Ecological Disaster: List of the Dirtiest Countries in the World. The dirtiest and cleanest cities in Russia Top 10 dirtiest cities in the world

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A powerful breakthrough in the development and growth of the number of enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical, oil and petrochemical, processing, coal mining, on the one hand, raised the standard of living of people, and on the other, made their lives much more dangerous in terms of health and ecology. The constant increase in the number of diseases is a direct result negative consequences activities of industrial giants. The increasing flow of cars, whose emissions into the atmosphere only reduce the percentage of normal air, also contributes to this process.

The introduction of an environmental regulation system is scheduled for 2019. But, as you know, we have from the adoption of laws and decisions to their action and the results of a "huge distance." Plant managers save on the introduction of advanced methods for cleaning various emissions, so a huge number of different compounds still enter the atmosphere, heavy metals, acid-containing substances that settle on the surface of houses, plants, get into the water, in a word, literally poison our lives.

Environmentalists have long sounded the alarm and openly say that soon in many industrial cities of Russia, among which there are both giants and small populations, it will be mortally dangerous to live. And the fact that the situation is critical is also evidenced by the behavior of the Ministry of Nature, which for the first time in 2018 published its list of ecologically unfavorable cities in Russia.

There are only small differences in the list of cities and in what place in this sad rating each of them is located. In general, the existing data are practically identical. And the repetition of cities is not so scary as the addition of new ones, which only aggravates the situation.

Chita

Chita has been on this list for more than one year. The city is quite small in terms of population - about 350 thousand people, and the problem of pollution is one of the most acute, and one of the reasons is cars.

Chita is surrounded by hills, high-rise buildings prevail in its development, while the city is located in a hollow, which impedes air circulation. Despite frequent and strong winds, a thick layer of smog hangs over Chita in winter.

The situation is aggravated by outdated thermal stations, which, like the boiler houses of the city, run on coal and fuel oil. And although boiler houses allegedly switch to modern species fuel, but so far nothing has essentially changed: an eerie dirty brown smog hangs over the city, cut through by the black exhaust of the smoke from the hydroelectric station.

Chelyabinsk

A very tense situation with the ecology in the city is associated with the presence of numerous industrial enterprises here. They are located both in the city itself and outside it. The air has long been dominated by various chemicals that are not suitable for normal breathing - these are the waste products of industrial giants.

Everything is aggravated by the fact that calmness prevails in Chelyabinsk. Of course, there is a slight breeze, but mostly calm. Naturally, the air masses do not mix, and all emissions from the chimneys of enterprises accumulate in the lower layers of the atmosphere - all residents, young and old, have to breathe this "cocktail".

Another trouble in Chelyabinsk is overcrowded for a long time city dump, which at the end of the last century exhausted its possibilities. She periodically lights up in the summer, adding her portion of the hellish mixture to the air. Yes, and in the surrounding water bodies it is better not to swim.

Omsk

To understand how tragic the situation with the environment in this Siberian city is, suffice it to say that it is not the first year in the five Russian cities where the rates of cancer are highest. By the way, the largest cancer center in Siberia is also located in Omsk.

The reasons are the same - in Omsk there are many industrial enterprises that are located in the city itself. An additional problem is the poultry farm, because of which the townspeople cannot simply air their apartments. True, there are no factories or factories in the central part of the city, but there are many cars that pollute the air with their exhaust.

The million-plus city also has a problem with a landfill. Of the three polygons, only one remains - the other two are closed. Well, the handsome Irtysh is not happy - it is dangerous to swim in it: there is a full guarantee of contracting some kind of bacteria.

But in the past few years, measures have been taken in Omsk to reduce the amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere: starting in 2010, filters began to be installed at thermal stations that capture particles from smoke. The plant equipment is also being modernized.

Norilsk

The city's only salvation from smog, which is regularly provided by the mining and metallurgical concern, is a strong wind. It partially carries away the emissions from Norilsk Nickel, but this is hindered by three mountain ranges that surround the city in an almost continuous ring. And around the city are leafless coniferous forests, whose cover is burned by acid rains. The water is colored turquoise-green, but there is nothing to be happy about - the reason is the increased content of copper sulfate in it. There was no flora or fauna left in the lakes.

