The dirtiest countries in the world. List of the most polluted cities in the world

We all tend to complain about our own lives, the conditions and the place where we live. Have you ever thought that there are people who live much worse and more difficult than you? This is worth thinking about at least once in your life. Today we will share with you the top 10 dirtiest cities in the world. Not only is it unpleasant to be in these cities, but there is also a high risk to life. And people still live there. Now you will have the opportunity to see from the outside the living conditions of some people. This will help you understand how good it is to live clean and tidy.

We will tell you about the most polluted cities in the world and reveal to you the reasons why they have become so. Sometimes, it is even difficult to imagine that people can really exist in such conditions. These are not all places, but only a part of the most unsightly places on our planet. Well, it's time to start. The faint of heart, as they say, please leave.

10. Rudnaya Pristan, Russia

The Russian city opens the rating with the dirtiest cities in the world. An estimated 90,000 people are considered potentially infected. And all because of harmful substances such as mercury, lead and cadmium, which pollute everything around. These substances are contained in everything that a person needs so much: in drinking water, fauna and soil. As a result, local residents cannot fully obtain the necessary water, grow crops, it is simply dangerous for health. Even the blood of local children contains many dangerous substances that exceed the norm by an unacceptable number of times. But it doesn't get any better. Every year the scale of pollution is increasing.

In this area there is a large tannery engaged in leather tanning and dyeing. Chromium salts, sodium chromate and other harmful substances are used to work at the plant, and subsequently tons of hazardous waste, instead of being eliminated and disposed of, end up in groundwater. Drinking water, groundwater and soil become unusable, this not only makes people sick, there are many deaths. However, local farmers continue to toil on the contaminated land, watering their crops with polluted water.

Norilsk is a city with a huge number of plants and factories where heavy metals are smelted. As a result, harmful substances such as nickel, strontium, copper, etc. are constantly in the air. You will not envy the inhabitants of the city. Snow, more like mud, and the air tasting sulfur. But this is not the worst. Mortality is increased, life expectancy is much less than the average for the country, and almost everyone here has illnesses. Foreign tourists no longer come to Norilsk, because even a short stay in this city can affect the state of health, which will then be very difficult to recover.

7. Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan

In the immediate vicinity of this settlement there is a huge burial of radioactive substances. The level of radiation in these places exceeds the norm by dozens of times. Since landslides and floods due to earthquakes, as well as heavy rains and mudflows, are considered frequent phenomena in this area, hazardous substances will spread throughout the region at lightning speed. As a result, locals and residents of the surrounding area suffer from oncology.

Linfeng, although not the dirtiest city in the world, but in the country, perhaps, it is he who has the worst environmental situation. The air contains such harmful substances as lead, carbon, ash, etc. The content of these substances has long exceeded all permissible norms. We can say that the Chinese themselves are to blame for this. Everyone knows that the country is in dire need of coal, so hundreds of mines are being created throughout the territory, sometimes illegal and completely unregulated. Alas, Linfeng City has become a kind of mine. As a result, people suffer, getting severe and incurable diseases.

This small mining town has long been exposed to toxic emissions from the local factory. The blood of local children contains an amount of lead that has long exceeded all norms. As a result, children are forced to suffer from serious illnesses. And the vegetation in this city has long been forgotten. Everything that once grew here was destroyed by acid rain.

In the last century, rich deposits of lead were discovered in this city. The air is so polluted with heavy metals, the norms are exceeded by 4 times. Residents reap the most severe consequences of ingestion of hazardous substances: vomiting, diarrhea, blood poisoning, chronic kidney disease and even muscle atrophy.

3. Haina, Dominican Republic

In this area is a factory that produces car batteries. The waste from this plant is very dangerous because it contains a very high lead content. The amount of this substance is so critical that it exceeds the norm not at times and not even tens, but thousands of times! It's hard to even imagine. The most common diseases in this area are congenital malformations, mental disorders and eye diseases.

Once this city was the center where they were engaged in the production of chemical weapons. After illegally written off and dumped into groundwater were tons of chemical waste. People in this city don't live to old age. Men, at best, live up to 42 years, and women a little more - up to 47 years. According to estimates, the death rate in Dzerzhinsk has long exceeded the birth rate by 2.6 times. The forecast is not the most optimistic. It is sad that in the top ten dirtiest cities in the world, our country occupies 3 lines at once.

