Air pollution in Serbia has become one of the country’s deadliest and most ignored crises, a silent catastrophe caused not by fate, but by state negligence and political corruption.
According to the latest global report by the Institute for Health Effects and the Institute for Health Metrics, Serbia records 81 premature deaths per 100,000 inhabitants due to air pollution — among the worst figures in Europe. The global average is 56, while in Germany it’s just 17.
Behind these grim numbers lies a government that has failed for years to protect its people, allowing pollution to become a permanent feature of daily life. Factories spew toxic smoke without oversight, coal plants run unchecked, and citizens are forced to breathe poisoned air — all while authorities downplay the danger.
Dr. Elizabet Paunović, a leading expert on environmental health, said Serbia’s exposure levels remain drastically above the limits set by the World Health Organization. “The WHO recommends a concentration below five micrograms per cubic meter, while in Serbia the levels are many times higher,” she explained, adding that “authorities have been aware of this for years, yet the situation barely improves.”
The consequences are devastating. Serbia’s polluted air now contributes to:
- 19% of deaths from heart disease,
- 18% of deaths from strokes,
- 16% of deaths from chronic lung disease, and
- 14% of infant deaths in the first month of life.
And the damage doesn’t stop there. Recent studies reveal that polluted air is linked to Alzheimer’s disease, with 8 to 11 of every 81 pollution-related deaths in Serbia tied to dementia caused by toxic air exposure.
These are not just health statistics — they are the direct result of a state that refuses to act. Serbia has the laws, the programs, and the knowledge to reduce pollution, yet year after year, it chooses not to enforce them. The government’s “Air Protection Program until 2030,” adopted three years ago, promises to cut pollution-related deaths by 40%, but most of its measures remain ignored or unfunded.
For decades, Serbia’s rulers have protected industrial polluters instead of citizens. They have turned a blind eye to illegal emissions, allowed energy monopolies to operate without filters, and silenced environmental organizations that dare to demand accountability.
While neighboring countries take steps toward clean energy and sustainable policies, Serbia continues to burn coal, tolerate corruption, and deny responsibility for a man-made disaster that kills thousands of its own people every year.
This is not environmental misfortune — it is a crime of state neglect. A government that allows children, the elderly, and newborns to die from dirty air has no moral right to speak of progress or development.
Until Serbia admits this truth and acts decisively, its skies will remain grey, its hospitals full, and its conscience stained by the deaths it refuses to prevent.