Norilsk is one of the dirtiest cities in Russia. Located beyond the Arctic Circle, it could be interesting in terms of excursions, but there is no risk of going here even for a short time. Among residents high percent diseases of the upper respiratory tract. Life expectancy is much lower than in the country.

Novokuznetsk

Another industrial giant traditionally located in Siberia. A beautiful landscape picture would appear to our eyes - the city is surrounded by mountains overgrown with forests. But there is nothing to be happy about - because of this, smog hangs over Novokuznetsk, which is provided by emissions from cars and industrial complexes of the city.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of harmful components poison the atmosphere every year. The townspeople are forced to breathe all this, since there is practically no natural "ventilation", as well as there are no normal trapping filters. Therefore, about 80% of all emissions are safely released into the air. There is also a problem in the city with waste disposal - landfills are overcrowded, so the number of spontaneous dumps is growing.

Nizhny Tagil

The enterprises of Nizhniy Tagil, including the famous Uralvagonzavod thanks to YouTube, poison both the air and water sources, dumping waste water there.

But with regard to this city, it must be said that before it, the only one in the Sverdlovsk region, the task was set by the May presidential decree to reduce the amount of harmful emissions by at least 20%. Environmentalists note that plant owners, whether they like it or not, follow the instructions. To maintain environmental stability, not 0.02% should be allocated from the budget, as it happens, but at least 3%.

I must say that the situation is no longer as dire as it was in the 90s. Many enterprises have ceased to exist, and the rest are still striving to comply with the requirements for ensuring environmental well-being.

Magnitogorsk

In the second largest city in the Chelyabinsk region, the environmental hazard is mainly determined by the iron ore plant. The list of emissions includes compounds and substances that do not belong in the air. Their concentration in the atmosphere exceeds the norm by 10-20 times. We must pay tribute to the management of the plant, which is taking measures to reduce these indicators.

The Ural flowing past also suffers, from which water is taken for production, and then it is returned. But despite the filters, this is not the same water at all, and it is better not to fish from the river.

It gets most of all from the left bank, so the city government decided to conduct residential development only on the right bank and gradually move there from the left bank. There are plans to build small satellite towns in the forested area, which will be much more economical than upgrading Magnitogorsk.

Lipetsk

The main trouble in Lipetsk is located within the city limits - it is its metallurgical plant, the third largest in Russia in terms of production. Every year, it poisons the atmosphere with more than thousands of tons of harmful substances.

Although the residential sector is located on the right bank of the Voronezh River, when the southeast wind blows, the waste products of the plant, along with the eerie smell of hydrogen sulfide, "precipitate" the apartments of the unfortunate residents of Lipetsk.

Adds negativity and someone's night activity, because there is a ZhBK plant in the city, cement factory, machine-tool building and a number of enterprises of national importance. Some of them regularly poison the night air with another portion of harmful substances, which significantly exceeds the permissible norms.

Cars did not stand aside either. About one third of all emissions come from their tailpipes.

All this prompted the concerned citizens of Lipetsk to introduce a system of constant air quality control. Lipetsk is still the only city in the country where this has been implemented, and Lipov residents are also working on modernizing traffic in the city in order to reduce harmful emissions. True, not everyone believes in what will be done. They say - unless only to "cut" the budget, because there are no results yet.

But unlike other ecologically unfavorable Russian cities, underground springs have been preserved in Lipetsk. Industrial activity did not affect them.

Krasnoyarsk

According to scientists, Krasnoyarsk has 70 years to live - this is the sad result of its industrial activity. The city has long crossed the red line of environmental safety. If nothing changes for the better during this time, then staying in Krasnoyarsk is like burying oneself alive.

The concentration of harmful substances in Krasnoyarsk has long exceeded all permissible standards. In February 2018, the entire city was enveloped in yellow fog. Everyone who suffers from certain respiratory diseases was not recommended to go outside - the content of harmful compounds in this fog simply went off scale.

Krasnoyarsk also has its own sad "phenomenon", which residents call "black sky". It can be regularly observed, and although its color is rather dark gray, it seems that it is very close to black.

Well, the culprits are traditional - one of the industrial giants of the region, an aluminum complex, thermal stations, car exhaust. Separately, it is necessary to say about the human factor - the greed of the heads of large enterprises, private industries, where they continue to heat with cheap coal. And soot settles not only on roofs, windows, walls of houses, not only on the ground and on plants, but also in the lungs of people.

