With 3.6 micrograms of fine particles per cubic meter, Faro is in third place in the table, the same value as Umea but with about half the population of the Swedish city.

Also in Sweden, Uppsala is the European city with the cleanest air: 3.5 micrograms per cubic meter.

Funchal, in the autonomous region of Madeira, occupies eighth place in a list of 372 cities, with 4.4 micrograms of fine particles per cubic metre and Lisbon is 38th, with seven micrograms.

In last place – the city with the most polluted air – is Slavonski Brod in Croatia, with 26.5 micrograms of fine particles per cubic metre.

According to the agency, three in four Europeans live in urban areas and most of them are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution.

Fine particles are the air pollutants with the greatest impact on health in terms of premature death and disease, and long-term exposure to air pollution causes the most serious health effects.