1.Chernobyl, Ukraine

Chernobyl takes 1st place in the ranking and receives the title dirtiest city in the world. There is probably no person on earth who has not heard about the catastrophe that occurred in Chernobyl. During the ongoing tests at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the core of the reactor melted, and a terrible explosion occurred. From this, 30 people died immediately on the spot. 135 thousand people were evacuated. Since then, no one has lived in the city. We also remember the bombs that were once dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and so the explosion that occurred in Chernobyl resulted in a hundred times greater release of radioactive substances. This tragedy will forever remain in the hearts and memory of people. And the consequences of this accident are visible to this day.

The dirtiest city in the world | Video

Technological progress is advancing by leaps and bounds, new technologies are emerging that radically change the life of mankind. The payoff for these achievements is simple: the dirtiest city in the world - such a not at all prestigious title today is already ready to be shared by many settlements of our planet.

And if five or ten years ago the most polluted cities in the world were just large metropolitan areas, with a large population, air pollution with exhaust gases and heavy industry, now the situation has turned in a completely different direction. Modern processes of mining, production of various directions, and in some places simply the vital activity of the population, cause truly terrible natural and environmental problems.

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How does this happen

How do the most polluted cities in the world appear? With the constantly rising standard of living, we are getting used to the fact that modern technology is able to provide for the slightest wishes in terms of ensuring comfort in everyday life. Such benefits of civilization seem natural and normal, because technical industries are developing, providing modern technologies in literally everything. Have you ever wondered how this actually happens?

The increased development of mines and deposits inevitably leads to pollution of the surrounding air and groundwater. Since a large amount of natural resources is constantly needed to ensure large-scale production, treatment facilities do not cope with their functions or are simply designed for a much smaller volume. The most dangerous situation is created in low-income countries where no funds are allocated to maintain the environment.

The TOP of the dirtiest cities in the world is constantly updated with new objects. Total soil pollution, radioactive contamination, high air pollution were added to the dangerous factors. Life in the most environmentally polluted cities in the world is really dangerous and leads to massive genetic and physical diseases, mutations, short life expectancy.

How pollution is assessed

How are the world's most polluted cities ranked? Many companies are involved in assessing the most environmentally unfavorable areas for life. In particular, these are the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO and many others, including analytical ones. When determining the dirtiest cities in the world, several factors are taken into account:

Content in the environment of substances that adversely affect human health. The soil, water and air in these areas are being carefully examined.
radioactive contamination.
Proximity of the region to the source of pollution.
Number of living population, birth rate.
The impact of emissions on the development of the child's body.

The studies were carried out on a certain scale, after studying the ecology, marks were given for each of the parameters, and a list of the dirtiest cities in the world was compiled.

Rating of the most polluted cities

Which cities in the world are dangerous to live in? The number of regions unfavorable for life is steadily growing every year. If we compare the list of the most polluted cities in the world in 2016 with the most polluted cities in the world in 2017, then the increase in polluted cities was about 10%. At this pace, clean cities will soon become a real asset to the planet.

According to the WHO and the agency Curiosityaroused.com, the TOP 10 most polluted cities in the world were announced. Of course, in fact there are many more of these regions, in some individual countries it is possible to create a similar list of ten or more objects. It should be borne in mind that this list reflects the most terrible problems of mankind in terms of ecology and danger to life.

LinFyn (China)

Smog over the city of Linfeng:

This Chinese city is the cradle of coal mining for the whole country. Here is the bulk of the coal industry, both state-owned, enforcing environmental regulations, and private, operating in their own interests, often semi-illegal.

Coal mining is carried out on a large scale, so the air around the city is oversaturated with coal dust, carbon and lead. All these elements also settle on buildings, cars, people. The result of living in this city, which is dirty in every sense of the word, is diseases of the respiratory system of varying severity from complicated pneumonia to lung cancer.

Tianying (China)

The city is constantly shrouded in gray smoke, and at a distance of ten meters, even during the day, it is difficult to see something:

It is the metallurgical heart of China. But in addition to industrial giants that emit metal oxides, dust and gas into the environment, lead is also mined here. Oxides of this heavy metal affected the air, water and soil not only in the city itself, but also within a radius of ten kilometers around it. The lead content in the vegetables and cereals grown here is more than twenty times higher. This situation leads to the development of pathologically irreversible processes in the human brain, it is here that the highest birth rate of children with symptoms of dementia.

