Malaga has the second most polluted street in Spain according to Ecologista en Acción

Malaga is home to the second most nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) polluted street in Spain, according to the latest ranking published by the environmental organisation Ecologistas en Acción, based on official data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.

The report highlights that Avenida Juan XXIII in Malaga recorded an annual average of 31 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³) of NO₂ in 2025, making it the second most polluted location in the national ranking. Only Madrid’s Plaza Elíptica, with 32 μg/m³, registers higher levels. The third position goes to another Andalusian city: Granada Norte in Granada, with 30 μg/m³.

The values far exceed the World Health Organisation’s recommended annual guideline of 10 μg/m³ and the European Union’s more ambitious target of 20 μg/m³ set for 2030. They are, however, outside of the Low Emission Zone of Malaga city and still well below the current (and widely criticised as outdated) EU legal limit of 40 μg/m³.

According to the Ecologistas en Acción analysis, which covers 18 major and medium-sized Spanish cities, only Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Valladolid manage to stay at or below the future 2030 EU target of 20 μg/m³, two cities that are perhaps the windiest in the whole of Spain.

Main source of pollution

Nitrogen dioxide is a toxic yellowish gas produced primarily by motor vehicle traffic, especially diesel vehicles. When inhaled, it reaches the deepest parts of the lungs, impairs immune function and reduces the body’s resistance to respiratory infections. The latest European Environment Agency report estimates that NO₂ was responsible for 4,100 premature deaths in Spain in 2023.

Despite the concerning figures, air quality in Malaga, and across Spain, has improved enormously over the past decade. In 2015, Malaga’s NO₂ levels stood at 40 μg/m³ (exactly at the current EU limit). The city remained around this value until 2018 (39 μg/m³), after which a steady decline began, reaching a low of 29 μg/m³ in 2021.

Since then the trend has been irregular: levels rose to 33 μg/m³ in 2022 before dropping again by one microgram per year in both 2023 and 2024, resulting in the 2025 average of 31 μg/m³.

Nationally, the historical worst record remains 80 μg/m³, measured in Valencia in 1996. The highest values have decreased markedly since then due to successive green policies. Twenty years later, in 2016, the national peak was 56 μg/m³ (still in Madrid), and by 2025 the worst reading had fallen to 32 μg/m³, again in the capital.

Why are these areas worse than others?

What do Avenida Juan XXIII in Malaga and Plaza Elíptica in Madrid have in common? Both streets are traditional working-class areas with seemingly more older cars from a time in Spain when more than 95 per cent of vehicle sales were diesel. Both also have a high number of delivery vans, as they are close to industrial areas, and both are protected from winds due to the architecture of the buildings. But, most importantly, both act as essential axes to important other areas of the city, leading to increased transit of through traffic.

Ecologistas en Acción calls for tougher action.

The environmental organisation considers current levels “unacceptable” and calls on the ministry led by Sara Aagesen to implement “decisive measures”. Among the main demands are:

• Effective reduction of private car presence in urban areas
• Properly enforced Low Emission Zones (Zonas de Bajas Emisiones (ZBEs))
• Activation of specific protocols to tackle pollution episodes

Ecologistas en Acción stresses that, while progress has been made, the current pace is insufficient to meet health-based air quality targets in the near future.