2013 World’s Most Polluted Places Put 200M Lives At Risk - Survey

Based on a new survey citing the world's most polluted places, the lives of at least 200 million people are at risk. These areas are believed severely hazardous to man's health spanning Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

In random order, the 2013 world's worst polluted places released by Blacksmith Institute, an environmental non-profit organization were:

• Agbogbloshie, Ghana
• Chernobyl, Ukraine
• Citarum River, Indonesia
• Dzershinsk, Russia
• Hazaribagh, Bangladesh
• Kabwe, Zambia
• Kalimantan, Indonesia
• Matanza Riachuelo, Argentina
• Niger River Delta, Nigeria
• Norilsk, Russia

Having a closer look, one would notice that these areas are mostly found in developing areas, including industrial cities, e-waste processing centers and mining towns. Russia and Indonesia both have listed cities.

Dzerzhinsk was once Russia's major chemical weapons producing site while Norilsk was a mining and smelting center.

Indonesia's Kalimantan accounts for 30 percent of the total mercury emissions of the world while Citarum River, a dump site holding household waste and industrial pollutants, has lead, cadmium, chromium and pesticides residues.

The range of pollution sources and contaminants are various and numerous, including hexavalent chromium from tanneries and heavy metals released from smelting operations. These areas are great health hazards to more than 200 million people in low- and medium-income countries, the report cited. Usual health problems are elevated levels of cancer, respiratory diseases and other related illnesses.

"In this year's report, we cite some of the most polluted places we've encountered. But it is important to point out that the problem is really much larger than these ten sites," Richard Fuller, president of Blacksmith Institute, said.

"We estimate that the health of more than 200 million people is at risk from pollution in the developing world."