Sukinda (India)

84.75% of cases of diseases of local residents are to blame for the increased content of chromium in the body:

This Indian town, back in 2016, firmly entered the ranking of the dirtiest cities in the world thanks to chromium mines. Since the treatment facilities in this region are still only at the development stage, local waters and air contain a concentration of chromium that is fatal to humans. This chemical element is a strong carcinogen and causes gene mutations and various oncological health problems.

Dzerzhinsk (Russia)

Since the beginning of the last century, toxic waste has been dumped in the vicinity of the city, many of which are extremely dangerous for humans:

Some researchers believe that this city in the Nizhny Novgorod region should top the top 10 most polluted cities in the world. However, so far it is the dirtiest city in Russia. The situation here is almost critical: for many years, from 1938 to 1998, hazardous waste from various industries accumulated here. As a result, their number reached 300 thousand tons.

Given the number of inhabitants of this city, each has about one ton of the contents of deadly burial grounds. The level of such harmful chemicals as phenols and dioxides exceeds the maximum allowable standards by seventeen million times! Naturally, having such characteristics for life, Dzerzhinsk is an endangered region - the death rate here exceeds the birth rate by 26 times. The industry in this polluted place continues to work only thanks to visiting workers who are forced to stay in the region due to high wages.

Norilsk (Russia)

Every year, about four million tons of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic, selenium and zinc are emitted into the Norilsk air:

Consistently hits the dirtiest cities in the world. Built about ten years ago, the treatment systems have improved the overall picture in some way. However, according to the survey of the region in 2017, Norilsk still leads as the most polluted city in Russia and is among the 10 most polluted cities on our planet.

The problems of this city are in the huge emissions of the largest metallurgical plant on the planet. The atmosphere, groundwater and soil of this region contain lethal doses of such dangerous elements as lead, cadmium, arsenic, zinc, copper and others. Norilsk has long been infamous as a zone of environmental problems - there is almost no vegetation, insects do not survive, and black snow falls in winter.

Chernobyl (Ukraine)

Today, about 500 people live in the zone. Most of them are old people. Work is underway in the exclusion zone, however, for security reasons, the government allows a maximum of 14 days in the exclusion zone:

The city is world famous for the explosion at the nuclear power plant in April 1986. Radioactive elements were quickly spread by gusts of wind to nearby territories within more than one hundred and fifty thousand square kilometers. Residents of the city were hastily evacuated, and people are still not allowed to live here.

Studies by international organizations, including, according to WHO, in the affected area there are plutonium, uranium, iodine, strontium and heavy metals in concentrations unacceptable for human existence. Chernobyl, as a zone of a vast nuclear catastrophe, has been among the most polluted cities in the world since 1986.

Dhaka (Bangladesh)

The Bangladeshis themselves do not care about the environment: garbage is scattered everywhere, and industrial and medical waste is simply dumped into rivers:

The capital of Bangladesh is notorious for its environmental condition. The total pollution of water with pesticides and pathogenic bacteria makes life in this city deadly. Another important factor is the lack of waste processing enterprises. There is no fight against the problems of garbage waste storage, so mountains of garbage can be seen right on the roads and in residential areas of the city.

In fact, Dhaka is the most polluted city in the world, in terms of pollution in the literal sense. Given the warm climate of the country, waste pollution and the multiplication of microorganisms leads to increased air pollution, unsuitability of drinking water for food, infectious diseases and high mortality among the population.

Kabwe (Zambia)

Within a radius of ten kilometers from Kabwe, it is deadly to drink water and even breathe air:

In this African region, large deposits of lead were discovered about a hundred years ago. Since then, there has been active development of deposits, mines are constantly poisoning the environment, including air, groundwater and soil. The defeat of the body by heavy metal is fraught with blood poisoning, muscle atrophy and irreversible changes in the functioning of internal organs.

La Oroya (Peru)

The surroundings of the city are more like a lunar landscape with bare scorched earth, without grass, trees and bushes:

A small town, since 1922, has been regularly exposed to toxin emissions from working mines. The content of lead in the blood of local residents many times exceeds even the maximum allowable level. Vegetation in this region is regularly destroyed by acid rain, and the majority of local residents have pathologies that are incompatible with life.