Technological progress is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, many things that seemed incredible a few years ago have become reality every day for more and more people. On the other hand, in order to satisfy the demand, industrial production and the extraction of minerals is growing exponentially, while in order to save money, they often do not pay any attention to the environment, literally destroying all living things around. Meet the ten dirtiest cities in the world, where, sadly, China, India and Russia are in the lead.

10.Kabwe, Zambia

Around the second largest city in Zambia, Kabwe, which is located 150 kilometers from the capital of the country, rich deposits of lead have been found. For almost a hundred years, lead has been mined here at an accelerated pace, the waste from the production of which has been poisoning the soil, water and air for a century. Within a radius of ten kilometers from Kabwe, it is deadly to drink water and even breathe air. The content of lead in the blood of local residents is 10 times higher than the norm.

9. Sumgait, Azerbaijan

This 285,000-strong city suffers from the difficult legacy of the Soviet past. At one time it was one of the largest centers of the chemical industry, created by the willful decision of Stalin, with one stroke of the pen. About 120,000 tons of hazardous toxic waste has been released into the environment, mainly mercury, oil waste and organic fertilizers. Now most of the factories are closed, but so far no one is seriously engaged in cleaning water bodies from harmful substances and reclaiming the land. So far, the outskirts of the city are more reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

8. Chernobyl, Ukraine

In 1986, the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, a radioactive cloud from which covered an area of more than 150 thousand square kilometers. Around the epicenter of the explosion, the authorities created an exclusion zone, from which all local residents were taken out. Chernobyl literally in a few days became a ghost town, where no one has lived for almost 30 years. In the usual sense, Chernobyl is a very ecologically clean place, people do not live here, there is no production, and the air is incredibly clean, except for the high level of radiation, with prolonged exposure to which people, having earned a bunch of sores, die within several years.

7. Norilsk, Russia

A branch of the ecological hell on earth is located in the Arctic Circle, in which 180 thousand people live. Initially, Norilsk was a labor camp, in which the forces of prisoners built one of the world's largest metallurgical plant, from the pipe of which about 4 million tons of chemical compounds with an admixture of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, arsenic and selenium are emitted into the air annually. In Norilsk, the smell of sulfur is constantly felt, black snow has not surprised anyone for a long time, and the content of copper and zinc in the air exceeds the permissible standards by several times. The mortality rate of local residents from respiratory diseases is several times higher than the average for Russia. There is not a single living tree within a radius of 48 kilometers from the smelting furnaces. By the way, this is a closed city, foreigners are prohibited from leaving here.

6. Dzerzhinsk, Russia

This 300 thousandth Russian city inherited from the Cold War received about 300,000 tons of deadly chemical compounds, which were buried in the vicinity of the settlement from 1938 to 1998. The concentration of phenol and dioxides in underground waters of Dzerzhinsk exceeds the norm by 17 million times. The city even got into the Guinness Book of Records in 2003 as the dirtiest city in the world, where deaths exceed births by 260%.

5. La Oroya, Peru

The small Peruvian town of La Oroya, which is located in the foothills of the Andes, at the beginning of the last century became the center of metallurgy, where copper, lead and zinc have been mined at an accelerated pace for many decades, without paying any attention to the environment. The content of heavy metals in the blood of local residents exceeds several times the norm, and the death rate of children is one of the highest in the world. The outskirts of the city are more like a lunar landscape with bare scorched earth, without grass, trees and bushes.

4. Wapi, India

India cannot boast of such a rate of economic growth as China, however, there are industrial centers here, where ecology and nature conservation are empty words, to which no one has been paying attention for a long time. The city of Vapi, with a population of 71 thousand people, was lucky, or rather unlucky, found itself in the southern part of a 400-kilometer industrial zone, where all waste from metallurgical plants and chemical factories falls, flows and flows. Here, the level of mercury in groundwater is 96 times higher than the norm, and the high content of heavy metals in soil and air literally destroys local residents.

3. Sukinda, India

Chrome one of essential metals necessary for smelting stainless steel, and it is also actively used for tanning leather. Only one thing is bad, hexavalent chromium is the strongest carcinogen that enters the body by air or along with water. One of the world's largest open-cast chrome mines is located near the Indian city of Sukinda, where 60% of drinking water has a hexavalent chromium content that is twice the norm. Indian doctors confirmed that in 84.75% of cases of diseases of local residents, it is the increased content of chromium in the body that is to blame.

