European countries score highly in bathing water quality standards, with most bathing waters considered safe for swimmers, according to a new report.
Europe’s beaches, lakes and rivers continue to score highly for water quality, with the vast majority of bathing sites meeting EU requirements, according to the 2025 Bathing Water Report.
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From Ireland to Estonia and Cyprus, 96% of all European sites monitored meet the minimum quality standards and only 1.5% were rated as “poor”.
The bathing quality of coastal waters is generally better compared to rivers and lakes and 88% of coastal bathing waters in the EU were classified as excellent, compared to 78% of inland bathing waters.
The report noted that this reflects the characteristics of many inland waters in central Europe, which are made up of small lakes, ponds and low-flow rivers.
These water bodies are more susceptible to short-term pollution events linked to heavy rainfall or drought, particularly during summer.
Bathing water quality is classified as ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘sufficient’ or ‘poor’ based on detected levels of E. coli and intestinal enterococci — key indicators of faecal contamination that signal health risks.
According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), exposure to polluted bathing water can lead to gastrointestinal illnesses such as stomach upsets and diarrhoea, as well as ear, eye and upper respiratory tract infections.
Where are the best swimming waters?
The country with the best water quality overall was Cyprus, with 100% of its waters being classified as excellent. This is followed by Greece (97.1%), Bulgaria (96.9%) and Austria (96.5%).
Lithuania and Slovenia’s coastal waters were also of excellent quality; however, their inland bathing waters dropped the overall score.
Regarding lakes, rivers, and ponds, the best quality water was found in Austria and Finland, where around 95% of inland water was classified as excellent.
Denmark (94.3%), Luxembourg (94.1%) and Germany (91.5%) complete the top 5 best waters.
And the worst?
In three EU countries — Estonia, the Netherlands and France — 3% or more of bathing waters were classified as poor in 2025.
Albania had a 16.8% share of its waters considered excellent, the lowest of all European countries.
Only four other countries had less than 70% of their waters excellent: Estonia (56.9%), Poland (58.7%), Hungary (64.0%) and Belgium (67.9%).
Considering only inland water, the country with the lowest water quality was Spain. With over 11% of its rivers and lakes classified as poor quality, and only 53.1% considered excellent, the lowest share.
Slovenia, Portugal and Croatia also showed the lowest inland bathing water quality.
Rivers are more challenging
River bathing waters remain particularly challenging, the report noted. Only 47% of around 1,200 designated river bathing sites across Europe achieved excellent quality in 2025.
The report identified rapid urbanisation and pollution during the Industrial Revolution as the main factors for the degraded water quality in many of Europe’s rivers.
Some of the key factors affecting bathing water quality in rivers include short-term pollution events following heavy rainfall, including combined sewer overflows and stormwater runoff, pollution from agriculture, and faecal inputs from wildlife and livestock with access to riverbanks.
According to the EEA, the water quality of many urban rivers and water bodies has progressively recovered with the support of European water policies and river bathing is now possible in several European cities.
