Top 10 Most Polluted Locations

Here’s another list to guide your travel choices – these ten destinations should be avoided at all costs! The list was originally compiled by the Blacksmith Institute.

10. Dzerzhinsk, Russia

Once a hub for Cold War-era chemical production, the city’s 300,000 inhabitants face some of the lowest life expectancies globally due to toxic waste buried in the ground. 'The average life expectancy is about 45 years,' Robinson (from the Blacksmith Institute) explains. 'That’s 15 to 20 years lower than the Russian average and roughly half of what someone might expect in the West.'

The second-largest city in this Southern African nation was once home to one of the world’s largest lead smelting operations until 1987. Consequently, the entire area is severely polluted with lead, a heavy metal that can result in brain and nerve damage in both children and fetuses. 'Tests of children’s blood lead levels show averages exceeding 50 micrograms per deciliter, with some exceeding 100,' Fuller (from the Blacksmith Institute) explains. 'For every 10 micrograms per deciliter above the 10 microgram threshold (the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s treatment guideline), a child’s IQ decreases.'

Although this is one of the smallest towns on the list (with a population of 35,000), it is also one of the most polluted due to lead, copper, and zinc mining operations by the U.S.-based Doe Run mining company.

Located in the heart of China’s coal-producing region in Shanxi Province, the city’s three million residents suffer from dust-filled air and drink water contaminated with arsenic leached from coal. Moreover, intense pollution often reduces visibility to dangerously low levels.

This city, located above the Arctic Circle, houses the world’s largest metal smelting facility and, as a result, experiences some of the most severe smog in the world. 'There is so much pollution released into the air that there is no living grass or shrub within 30 kilometers of the city,' Fuller states. 'Contamination from heavy metals has been detected as far as 60 kilometers away.'

Home to one of the world’s largest chromite mines, which is used in the production of stainless steel among other products, and with a population of 2.6 million people, this valley’s waters are polluted with cancer-causing hexavalent chromium compounds due to 30 million tons of waste rock along the Brahmani River. 'Hexavalent chromium is highly toxic and extremely mobile,' says David Hanrahan, Blacksmith’s London-based global programs director.

As the hub of China’s lead production, this town of 160,000 is recognized as one of the most polluted regions in the country, according to the Chinese government. The concentration of lead in the air and soil is 8.5 to 10 times higher than the national health standards, while the lead dust contaminates local crops at levels 24 times above these health benchmarks.

This town, located at the end of India’s industrial belt in the state of Gujarat, serves as the dumping ground for the leftover waste of over 1,000 manufacturers, including those involved in petrochemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals. 'The companies treat wastewater and remove most of the muck,' Hanrahan explains. 'However, there is nowhere to dispose of it, so it ends up being dumped.'

An unfortunate legacy of Soviet industry, the city of 275,000 people is heavily contaminated with heavy metals, oil, and chemicals from its past as a major center of chemical production. As a result, local residents suffer from cancer rates that are 22 to 51 percent higher than the national average, and their children endure numerous genetic disorders, including mental retardation and bone diseases.

The aftermath of the world’s most catastrophic nuclear power disaster continues to unfold, impacting up to 5.5 million people and causing a significant increase in thyroid cancer rates. The disaster has also severely damaged the economic future of surrounding regions and countries, particularly those dependent on agriculture.