2. Tianing, China

The city of Tianying, located in northeastern China, is one of the largest metallurgical centers in the country, where approximately half of the country's lead is mined. 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. However, this is not the worst thing, because of the devil-may-care attitude in ecology, the soil is literally saturated with lead, from where it enters the blood of children, destroying them from the inside, leading to dementia. The locals are very irritable, lethargic, forgetful and suffer from blackouts due to the high content of heavy metals in the body. Wheat grown near Tianying contains 24 times more lead than allowed under Chinese law, which is considered one of the most liberal in the world to the level of harmful substances in products.

1. Linfen, China

The title of the dirtiest city in the world, unfortunately for the locals, bears the center of the Chinese coal industry Linfen. Here people get up and go to bed with coal dust on their skin, clothes and bedding. It makes no sense to hang the washed laundry outside for drying, after a few hours it turns black.

The medal of technical progress also has its downside. It allows people to use things and opportunities unheard of in past centuries, but at the same time, to meet the ever-increasing demand, mankind is forced to constantly increase the extraction of raw materials and industrial production. At the same time, everyone strives to make this production as cheap as possible, therefore, care for the environment is often forgotten, and dirty industries destroy literally everything living around. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the dirtiest cities are now located in the centers of world production - China and India.

15. Agbogbloshi (Ghana)

This African city is so dirty that it is simply dangerous to live in it. Although a similar picture was not always observed: in a matter of years, the ecology of this large Ghanaian city was hopelessly spoiled after a dump of electronics waste was set up in its swampy semi-desert district - the second largest in West Africa. It is known that in addition to lead in electronics, almost the entire periodic table is present, and not at all in the form of vitamins. The developed "civilized" countries of the world gladly send millions of tons of toxic waste here, turning the lives of the inhabitants of Agbogbloshi into a living hell.

14. Ore pier (Russia)

This city is probably the dirtiest in Russia, it is no coincidence that its 90,000 people are considered potentially poisoned. Everything in the area is contaminated with compounds of lead, cadmium and mercury, they have penetrated the soil and groundwater, infected the flora and fauna. Therefore, the residents of the city have nowhere to take pure water for drinking and growing vegetables, since any crop can only poison. The presence of toxic substances in the blood of local children is common, far exceeding the permissible concentration. The sad thing is that this situation is only getting worse every year.

At what freezing temperatures can you not take your children to school or Kindergarten, and, perhaps, do not go to work ourselves? People living in different ...

13. Ranipet (India)

In this area there is a large tannery related to the dyeing and tanning of leather. Such production uses compounds of chromium and other toxic substances, which, instead of the proper disposal, are simply dumped in the district, polluting the groundwater. As a result, both land and water become unusable here. Local residents not only get sick from all this, but also die en masse. And the local peasants, in spite of this, continue to cultivate the poisoned land, pouring poisoned water over it and spreading the poison more and more.

12. Mailuu-Suu (Kyrgyzstan)

Not far from this Kyrgyz town there is a large burial of radioactive waste, so the level of radiation everywhere in these places is off scale. The site for the radioactive dump was chosen criminally irresponsibly - landslides caused by earthquakes are frequent here, and downpours cause floods and mudflows. All this extracts radionuclides to the surface and quickly spreads them around the surrounding area. As a result, local residents suffer from cancer on a massive scale.

11. Haina (Dominican Republic)

In this city, there is a production of car batteries, the waste of which is toxic lead compounds. In the area surrounding the enterprise, the amount of lead exceeds the norm by a factor of thousands. Hence the specific diseases among the local population: eye diseases, mental disorders, congenital deformities.

10. Kabwe (Zambia)

Kabwe is the second largest city in Zambia and is located 150 kilometers from its capital Lusaka. About a hundred years ago, lead deposits were discovered here, and since then they have been continuously developed, and the waste calmly poison the local land, water and air. As a result, within a radius of 10 km from the mines, it is dangerous not only to drink local water, but also to simply breathe. And every resident of the area is "stuffed" with a 10-fold dose of lead.

