Cyprus once again ranked among the EU’s top performers for bathing water quality, with all 123 monitored bathing sites across the island receiving the highest possible rating of “excellent” in 2025 in the bloc’s annual bathing water report on Tuesday.

The island joins Austria, Bulgaria and Greece among the countries where more than 95 per cent of bathing waters were classified as being of excellent quality.

In Cyprus’ case, the figure reached 100 per cent, with all 123 bathing sites assessed during the 2025 bathing season receiving the top rating.

Across Europe, 85 per cent of monitored bathing waters were classified as excellent, while 96 per cent met at least the EU’s minimum quality standards. Only 1.5 per cent of sites were rated as poor, with the overall picture remaining broadly stable compared with 2024, the European Commission said.

The assessment was based on data from more than 22,200 bathing sites monitored in 2025 across EU member states, as well as Albania and Switzerland.

In Cyprus, a total of 1,198 water samples were collected and analysed from the island’s 123 designated bathing areas.

According to the report, coastal waters generally continue to outperform inland waters. In 2025, 88 per cent of coastal bathing waters across the EU were rated excellent, compared with 78 per cent of inland waters, such as rivers and lakes.

The evaluation focuses on the suitability of waters for bathing, particularly by monitoring bacteria that can cause serious illnesses.

The European Environment Agency, in cooperation with the European Commission, also published an updated interactive map allowing citizens to check the quality of individual bathing sites across Europe.

The commission attributed the long-term improvement in water quality to the implementation of EU water legislation, including the Bathing Water Directive, as well as better monitoring and management practices, investment in urban wastewater treatment facilities, improved sewage collection systems and more effective assessment of phenomena such as cyanobacterial blooms.

It added that these measures had made it possible to restore safe bathing conditions even in urban waters and rivers that had previously been heavily polluted.

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