WHO Crowns Spain’s Idyllic Town as ‘Least Polluted’ with ‘Cleanest Air’ in Europe

Spain’s Villalba de Guardo in Castilla y Leon has been crowned as the ‘least polluted’ town in Europe.

IT has the ‘cleanest air’ in Spain and in the whole of the European continent, according to a ranking carried out by the World Air Quality Report by IQAir AirVisual, in association with the World Health Organisation (WHO). The town is located in the province of Palencia in the north of Spain, and sits at the foot of Mount Palentina on the Carrion River.

The report attributes the town’s clean air to its surrounding mountains, river and lush vegetation. Having just 228 inhabitants also helps as very little pollution is emitted in the area. Pollution concentration is around 3.8 microns per cubic metre in Villalba de Guardo – the lowest in Europe, along with Portugal’s Salao and Norway’s Bodo.

The list includes 98 countries with nations with the cleanest air ranking at the bottom of the list. Spain ranks 82 this year with 9.7 microns per cubic metre of contamination, according to the report.