In any country with a developed industry, urban pollution becomes an inevitable concomitant problem. There are many such dirty cities in Russia, g ...

9. Sumgait (Azerbaijan)

V Soviet times this almost 300 thousand Azerbaijani city was a very large industrial center: many chemical industries related to oil refining and the production of fertilizers worked here. However, after the collapse of the Union and the departure of Russian specialists, almost all enterprises were abandoned, there was no one to be engaged in land reclamation and cleaning of water bodies from mud.

V Lately the city is conducting environmental research to restore it.

8. Chernobyl (Ukraine)

Many people remember the explosion of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred on the eve of the May Day holidays in 1986. Then a cloud of radiation covered a huge territory, which included even the adjacent lands of Belarus and Russia. A large exclusion zone had to be created around the reactor, removing all residents from there. In a few days, Chernobyl turned into a ghost town, in which no one has lived since then. Outwardly, now it is a corner of wild untouched nature, with the cleanest air that does not pollute any production. Except for one invisible enemy - radiation. After all, if you stay here for a long time, you will inevitably get radioactive contamination and cancer.

7. Norilsk (Russia)

And so the difficult position of Norilsk in the Arctic Circle was aggravated for its 180,000 inhabitants by the difficult environmental situation. Once there were camps, the prisoners of which built the world's largest metallurgical plant. Every year, from its many pipes, it began to emit millions of tons of various chemicals (lead, copper, cadmium, arsenic, selenium and nickel). For a long time, in the Norilsk region nobody has been surprised by black snow, here, like in hell, it always smells of sulfur, and the content of zinc and copper in the atmosphere is also much higher than normal. It is not surprising that residents of Norilsk are several times more likely to die from respiratory diseases than residents of other cities of the country. Not a single living tree has survived for fifty miles from the factory stoves.

There are many places on Earth in which life was once in full swing, and now only the wind walks. Among them there are cities with quiet empty streets, as if from fil ...

6. Dzerzhinsk (Russia)

This city with a population of 300 thousand was the brainchild of the Cold War, so each of its inhabitants received as an inheritance a ton of toxic waste buried near Dzerzhinsk in the period from 1938 to 1998. The concentration of dioxins and phenol in groundwater here is 17 million times higher than the norm. In 2003, this city even got into the Guinness Book of Records as the dirtiest in the world, in which the death rate far exceeds the birth rate.

5. La Oroya (Peru)

At the beginning of the last century, the Peruvian town of La Oroya, located in the foothills of the Andes, was turned into a metallurgical center by American industrialists, where lead, zinc, copper and other metals began to be smelted in large quantities. To reduce the cost of production, environmental issues were simply forgotten. As a result, all the surrounding peaks, wooded in the past, became bald, the earth, air, water were poisoned with lead, as well as the inhabitants themselves, who almost universally suffer from certain specific diseases. All of them, including children, have almost as much lead in their blood as in a battery. But the worst thing happened later: when the Americans themselves were horrified at what they had done here, and proposed a plan to improve production and land reclamation, involving the temporary closure of all enterprises, the local residents themselves opposed this, fearing to be left without work and livelihood.

4. Vapi (India)

India is competing with China in terms of economic growth, so such "little things" as environmental protection and ecology are often not taken seriously here. The 70,000-seat city of Vapi fell into the southern part of a giant industrial zone stretching for 400 km, generously releasing various emissions and waste from countless chemical and metallurgical industries into the environment. The local groundwater contains almost 100 times more mercury than the norm, and local residents have to breathe air generously flavored with heavy metals.

3. Sukinda (India)

When smelting stainless steel, one of the most important additives is chromium, which is also used in leather dressing. But this metal is a strong carcinogen that enters the body with air or water. A large chromium deposit is being developed near the Indian city of Sukinda, so more than half of the groundwater sources contain a double dose of hexavalent chromium. Its detrimental effect on the health of local residents has already been noted by Indian doctors.

2. Tianying (China)

Tianying, located in northeastern China, is home to one of the country's largest metallurgical centers, producing about half of all Chinese lead. The city is constantly shrouded in a gray haze, and even during the day, visibility here remains very weak. But the worst thing is that in pursuit of the speed of obtaining metal, the Chinese disregard nature. As a result, the land and water here are saturated with lead, which is why local children are born ugly or feeble-minded. Bread made from local wheat will probably seem heavy, because it will contain 24 times more of this heavy metal than liberal Chinese legislation allows.

