavioural issues in about 115,000 (2025 report estimates).

(Environmental noise in Europe 2025)
* About 223,000 cases of overweight among children in Europe were estimated to be linked to high transport-noise exposure (2025 report estimates).

(Environmental noise in Europe 2025)
* Transport-noise pollution was estimated to cause the loss of 1.5 million healthy life-years annually in Europe (2025 report estimates).

(Environmental noise in Europe 2025)
* The annual economic cost of transport noise in Europe was estimated at at least €100 billion, around 0.6% of regional GDP (2025 report estimates).

(Environmental noise in Europe 2025)
* In the EEA-33 2017 assessment, road traffic accounted for 12,525,000 highly annoyed people inside urban areas and 4,625,500 outside (EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* Rail noise accounted for 1,694,700 highly annoyed people inside urban areas and 1,802,400 outside urban areas (2017; EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* Aircraft noise was estimated to impair reading in 9,500 urban and 2,800 non-urban schoolchildren (2017; EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)
* The EEA-33 assessment estimated 47,900 new ischaemic heart-disease cases and 12,100 premature deaths attributable to environmental noise (2017 annual estimate; EEA-33 excluding Türkiye).

(Health risks caused by environmental…)

Corrected online figures as of March 2026.

Modelled health-impact estimates.

Modelled associations.

Model-based attribution.

Combines modelled disability and mortality burdens.

Presented as a minimum cost from estimated health burden.

Uses exposure-response functions.

Multiple sources can create some double counting.

Applied aircraft response evidence to covered populations.

Depends on baseline health and response functions.

Household noise disturbance and social differences

  • In 2023, 18.2% of the EU population reported that noise from neighbours or the street was a problem for their household.

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)
* The EU household noise-disturbance share fell from 20.6% in 2010 to 18.2% in 2023 (2010–2023).

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)
* In 2023, 21.1% of EU residents at risk of poverty reported household noise disturbance.

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)
* People at risk of poverty were on average 3.5 percentage points more likely to report neighbour-or-street noise as a problem than people not at risk (2023; EU).

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)
* The largest 2023 poverty-status gaps were 14.2 points in Finland, 11.9 in the Netherlands and 10.5 in Slovakia (Finland, Netherlands and Slovakia).

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)
* In 2023, 24.3% of EU city residents reported neighbour-or-street noise as a household problem, versus 16.9% in towns/suburbs and 10.5% in rural areas (EU by urbanisation).

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)
* Malta had the highest 2023 overall reported household noise disturbance at 31.3%, followed by Luxembourg 30.2%, Portugal 28.7% and the Netherlands 28.2% (EU countries).

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)
* The lowest 2023 overall reported household noise disturbance was Croatia 6.7%, Slovakia 8.6% and Bulgaria 8.7% (EU countries).

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)
* In 2023, city-level reported noise disturbance reached 42.4% in Luxembourg, 36.7% in Malta, 33.7% in the Netherlands and 32.4% in Portugal (Selected EU cities).

(Population reporting exposure to noise…)

Self-reported, not measured sound pressure.

Subjective disturbance measure.

Below national 60% median equivalised-income threshold.

Descriptive association.

Self-reported country estimates.

Perceived disturbance.

Self-reported disturbance.

Self-reported city figures.

Occupational noise exposure and dose standards

  • CDC estimates that 22 million U.S. workers are exposed to potentially damaging workplace noise each year (annual estimate).

(Occupational Noise Exposure – Overview)
* OSHA requires a hearing-conservation program when exposure reaches 85 dBA as an 8-hour time-weighted average (current standard; U.S. covered worksites).

(Occupational Noise Exposure – Overview)
* OSHA requires engineering or administrative controls above 90 dBA as an 8-hour time-weighted average (current standard).

(Occupational Noise Exposure – Overview)
* Under OSHA’s 5 dBA exchange rate, permissible 8-hour exposure at 90 dBA falls to 2 hours at 100 dBA (current standard).

(Occupational Noise Exposure – Overview)
* NIOSH’s REL is 85 dBA over 8 hours with a 3 dBA exchange rate; its example allows 4 hours at 88 dBA, 2 hours at 91 dBA and 15 minutes at 100 dBA (current guidance; Occupational workers).

(Understanding Noise Exposure Limits: Occupational…)
* The NIOSH job-exposure matrix contains 989,179 valid noise measurements (1960s–2015; North American workplaces).

(Introducing an Occupational Health Resource:…)
* Those JEM measurements cover 274 NAICS industries and 430 Standard Occupational Classification codes (dataset through 2015; North America).

(Introducing an Occupational Health Resource:…)
* In logging during 2006–2013, the JEM reported a 93.6 dBA average TWA and 77% of measurements above the OSHA 90 dBA PEL (Logging industry).

(Introducing an Occupational Health Resource:…)
* In road, bridge and highway construction during 2006–2013, the JEM reported an 89.7 dBA average TWA and 53% above the OSHA PEL.

(Introducing an Occupational Health Resource:…)

OSHA-cited estimate, not a complete dosimetry census.

Regulatory threshold, not prevalence.

Regulatory control threshold.

Dose rule, not population exposure.

Occupational REL, not general-environment limit.

Aggregated existing measurements.

Coverage varies by industry and occupation.

Aggregated industry estimate.

Recreational listening and hearing-loss risk

  • WHO estimates that more than 1 billion people aged 12–35 are at risk of hearing loss from recreational exposure to loud sound (current WHO estimate; Global, ages 12–35).

(Making listening safe)
* WHO estimates nearly 40% of 12–35-year-olds in middle- and high-income countries are exposed to potentially damaging sound levels in recreational venues (2022 standard estimate; Middle/high-income countries, ages 12–35).

(WHO global standard for safe…)
* WHO estimates nearly 50% of 12–35-year-olds in middle- and high-income countries face risk from high-volume or prolonged personal-audio listening (2022 standard estimate; Middle/high-income countries, ages 12–35).

(WHO global standard for safe…)
* WHO reports more than 430 million people—about 5% of the global population—live with disabling hearing loss from a range of causes (2022 global estimate).

(WHO global standard for safe…)
* In U.S. NHANES 2011–2012, 24.4% of adults aged 20–69 had an audiometric notch, representing an estimated 39.4 million adults (U.S. adults aged 20–69).

(Vital Signs: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss…)
* The NHANES notch estimate was 6.2% bilateral and 18.2% unilateral among U.S. adults aged 20–69 (2011–2012; United States, ages 20–69).

(Vital Signs: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss…)
* Audiometric-notch prevalence ranged from 19.2% among adults aged 20–29 to 27.3% among those aged 50–59 (2011–2012; United States, ages 20–69).

(Vital Signs: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss…)
* An estimated 21 million U.S. adults who reported no loud-noise exposure at work still had an audiometric notch (2011–2012; United States adults aged 20–69).

(Vital Signs: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss…)

Risk does not mean all will develop hearing loss.

Compiled venue estimate.

Listening-practice estimate.

Multiple causes, not noise alone.

Notch is a proxy; one cross-sectional cycle.

Notches are proxy indicators.

May reflect noise and age-related changes.

Work exposure was self-reported.

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