The pie charts illustrate the number of individuals affected by five different types of noise pollution in rural and urban settings, both during the day and at night, in 2012.
Overall, urban areas experienced significantly higher levels of noise pollution compared to rural areas. Traffic was the predominant source of daytime noise in urban settings, while at night, industrial noise and neighbours became more impactful. In rural areas, all noise types affected far fewer people.
In urban areas during the day, traffic pollution impacted 35,000 people, which was the highest figure across all categories. Construction affected 25,000, followed by industry at 20,000. At night, traffic-related issues decreased to 30,000, but industrial noise rose to 25,000, and neighbours affected 20,000 people.
Conversely, rural areas showed much lower numbers. During the day, traffic affected 10,000 people, and neighbours 8,000. At night, these figures dropped to 7,000 for traffic and 6,000 for neighbours. Industrial noise in rural areas remained low, affecting 4,000 during the day and 5,000 at night.