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Between November 1995 and October 1996, particulate matter concentrations (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) were measured in 25 study areas in six Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovak Republic. To assess annual mean concentration levels, 24-h averaged concentrations were measured every sixth day on a fixed urban background site using Harvard impactors with a 2.5 and 10 μm cut-point. The concentration of the coarse fraction of PM 10 (PM 10−2.5 ) was calculated as the difference between the PM 10 and the PM 2.5 concentration. Spatial variation within study areas was assessed by additional sampling on one or two urban background sites within each study area for two periods of 1 month. QA/QC procedures were implemented to ensure comparability of results between study areas. A two to threefold concentration range was found between study areas, ranging from an annual mean of 41 to 98 μg m −3 for PM 10 , from 29 to 68 μg m −3 for PM 2.5 and from 12 to 40 μg m −3 for PM 10−2.5 . The lowest concentrations were found in the Slovak Republic, the highest concentrations in Bulgaria and Poland. The variation in PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations between study areas was about 4 times greater than the spatial variation within study areas suggesting that measurements at a single sampling site sufficiently characterise the exposure of the population in the study areas. PM 10 concentrations increased considerably during the heating season, ranging from an average increase of 18 μg m −3 in the Slovak Republic to 45 μg m −3 in Poland. The increase of PM 10 was mainly driven by increases in PM 2.5 ; PM 10−2.5 concentrations changed only marginally or even decreased. Overall, the results indicate high levels of particulate air pollution in Central and Eastern Europe with large changes between seasons, likely caused by local heating.