The bar charts illustrate the information about the number of people in Europe who were affected by four types of noise (traffic, train, aircraft, industry) during the day and at night in cities and rural areas in 2007.
Overall, in both situations, traffic had the greatest impact on noise levels during the day and night, while industry affected fewer people than the others. In cities, traffic affected the most people, followed by trains in second place, and aircraft and industry with lower numbers reached last place. In rural areas, traffic also affected the most people, while the other categories affected similar numbers.
It is clearly seen that cities were very noisy places during the day and at night. 64 million people were affected by traffic in cities during the day and 45 million at night, while trains affected 10 million people during the day and 8 million people at night. Aircraft affected 4 million people during the day and only 1 million people at night. Industry affected a small number of people, with 1 million during the day and 0.25 million at night in 2007.
Regarding the rural areas, traffic affected 24 million people during the day and 24 million people at night, respectively. Trains affected 2 million fewer people than in cities, with 8 million people during the day and 6 million people at night. Aircraft affected 2 million people during the day, which is half the number affected in cities, and affected 0 people at night. Industry did not affect anyone.