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Abstract: Source apportionment of urban fine particle mass (PM2.5) was performed from data collected during 1998–1999 in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Erfurt (Germany) and Helsinki (Finland), using principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression. Six source categories of PM2.5 were identified in Amsterdam. They were traffic-related particles (30% of the average PM2.5), secondary particles (34%), crustal material (7%), oil combustion (11%), industrial and incineration processes (9%), and sea salt (2%). The unidentified PM2.5 fraction was 7% on the average. In Erfurt, four source categories were extracted with some difficulties in interpretation of source profiles. They were combustion emissions related to traffic (32%), secondary PM (32%), crustal material (21%) and industrial processes (8%). In Erfurt, 3% of PM2.5 remained unidentified. Air pollution data and source apportionment results from the two Central European cities were compared to previously published results from Helsinki, where about 80% of average PM2.5 was attributed to transboundary air pollution and particles from traffic and other regional combustion sources. Our results indicate that secondary particles and local combustion processes (mainly traffic) were the most important source categories in all cities; their impact on the average PM2.5 was almost equal in Amsterdam and Erfurt whereas, in Helsinki, secondary particles made up for as much as half of the total average PM2.5. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]