What are the most polluted cities in the world?

Which cities deserve the title of the most environmentally unsafe in the world? In what places is there a real threat to the health and life of the population? Let's highlight the top 10 most polluted cities in the world.

Sumgayit

The Azerbaijani city of Sumgait was founded in the 1940s. Initially, there was an extremely rapid population growth. By the middle of the century, the number of residents of the city exceeded the figure of a quarter million. Soon, there was an acute shortage of housing. Therefore, a large part of the population simply had to huddle in the cramped rooms of numerous hostels.

However, the housing deficit was not the most important problem for Sumgayit residents. In the presented region, a whole mass of chemical enterprises concentrated, whose activities for several decades turned the once fragrant nature into a burnt desert.

At present, about 260 thousand people live in Sumgait, which is located 30 km from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. In the Soviet years in the district of the city there were about 40 factories, which were engaged in manufacturing a variety of chemicals. The largest enterprises, such as Khimprom, Aluminum Plant, Organic Synthesis, still operate at full capacity.

Throughout the year, 70 to 120 tons of harmful exhausts are released into the atmosphere above the city, which are formed as a result of processing of chlorine-containing compounds, rubber, heavy metals, as well as the manufacture of pesticides, household cleaners. Today, thanks to environmental monitoring, environmental pollution in the region has declined. However, even those substances that enter the air are enough to make local water and soil unsuitable for use.

An unfavorable ecological situation could not but affect the health of the population. Thus, the level of life-threatening diseases here is higher by more than 50% compared to other settlements of the country. Therefore, it is not surprising that Sumgait falls into the rating of the most polluted cities in the world every year.

Linfyn

Continuing to survey the 10 most polluted cities in the world, one can not ignore one of the largest industrial centers of China called Lingfeng. It is located in the main coal-producing region of the country. Surrounding the village natural heights, just strewn with mines for the extraction of minerals. And the bulk of the mines are illegal workings. Waste of their activities around the clock pollute the soil and groundwater.

However, numerous mines represent a relatively minor disaster. In addition to the mines, dozens of coal processing factories operate in the city's district. Together with the population growth, which is replenished with newcomers, the number of cars is also increasing. Their exhausts, combined with the release of toxic substances into the atmosphere from local enterprises, led to a catastrophic arsenic content in the atmosphere.

Residents of the city have to go out into the street in protective masks, which filter dangerous toxins and partially eliminate the pungent smell of coal. The pollution of the atmosphere in Linfen is so significant that the laundry after washing, hung out of the window, is completely black in a few minutes. Numerous inhabitants of the city suffer from bronchitis, pneumonia, and other lung diseases.

Kabwe

We continue to consider the most polluted cities in the world. The next in our rating is the city of Kabwe, located 150 km from the capital of the African state of Zambia. This settlement is known for the largest deposits of lead enriched rocks on the planet. Throughout the century, industrial poisonous metals have been mined here. Lack of control over the ecological situation in the region leads to significant air, groundwater and soil pollution. At a distance of tens of kilometers from the city, it's dangerous not to drink from wells, but simply to breathe air. Not surprisingly, the percentage of lead compounds in the blood of the city's population exceeds the permissible norms by more than 10 times.

Dzerzhinsk

In the list of the most polluted cities in the world, and Russian Dzerzhinsk. The Soviet legacy of this settlement is the huge industrial complexes for the processing of chemical raw materials. Only in the period since 1930 local soil "enriched" more than 300 thousand tons of poisonous compounds.

According to the results of the latest research, today the number of life-threatening phenols and carcinogenic dioxins in local water bodies exceeds the normative indices by several thousand times. The average life expectancy of men here is about 42 years, and women - 47 years. Considering the above, it should not be surprising that Dzerzhinsk is on the list of the most polluted cities in the world in ecology.

Norilsk

Already from the first years of its existence, the Russian Norilsk has enlarged the list, which contains the most polluted cities in the world by air. Since the 50-ies of the last century, this settlement has the glory of one of the leaders of heavy industry on the whole planet.

According to the latest data from organizations to monitor the environmental situation in the country, more than 1,000 tons of toxic products of the decomposition of nickel and copper are emitted annually into the local atmosphere. The air in the city is saturated with a critical content of sulfur oxide. As a result, the average life expectancy of the local population has been reduced by 10-15 years compared to other regions of the country.

La Oroia

The Peruvian industrial center La Oroya also falls into the rating, where the most polluted cities of the world are present. An insignificant area is located in the foothills of the Andes, where the deposits of the most common metals are concentrated. For several decades here, they have been involved in the extraction of lead, copper, zinc, and other minerals on an industrial scale. At the same time, the ecological situation in the region remains uncontrolled by the relevant organizations. Today the city of La Oroya is notorious for the whole of South America as a place where the highest mortality among children is observed.

Sookinde

Considering the most polluted cities in the world, you should pay attention to the Indian industrial center of Sukinde. Here, more than 95% of chromium is mined in the country. As a result, the city for several decades turned into a real waste dump. In the district of the settlement there are numerous burial mounds, which have absolutely technogenic origin.

In the atmosphere over the Sukinde tons of hexavalent chromium are emitted. This substance is known as the most powerful catalyst that leads to the formation of cancer cells in the body. In large quantities, a carcinogen is found not only in the local air, but also in soil and water, which is used by the city residents for drinking.

Chernobyl

As you know, the Chernobyl disaster, which occurred several decades ago, remains to this day the most terrible technogenic accident on the planet in the history of mankind. Already in the first years after the explosion of the nuclear reactor of the power plant, the number of casualties among the population exceeded the figure of 5.5 million. A large-scale accident made not only the nearest city of Pripyat unsuitable for life, but also led to the formation of a zone of alienation with a radius of 30 km around the settlement.

Every year Chernobyl is always on the list, where the most polluted cities of the world are present. Hundreds of tons of enriched plutonium and uranium are still concentrated in the area in which the dilapidated reactor is located. According to official data, about five million people continue to live in the territory that is part of the exclusion zone.

Vapi

The Indian city of Vapi inhabits more than 70 thousand people. All of them are in the area where there is an increased danger to human health and life. As the data of environmental organizations show, at present there are no technologies that would allow cleaning of local air, water and soil from poisonous substances.

Vapi is located on the territory of the country's industrial belt with a length of about 400 kilometers. Local enterprises avoid the costs of recycling waste, which are piling up in absolutely arbitrary places in the city district. Vapi is also a kind of garbage dump for nearby settlements.

There is a massive accumulation of waste chemical, textile, oil refineries. Heavy metals, poisons, pesticides, containing chlorine and mercury substances daily fall into rivers and groundwater, which remain the main sources of drinking for the local population. To understand the scale of the ecological catastrophe, it is enough to look at the Colak River, which is located nearby Vapi. According to the researchers, in the waters of the latter there is absolutely no biological life.

Finally

So we examined what the most polluted cities in the world truly deserve their status. In fact, the list of life-threatening settlements includes hundreds of cities throughout the planet. In our rating there are only the most striking examples of a person's frankly negligent attitude towards nature and his own environment.