Yerevan's 'Remarkable' Air Pollution Index

I have been struggling for a long time to understand why I feel physically worse in Yerevan than in Europe or America. Why do I sleep for 8-10 hours but often wake up feeling deprived of sleep? Why is it that when I catch a cold in Yerevan, I cough for two to three weeks, while any infection from abroad goes away in a few days? Blogger Alexander Lapshin wrote this on his Facebook page.

“I also didn’t understand why my skin dries out and hurts in Yerevan if I don’t regularly use creams on my face and hands, while I get blackheads and pimples. This does not happen to me abroad even without creams,” he said.

Lapshin added that he is referring to the horrifying levels of air pollution in Yerevan, which exceed the norm by 6-8 times. The air in Yerevan is almost constantly filled with harmful substances that threaten human life and health. Today, this index is 182. For comparison, in Larnaca, Cyprus, it is currently 37, in Tokyo it is 17, in New York it is 56, and in Paris it is 48.

“There are very few cities in the world where the air is more polluted and dangerous than Yerevan, including Cairo (Egypt) with 218, Dhaka (Bangladesh) with 215, and Lahore (Pakistan) with 214. Why is the air in Yerevan so polluted? There are several reasons: 1. Urban waste is not dumped but burned in the Sovietashen and Nubarakashen landfills. 2. Lack of sufficient parks and green spaces. 3. Large-scale construction that does not comply with environmental safety requirements, creating dust throughout the city. 4. An enormous number of old cars with uncontrolled emissions of harmful substances.

Now it becomes a bit clearer to me why many of my Yerevan friends already have a whole bunch of chronic illnesses by the age of 40-45,” said the blogger.