Karabash (Russia)

Vegetation is almost completely absent, scorched earth, mountains of waste, orange cracked earth, acid rain. Lead, arsenic, sulfur and copper products are in the air

Which city tops the most environmentally polluted cities in the world? Today, according to the UNESCO world organization, the dirtiest city in the world is Karabash, located in the Chelyabinsk region of our vast Motherland.

The pollution of this region began as early as 1822, when reserves of gold ore were discovered here. In the twentieth century, the mining and smelting of copper was added to the development of gold veins, which made the city of Karabash a real zone of ecological disaster. The fact is that in those days, during the development of deposits, they did not particularly care about the environmental aspect of the process and there were no treatment facilities as such. During its continuous work, the plant for the production of copper alloys, simply speaking, burned out all life in the vast territories around it. Thanks to the work of this industrial giant, acid rain, dense atmospheric pollution and the almost complete absence of vegetation have become frequent guests in this area.

Needless to say, the population in this region (this includes Karabash itself and Chelyabinsk located nearby) is gradually dying out due to various deadly pathologies caused by the environment. Cancer, genetic abnormalities, mutations, dementia and cerebral palsy are the most common causes of high mortality in this region.

It's a real problem

The problem of total environmental pollution is becoming more acute every year. The number of the dirtiest cities in the world is steadily growing. Every year, not only underdeveloped cities from countries below the poverty line, but large, industrial regions get into the TOP ten dirty cities. Soil migration, air currents and cyclones spread harmful soils, air and groundwater for many kilometers, thus creating a global environmental problem for all inhabitants of planet Earth.

Complain about the bad ecology in the country, do you think that it can't be worse? We hasten to dissuade you, the state of the environment in some countries is more critical. However, this does not bode well for us, because we all live on the same planet. Someone constantly makes ratings of cities, states in terms of ecology, cleanliness. The most environmentally friendly countries are always considered: Switzerland, Luxembourg, Norway, Latvia, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Costa Rica, Great Britain. There are many more countries with poor ecology in the world, but let's focus on the following ten, which are often included in the lists of the dirtiest states.

The situation is especially acute because the population of China is 1,349,585,838 people. On the one hand, all these lives are endangered by environmental pollution. On the other hand, such a large number of inhabitants causes gigantic volumes of consumption and waste.

And the growing industry heavy, mining, energy. The greatest threat is air pollution. Thus, in large cities, the incidence of cancer in the lungs is 3 times higher than in rural areas.

This country ranks second in terms of population - 1,220,800,359 people, some of the factors that cause pollution are similar to China, and air pollution is also catastrophic. Experts estimate that after 40 years, more than 3 million people in the world will die due to "dirty" air per year, and most of them will be residents of China and India.

Despite the fact that the Republic of South Africa is the most economically developed country in Africa, it cannot boast of intensive development methods that are safe for the environment.

Mexico's problem is water pollution. Fresh water reserves in the country are already limited, while untreated sewage - industrial, sewage - enters the rivers. The problem of deforestation is also relevant.

Tourists from all over the world go to this tropical paradise to have a good time and admire the outlandish landscapes. Yes, in the resort areas of Indonesia, everything is so. However, other areas suffer from various types of pollution, and the problem of waste disposal is also inefficiently solved.

The modern government of Japan pays enough attention to environmental protection, Japanese corporations develop the best environmentally friendly technologies, but the population will continue to pay for the mistakes of the past, for example, the rapid growth of industry after World War II, the overexploitation of natural resources for a long time to come.

7 - Libya

In Libya, the tense environmental situation is caused not so much by industry as by the political situation and military operations.

The state in Southeast Asia - Kuwait - has 9% of the reserves of all oil in the world. Hence the developed economy, the reverse side - environmental problems.

9 - Uzbekistan

There are many environmental problems in Uzbekistan. Their drying up of the Aral Sea is especially vividly demonstrated, which is an ecological catastrophe.

10 - Iraq

Military operations in this country did not go unnoticed either. The population is now suffering from the deterioration of the ecological situation in Iraq, and this is no less than 31,858,481 people.

Technological progress is inextricably linked with the extraction and use of minerals. Intensive development of the bowels of the earth, heavy industry and industrial waste - all this has an extremely negative impact on the ecological situation of the planet.

