Share of population exposed to dangerous levels of road noise (Lden ≥ 55 dB)

This statistic measures the estimated percentage of a country’s population exposed to road-traffic noise at or above 55 dB Lden (day-evening-night level). Lden is a standard metric that averages sound levels over 24 hours and adds penalties for evening and night periods to reflect higher sensitivity during those times.

Road-traffic noise is increasingly recognized as a public-health risk factor, associated with sleep disturbance, annoyance, and elevated cardiovascular risk. Cross-country differences typically reflect urbanization patterns, road density, traffic volumes, vehicle fleet composition, and the prevalence of noise mitigation (barriers, low-noise pavements, speed management).