Abstract

People who live in a green environment are healthier, both physically and mentally. Hundreds of national and international scientific studies agree on this. However, the extent to which (urban) green space in the environment has a positive effect on health is not yet known, nor is the amount of greenery required to result in specific health effects.

For this reason, RIVM has investigated whether the health effects of green space in the environment can be quantified. More knowledge about this will help policymakers consider the health benefits of green spaces when making decisions about environmental design, for example, when creating a park in a city.

This RIVM study confirms the conclusion that the presence of greenery is beneficial to health. Moreover, the greener the environment, the lower the mortality rate. That said, it remains difficult to define the positive effect of greenery on the risk of people falling ill. This is complicated by the presence of many different factors that affect health and the emergence of diseases, such as lifestyle, socio-economic position and factors in the living environment, like pollution.

Green space is beneficial to health in several ways. For example, physical activity in a green environment has a positive influence on people's fitness and immune system. Physical activity in a green environment together with other people also has a positive effect on mental health. However, because all people are different, each of these mechanisms affects them differently. Therefore, these mechanisms cannot be expressed in a single measure.

Furthermore, the various existing definitions of green space in scientific research make it difficult to define the amount of greenery at which positive effects start to emerge. As an example, 'greenery' may refer to the number of trees in a street, but also the presence of parks in towns and cities and the presence of nature reserves around them.