In Europe, more than a third of those killed each year by toxic particulates associated with unlawful diesel emissions exceeding the EU limits live in about one hundred urban conglomerates. Such areas are mainly located in Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. They account all together for 1,500-2,000 premature deaths, for a total population of 100 million inhabitants (almost 20 percent of the population of the EU).

At national level, the UK scores over 360 deaths per year. It is the fourth most affected country in Europe, following Italy, Germany and France, according to a study published back in September 2017 by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)  and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MetNorway) . This study warned that nearly 5,000 people die prematurely every year due to excess emissions that car makers should have avoided by law.

However considerable, these figures represent just a fraction of the human lives lost due to Dieselgate, the scandal sparked in 2015 through the revelations on Volkswagen’s “diesel dupe” by the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States. This outrage revealed to the public how the automobile industry, as a whole, slyly circumvented the EU diesel emissions surveillance mechanism through unreliable compliance tests.

We compiled the blacklist of European communities with the highest death toll, based on data by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MetNorway). Their data doesn’t just cover EU member states, but also Norway and Switzerland. The two research organizations had published a joint study back in September 2017, warning that nearly 5,000 people die prematurely every year due to excess emissions that car makers should have avoided by law.

Zoom in to check cities in each cell. Click on a cell to see its population, the excess concentration of particulate matter due to nitrogen oxyde emissions from diesel cars above the EU limits, and the premature deaths per year due to diesel emissions.

We found that topping the chart in each of the most affected countries are, in Italy, the conglomeration of north Milan and Monza (first in Europe by deaths), in France, north-west Paris (third in Europe), in Germany, center-east Munich (tenth in Europe), in Britain, north-west London (twelfth in Europe), in Belgium, center-west Brussels (fifteenth in Europe), in the Netherlands, center-wes