Tirana continues to be the most polluted city, with levels of pollution above the allowable standards of EU.

Tirana, the city of more than one million people and more than 190,000 cars circulating every day with its high level of pollution is becoming a threat to the health of its citizens. The Albanian Environmental Agency at last presented the 2016 report on the “Environmental Conditions in Albania”. The General Director of the Agency, Julian Beqiri, presented the findings of the report, declaring that Tirana continues to be the most polluted city, with high levels of pollution above the allowable standards. The head of this agency says that transport is the biggest polluter of the city. Overall, Beqiri stated, municipalities continue to perform poorly in terms of pollution reduction and waste management, in spite of the territorial reform, which was expected to increase the efficiency of municipalities in this regard. According the National Environment Agency, in Tirana during 2016, dust particles had exceeded the EU permitted levels, pm10. According to the report, Fier, Lushnje and Lezha may be potentially polluted, while Korça has a high level of pollution during the winter due to the fact that the population uses wood heating. By contrast, the pollution of sea water has been considerably lowered, although there are still issues with the lack of infrastructure and informality. A few time ago, European Environment Agency reported that last year, there were 2.120 deaths in total from air pollution in Albania. The high level of air pollution is tied to poor infrastructure in certain zones of these cities. Another concerning issue raised was noise, which ranked second in relation to negative affects to public health. The capital of Albania, Tirana, is once again the most problematic city, exceeding allowable noise levels by 17%. During the day, acoustic pollution in the city 17.23% above the maximum level, while during the night is 24.91% higher. The General Director of the Agency for the Environment says that transport is the main cause of pollution and that better management of the situation will improve air quality. The average age of vehicles on Tirana's roads is around 16 years, twice the European average. Many of the vehicles do not meet the standards of the European Union. The director Beqiri said that the Environmental Report of 2016 has come up with recommendations in each monitored sector, in order to improve the conditions of the environment. The report brings positive results concerning the 10-year forest moratorium in the first year of its implementation which undoubtedly will regenerate earth’s cover. These data in the report showed once again that the risk continues to be frightening. Tirana remains among the most polluted cities in Europe. Most of health problems occur in the city due to the high pollution as air quality levels for Tirana are more than twice in excess of the World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines Tirana remains among the most polluted cities in Europe. 500 hundred deaths a year occur in the city due to the high pollution as air quality levels for Tirana are more than twice in excess of the World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines.