Greece ranks third only behind Austria and Malta for the quality of its bathing waters in the latest relevant European Union report, published on June 7.

According to the report by the European Environment Agency, 95.8% of Greece’s waters are of excellent quality for swimming, with landlocked Austria scoring 97.7% thanks to its pristine lakes and the Mediterranean island nation of Malta scoring 96.6%.

In the category of countries with a rating of over 90%, Croatia came in fourth place, followed by Cyprus, Denmark and Germany.

The lowest ratings went to Poland (44.5%), Slovakia (50%) and Hungary (60.2%).

According to the report, the annual assessment of European bathing sites “shows how well environmental protection measures are implemented, allowing people to make informed decisions on where to bathe without health risks at 21,551 officially identified bathing sites in the EU.”

The report added that since the adoption of the Bathing Water Directive in 2006, the share of excellent sites has grown to reach 84.8% in 2021, with the minimum water quality standards being met at 95.2% of sites.

This article was previously published at ekathimerini.com.