The Real Threat

The soil, ground and external waters, the atmosphere are polluted within a radius of tens of kilometers from the place of mining or a man-made object. Settlements also fall into the distribution area of toxic, and often deadly substances. The most environmentally polluted cities in the world pose a real threat not only to public health, but also to people's lives. Cancer diseases, gene mutations, high infant mortality, a significant reduction in the average life expectancy of the adult population - this is not the whole list of the terrible consequences of a thoughtless attitude towards the environment.

Criteria for selecting contaminated sites

Analytical organization MerserHuman (USA) took the trouble to study the situation and identified the dirtiest cities in the world. For this, environmentalists established criteria by which a number of environmental indicators of the settlement were evaluated:

remoteness of the settlement from the source of pollution;
Population;
the impact of adverse factors on the child's body;
the level of heavy metals and other pollutants in soil, water and air; especially dangerous are: lead, mercury, copper, zinc, sulfur dioxide, cadmium, arsenic, selenium, sarin, phosgene, mustard gas, hydrocyanic acid and some others;
radiation level;
the period of decay of harmful substances.

In order to compile a list of the dirtiest cities in the world, points were assigned to the places studied for each item. The total indicator was evaluated according to a specially developed scale. According to the results of the study by comparison, this list was compiled, consisting of 35 cities located in different parts of our planet.

TOP 10 dirtiest cities in the world

If we simply list the cities that are most heavily polluted, then the list will look like this:

Linfen, China.
Tianying, China.
Sukinda, India.
Vapi, India.
La Oroya, Peru.
Dzerzhinsk, Russia.
Norilsk, Russia.
Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Sumgayit, Azerbaijan.
Kabwe, Zambia.

Full list

These 10 dirtiest cities in the world should be supplemented with the following settlements, the level of environmental tension in which is extremely high:

Baios de Haina, Dominican Republic.
Mailu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan.
Ranipet, India.
Rudnaya Pristan, Russia.
Dalnegorsk, Russia.
Volgograd, Russia.
Magnitogorsk, Russia.
Karachay, Russia.

The full top of the dirtiest cities in the world consists of 35 places. Of these, 8 belong to Russia, 6 to India, followed by the Philippines, the United States, China, Romania and other countries.

To be able to analyze the situation, these cities should be considered in detail.

Linfen, China

This is the dirtiest city in the world. Moreover, the conclusion made by the American organization MerserHuman is confirmed by the results of a study by the Blacksmith Institute and other organizations concerned about the state of the environment on Earth.

Linfen is the center of China's coal mining industry. Its population exceeds 200 thousand people. Deposits of black fuel are extracted from the bowels of the earth not only by state mines, but also illegally, without observing safety standards. Because of this, coal dust completely enveloped the dirtiest city in the world. She was on clothes, and on skin, and on houses, dusted windows and roofs. Residents of the city do not even hang their bed linen outside to dry, because after a while it turns black ...

In addition, everything here is saturated with carbon, lead and organic chemicals. Such an unfavorable situation led to a progressive increase in bronchopulmonary diseases - bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, and lung cancer.

Cleaning work is not carried out in the city, although the situation has long become critical.

Tianying, China

The rating of the dirtiest cities in the world is continued by the largest metallurgical center of China. In the vicinity of Tianying, large-scale lead mining operations have been launched. The gray smoke that has enveloped the city makes it difficult to see anything at a distance of ten meters! Everything around is impregnated with lead - soil, water and air. In wheat grown in fields near the city, the content of this heavy metal is 24 times higher than the maximum allowable level. A lot of demented children are born here.

There is no work to clean up the area from lead.

Sukinda, India

An open-pit chromium mine has been developed near the Indian city of Sukinda. This metal is widely used in various manufacturing industries. However, it is the strongest carcinogen and poisons the body, provoking cancer, gene mutations.

Total contamination with chromium has a very bad effect on the health of the population of Sukinda. But the state does not take any measures to reduce the level of the chemical element in water and soil.

Vapi, India

The town of Vapi in India with a population of 71 thousand people confidently continues the list of "The Dirtiest Cities in the World". It is located near the industrial zone, where many chemical factories and metallurgical plants have been built. Production facilities emit tons of harmful chemicals into the environment around the clock. This has led to the fact that the mercury content in soil and water is 100 times higher than the norm! This literally kills local residents, whose average life expectancy is very low - only 35-40 years.

