An average of 15 million residents of the major cities in Turkey were exposed to particulate matter (PM10) and SO2 levels above the World Health Organization (WHO) standards in the 1990–1993 period. An assessment of the health effects due to particulate matter (PM10) and exposure to sulphur dioxide (SO2) suggests that, if annual PM10 and SO2 levels were reduced to WHO standards, this could have brought a reduction of 5940 and 5480 hospital admissions for respiratory diseases, 121,400 and 112,100 emergency room visits, 8.26 and 6.85 million restricted activity days and 57,000 and 73,000 cases of low respiratory symptoms in children 0–12 years of age in 1990 and 1993 respectively. The estimated annual economic value of avoiding these effects is nearly 0.12% and 0.08% of the 1990 and 1993 gross national product (GNP). Furthermore, the results show that, by attaining WHO air pollution standards, 3310 and 3060 lives could have been saved in 1990 and 1993 respectively. Copyright © 1998 Published by Elsevier Ltd.