1. Linfen (China)

The dirtiest city is Linfen - the center of China's coal mining. Its inhabitants wake up and go to bed like real miners - with coal on their faces, clothes and bedding. Laundry and washing is useless - after drying on the street, it becomes the same black. In addition to carbon, the air is rich in lead and other toxins. Therefore, local residents here massively suffer from serious ailments and die in large numbers.

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Progress gives the world innovative technologies. Opportunities and objects constantly appear that make life more convenient and dynamic. But there is a downside, negative side - the most polluted cities in the world. Increasing the extraction of raw materials, increasing the scale of production and making it cheaper is detrimental to the environment. The ratings voiced in this article will tell you where on earth it is dangerous to live.

Contamination assessment criteria

WHO, UNESCO are engaged in statistics of unfavorable ecology on the territory of the planet.

For this, the following criteria are used:

the percentage of hazardous substances in the air, as well as in water and soil, among the most hazardous to health, such as mercury, arsenic, lead, hydrocyanic acid, mustard gas and phosgene;
the duration of the decay period of toxic substances;
number of population and births;
proximity of the city to the source of pollution;
the level of radioactive contamination;
the impact of industrial emissions on the development of children.

Based on the listed factors, a rating of the most polluted places on the planet has been compiled. The study of settlements was carried out for each category. And then, on a scale specially designed for this statistic, the total indicators were determined.

Top 10 most environmentally polluted places on the planet

According to statistics from the US analytical company MerserHuman, the list of the 10 most polluted cities in the world looks like this:

Linfen is in China.
Tien Yin is in China.
Sukinda is in India.
Vapi is in India.
La Oroya is in Peru.
Dzerzhinsk - in Russia.
Norilsk - in Russia.
Chernobyl is in Ukraine.
Sumgait is in Azerbaijan.
Kabwe is in Zambia.

Settlements with a high level of environmental hazard:

Bayos de Haina - in the Dominican Republic;
Mailu Suu - in Kyrgyzstan;
Ranipet - in India;
Ore Pristan - in Russia;
Dalnegorsk - in Russia;
Volgograd - in Russia;
Magnitogorsk - in Russia;
Karachay is in Russia.

The most environmentally dirty city on the planet - Linfen

Population - 200,000 people. Leading the world in all criteria of environmental pollution. This is the center of the coal mining industry, where, in addition to state-owned, private and illegal mines operate.

Safety standards are ignored, leading to oversaturation of the air in and around the city with coal dust, organic chemicals, lead and carbon. The result of exposure to these substances is the progression of bronchopulmonary diseases - pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, malignant tumors.

Other polluted cities in the world

It will be interesting to get acquainted with the settlements, which have been awarded the title of the most polluted places on the planet.

Tianying

It is called the heart of China's metallurgy. There are many large industrial enterprises in the city that emit dust, gas and heavy metal oxides into the atmosphere. Large-scale lead mining operations are underway in the vicinity. Due to the thick gray smoke, there is no visibility at a distance of 10 meters. Soil, air and water are saturated with lead fumes. Vegetables and signs grown in the surrounding area contain 20 times the lead requirement. This critical situation leads to the development of brain pathologies. A large number of children are born in the region with symptoms of dementia.

Chromium mines are located nearby Sukinda. This metal, widespread in production, is recognized as one of the most dangerous carcinogens. It has an extremely unfavorable effect on local residents, provoking gene mutations and rapidly progressing oncological diseases.

The Indian government is not taking effective measures to reduce the concentration of chromium in water and soil. Treatment facilities in this region are under development.

Wapi

A heavily polluted city in India is Wapi, which has a population of 71,000. Its proximity to a large industrial area makes it life-threatening. In the vicinity there are many factories and plants for chemical and metallurgical purposes, emitting tons of harmful substances into the atmosphere. The main one is mercury, the content of which in the soil has exceeded the indicator by 100 times. The current situation has become devastating for the inhabitants of the region.

Average duration life here is only 35-40 years.

La Oroya

A polymetallic plant has been operating in the Peruvian town of La Oroya since 1922. Its periodic emissions contain high concentrations of lead, sulfur dioxide, copper and zinc. This became the cause of serious illness among the local residents, the number of which is 35,000.