La Oroya, Peru

A small town with a population of 35 thousand people since 1922 has been suffering from periodic toxic emissions from a local factory. Emissions contain concentrated doses of lead, zinc, copper and sulfur dioxide. This area is dry and lifeless, because all the vegetation has died due to acid rain. In the blood of local residents, the lead content is much higher than the critical level, which leads to serious illnesses.

La Oroya, just like other dirtiest cities in the world, does not bother the country's authorities, who do not pay any attention to either the environment or the health of local residents.

Dzerzhinsk, Russia

According to many experts, Dzerzhinsk with a population of 300 thousand people should top the list called "The dirtiest cities in the world." It was here that in the period from 1938 to 1998, 300,000 tons of deadly chemicals were buried, which turned out to be 1 ton for each inhabitant. The level of dioxides and phenol in groundwater and soil exceeds the upper limit of the norm by 17 million (!) times! Dzerzhinsk has a record high mortality rate: 26 dead per 10 newborns. The city would have died out long ago if it had not been replenished with visitors who are tempted by high salaries in hazardous industries.

In 2003, Dzerzhinsk entered the Guinness Book of Records with the title of the dirtiest city in the world.

Cleaning work at the planning stage.

Norilsk, Russia

It is called a branch of ecological hell. A giant metallurgical plant, one of the largest on the planet, has been operating here for many decades. Every year it emits 4 million tons of harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, consisting of zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, selenium, lead and arsenic. Vegetation is destroyed here, there are practically no insects, and black snow falls in winter. The city with a population of 180 thousand people is closed to foreigners.

Cleaning works have been carried out for the last 10 years. During this period, it was possible to somewhat improve the environmental situation, but the reduced concentrations of harmful substances still greatly exceed the level that is safe for health.

Chernobyl, Ukraine

A nuclear power plant exploded in the city. This tragedy happened on April 26, 1986. The nuclear accident is recognized as the worst in the history of the planet. A radioactive cloud of plutonium, uranium, strontium, iodine and heavy metals enveloped an area of more than 150 thousand square meters. km. All residents of the city were evacuated. Until now, Chernobyl is empty. In the exclusion zone, the level of radiation is deadly. The most common disease in people exposed to radiation from a nuclear explosion is thyroid cancer.

Sumgayit, Azerbaijan

In Soviet times, Sumgayit was the center of the chemical industry. Over the entire period of operation, more than 120,000 tons of toxic waste were released into the environment, mainly mercury, oil refinery products. As a result, the city of 285,000 has turned into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Today, most plants and factories are closed, but no one is carrying out serious disinfecting work, leaving nature to clean itself. Sumgayit is still one of the most uninhabitable places on the planet.

Kabwe, Zambia

More than 100 years ago, deposits of lead were discovered near the African city of Kabwe with a population of 250 thousand people. Since then, it has been continuously mined here. Numerous lead mines send hazardous waste into the air, soil and water. The high concentration of lead in the blood of aborigines leads to a huge number of severe poisonings.

Cleaning work under development.

Baios de Haina, Dominican Republic

In this town with a population of 85,000, a large factory for the production of batteries for cars has been built. His activities have caused severe lead pollution of the environment. The figures are four thousand times higher than the norm! It is incompatible with life.

Mental disorders and congenital deformities are widespread among local residents.

Cleaning work is not carried out.

Mailu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan

Here, from 1948 to 1968, uranium was mined. Despite the cessation of mining, the situation in the city and its environs is critical. Burial grounds, which are destroyed by landslides, earthquakes and mudflows, are of great danger. Scientists warned that it was impossible to carry out the burial of radioactive substances in a seismically active zone. The radiation background in the areas of destruction exceeds the permissible norm by almost 10 times!

The United States is dealing with this issue. The work is financed by the World Bank and the Bank of the International Development Association.

General conclusions

The dirtiest cities in the world, whose photos show a very difficult environmental situation, are a potential danger to the whole world. The water cycle in nature, soil migration, air cyclones carry dangerous substances over long distances in all directions, infecting other areas.

Experts estimate that more than a billion people on the planet are exposed to the harmful effects of hazardous chemicals. This raises the problem to the world level and requires its prompt solution.

Technological progress is like a stick with two ends. On the first hand, many things have become a reality, and yet just a few years ago people said that this was impossible. But on the other hand, you can see that mining and industrial production is growing exponentially. And right there, in order to save on the environment, no one wants to pay attention. All living things are literally destroyed. Our ranking will show you the dirtiest cities in the world.

