Healthier homes and schools for healthier economies

Improving the indoor climate of the places where our children spend most of their time will not only be beneficial to their health, it could also boost the European economy by more than €300 billion.

This barometer finds that enhanced ventilation in European schools could lead to substantial economic benefits. Even a small improvement in ventilation rates in schools is associated with a high cumulative increase in GDP in Europe.

The economic effects would increase over time as the number of children benefiting from better air quality would continuously increase and, in time, enter the labour market.

Improving ventilation in European schools could lead to an increase of European GDP of more than €250 billion in the next 40 years. That equals approximately half of the overall yearly government expenditure across EU Member States in 2017 on education16.

Illustration of ensuring a safe learning enviroment

A sound economic argument for improving our homes

Our analysis shows that eradicating mould and dampness in all European homes could lead to an economic gain of €55 billion for the European economy by 2060. This is driven by improvements in children’s health leading to fewer missed school and workdays and increased productivity for children and their parents, respectively. Altogether, improving ventilation in schools and reducing dampness and mould in homes across Europe, could increase the European GDP by over €300 billion by 2060.
Illustration showing "economic benefits by 2060 - EU"

On top of that, there are additional economic advantages to reducing noise exposure, increasing daylight access and improving indoor temperature. If we include these, the economic incentives for improving the conditions on all housing deficiencies leading to a poor indoor climate would be even greater.

Quick return on investment
Each year, inadequate housing costs EU economies nearly €194 billion a year in direct and indirect costs from healthcare, social services, loss of productivity and reduced opportunities17.

Studies have estimated that if all improvements needed in order to bring housing standards across Europe up to acceptable levels were made at the same time, the cost would be repaid within 18 months. Lower costs of healthcare, social services and increased productivity and opportunities would mean that within one year of improving the European housing stock, €2 out of every €3 spent would be repaid17.

Note that these numbers do not take into account the likely economic benefits that renovation brings in terms of added value to homes and energy savings. So, by facing these challenges, we could also improve the inefficiency of the existing building stock, which is responsible for 40 percent of Europe’s energy consumption, and for over a third of its CO2 emissions18.

16 Eurostat, 2019. “Government expenditure on education”
17 Eurofund, 2016. “Inadequate housingis costing Europe €194 billion per year”
18 Healthy Homes Barometer 2018