Acid rainfall has left the entire area dry and lifeless, devoid of vegetation. In 2009, the government of Peru was offered a plan for a radical restructuring of enterprises with a production suspension for five years.

Russian Dzerzhinsk with a population of 300 thousand in 2003 got into the Guinness Book of Records. Received the title of the dirtiest city in the world. The critical situation was caused by the burial of chemicals, which lasted from 1938 to 1998. The total volume of deadly substances amounted to 300,000 tons, that is, there is one ton for each inhabitant.

Soil and groundwater contain a critical level of phenol, which is 17 million times higher than the upper norm. At the moment, cleaning works in Dzerzhinsk are at the planning stage.

Norilsk

The population of this Russian city is 180 people. It is closed for visiting by foreigners. One of the world's largest metallurgical plants has been operating in Norilsk for several decades. Up to 4 million tons of chemicals are released into the environment each year, including lead, arsenic, copper, selenium and zinc. In view of this, there are almost no vegetation and insects here.

Cleaning works have been carried out in Norilsk for 10 years. The environmental situation is gradually improving, however, the safe level of concentration of chemicals still exceeds the norm.

On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear tragedy in the world took place in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl - the explosion of a power unit of a nuclear power plant. All residents were evacuated. Territory over 150,000 sq. m. was under the influence of a radioactive cloud, consisting of the evaporation of heavy metals, uranium, pluton, iodine and strontium.

The radiation level in the exclusion zone is fatal. This territory is empty to this day.

Sumgait

Under the Soviet Union, Azerbaijani Sumgait was central to the chemical industry. Due to the constant emissions of mercury and petroleum products, the city with a population of 285 thousand has become practically uninhabitable.

Kabwe

Large deposits of lead were discovered near the Zambian city of Kabwe more than a century ago. Since then, this mineral has been actively mined. The local population is 250,000. From the territories of lead mines, hazardous waste is constantly spreading into the air, soil and groundwater. It causes pathology internal organs, muscle atrophy and severe blood poisoning.

Bayos de Haina

It is a small town in the Dominican Republic with a population of 85,000. A plant specializing in the production of car batteries is a danger to health and life here. Lead emissions into the atmosphere are four times higher than the standard values. The consequence of this is congenital mutations and mental disorders.

Mailu-Suu

In the city of Mailu-Suu, located in Kyrgyzstan, during 1948-1968. mined uranium. These days, the radiation level is 10 times higher than the standard indicators. The reason for the critical situation in the city and its environs is the burial grounds with hazardous substances. Contrary to the warnings of scientists, they were built in areas of increased seismological hazard. As a result of earthquakes and landslides, burials are destroyed. The United States of America is involved in solving this problem. Work is underway.

The polluted cities considered in the article pose an environmental threat to the entire planet. Toxic components are spread by air cyclones, soil migration and the natural water cycle. The problem requires an urgent solution at the global level.

Do you complain about the poor environment in the country, do you think that it could not 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 world countries with poor ecology, but let's dwell on the next ten, which often fall into 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 of these lives are endangered from environmental pollution. On the other hand, such a number of inhabitants causes huge volumes of consumption and waste.

And also a developing industry - heavy, mining, energy... The greatest threat is posed by air pollution. Thus, in large cities, the incidence of lung cancer 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 causing pollution are similar to China, and air pollution is also catastrophic. Experts estimate that 40 years later, more than 3 million people in the world will die due to "dirty" air a year, and most of them will be residents of China and India.

Despite the fact that 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 wastewater - industrial, sewage - gets into the rivers. The problem of deforestation is also topical.

Tourists from all over the world travel 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 are suffering from different types pollution, moreover, the problem of waste disposal is ineffectively solved.

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

7 - Libya

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

The state in southeast Asia - Kuwait - has 9% of the world's oil reserves. Hence the developed economy, the downside - environmental problems.

9 - Uzbekistan

There are many environmental problems in Uzbekistan. The drying up of the Aral Sea, which is an ecological catastrophe, demonstrates especially clearly.

10 - Iraq

Military operations in this country did not pass without a trace. The population is now suffering from the deterioration of the ecological situation in Iraq, and this is no less than 31 858 481 people.