Europe’s bathing waters remain safe to swim | Press releases
From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, the vast majority of bathing waters in Europe met the European Union’s most stringent ‘excellent’ bathing quality standards in 2025, according to the latest annual bathing water package published today. This represents 85% of Europe’s bathing sites, with 96% of all EU sites monitored meeting the minimum quality standards and only 1.5% rated as ‘poor’. These data also show that the overall quality of bathing waters across Europe has remained stable compared to the previous year.
The highest share for excellent quality bathing waters is found in Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece — with a total of 95% or higher. The bathing quality of coastal waters is generally better compared to rivers and lakes. In 2025, 88% of coastal bathing waters in the EU were classified as excellent, compared to 78% of inland bathing waters.
The assessment and interactive map, put together by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in cooperation with the European Commission, show where swimmers can find the safest bathing sites in Europe. The assessment inspects water suitability for bathing, focusing on monitoring bacteria that can potentially cause serious illnesses.
Europe’s bathing water results once again demonstrate the value of EU environmental legislation and decades of investment in wastewater treatment and water management. Thanks to these efforts, Europeans can enjoy some of the world’s highest bathing water standards. At the same time, protecting our waters requires continued action on wider challenges such as pollution, biodiversity loss and the impacts of climate change, which are at the heart of our work to strengthen Europe’s water resilience.
Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy
This summer we can all reap the benefits of solid implementation of EU bathing water rules, which have made a vast majority of our bathing waters clean enough to swim in. This is proof of how European coordination brings real value to all of us in improving our environment and health and goes a long way also to boost our water resilience in the face of climate change.
Water quality improvements over recent decades
The excellent quality of Europe’s bathing waters is supported by the sustained impact of EU law. Thanks to the EU’s Bathing Water Directive and other EU water legislation, the quality of Europe’s bathing waters has steadily improved over recent years. This includes improved monitoring and management practices, investment in urban wastewater treatment plants, better wastewater collection, and improved assessment of the cyanobacterial algal blooms that can be harmful for human health and nature.
Thanks to these continued efforts, people can now also swim in many formerly heavily polluted urban waters and rivers. At the same time, achieving healthy and resilient water systems requires continued progress in addressing broader pressures on surface and groundwater, including chemical pollution and climate-related impacts. Advancing water quality for both people and nature is a key component of EU Water Resilience Strategy.
Background
The assessment for today’s report is based on the monitoring of over 22,200 bathing sites across Europe that were reported to the EEA for the 2025 season. This includes sites in all EU Member States, Albania and Switzerland.
Alongside this year’s Bathing Water Report, the EEA has also released an updated interactive map showing the performance of each bathing site. Updated country fact sheets are also available, as well as more information on the implementation of the Directive in assessed countries.
The Bathing Water Directive, complementing the Water Framework Directive, is one of several pieces of EU law that protect water: the Environmental Quality Standards Directive, the Groundwater Directive, the Nitrates Directive, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.
This press release is published jointly with the European Commission.