1. Linfen

The gold medal for the dirtiest city is Lingbfen in China. And here you can’t be happy for the locals. The city is famous for its coal industry. It is with coal dust that people here get up and go to bed. It is present both on the skin and on bedding. But it makes no sense to hang washed clothes outside to dry, as after a couple of hours it turns black.

2. Tianying

Another city in China, which is located in the northeastern part of the country. It is also considered one of the largest metallurgical centers. About half of the lead in China is mined here. Gray smoke shrouds the city all the time. It is unrealistic to consider something even during the day at a distance of ten meters. Only this is not the worst. Due to the disregard for ecology, the soil was heavily saturated with lead. From there, it enters the blood of children and destroys them from the inside. This also leads to dementia. As for the locals, they are very irritable, forgetful and lethargic, some suffer from memory lapses. And the wheat itself, which grows near the city, contains 24 times more lead than is allowed under Chinese law.

3. Sukinda

For stainless steel smelting, chromium is the most important ingredient. It is also actively used for tanning leather. The only negative is that hexavalent chromium is a strong carcinogen that enters the body through the air or along with water. Not far from the Indian city of Sukinda, you can find one of the world's largest open chromium mines. Here, in 60 percent of drinking water, the content of this element exceeds the norm twice. Indian doctors say that in 84.75% of cases of diseases of local residents, this increased content of the element is to blame.

4. Vapi

The fourth line is occupied by another city of India. In India, nature conservation and ecology has long been considered an empty phrase that no one pays attention to. 71 thousand people live in the city. Vapi is located in the southern part of the 400-kilometer industrial zone, from where all the waste from metallurgical plants and chemical factories flows. As for the level of mercury content in groundwater, it exceeds the norm by 96 times. The air still contains heavy metals.

5. La Oroya

Peru also made it to our ranking list. A small town located in the foothills of the Andes. It became the center of metallurgy at the beginning of the last century. For many decades, zinc, copper and lead have been mined here at an accelerated pace. And, of course, no one pays attention to the environment. In the blood, the content of heavy metals exceeds the norm several times. Yes, and the death rate of children here is the highest.

6. Dzerzhinsk

Unfortunately, Russia also ended up on our list. This 300,000-strong city received about 300.00 tons of deadly chemical compounds as a legacy from the Cold War. They were also buried in the vicinity of the settlement from 1938 to 1998. The concentration of dioxides and phenol is contained in the underground waters of the town and exceeds the norm by 17 million times. Dzerzhinsk even managed to get into the Guinness Book of Records in 2003 as the dirtiest city in the world.

7. Norilsk

Another Russian city. It is here that the branch of ecological hell on earth is located. And only 180 thousand people live on its lands. From the very beginning, the city was a labor camp, in which one of the largest metallurgical plants in the world was built by the prisoners. Every year, about 4 million tons of chemical compounds with an admixture of lead, copper, selenium, nickel and arsenic come out of its pipe. In this city, you can smell sulfur all the time. No one is surprised by the black snow. The death rate of local residents from respiratory diseases exceeds the national average.

8. Chernobyl

Our neighbor Ukraine is also in the ranking. The fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in 1986. Then the city was covered with a radioactive cloud. The authorities opened an exclusion zone around the epicenter of the explosion. All local residents were taken out of it. Literally in a few days the city became ghosts. No one has lived on its lands for 30 years. Chernobyl is also considered a fairly environmentally friendly place in which there are no people and no production is carried out. The air here is incredibly clean.

This city in Azerbaijan has long suffered from the heavy legacy of the Soviet past. Once it was one of the largest centers of the chemical industry, created by Stalin's decision. About 120,000 tons of harmful toxic substances have entered the environment. Basically, it is rut, organic fertilizers and oil production waste. Most of the factories are now closed. Only now, no one has been seriously engaged in the cleaning of reservoirs so far.

10. Kabwe

The last line went to a city in Zambia. Here they found rich deposits of lead. Kabwe is located 150 kilometers from the capital of the country. For about a hundred years, lead has been mined here at an accelerated pace. But the waste from its production has poisoned the air, water and soil for a century. Water is deadly to drink within a radius of 10 km from Kabwe, as well as breathe air. The content of lead in the blood of people who live here exceeds the norm by 10 times.