Shafaq News

By the end of 2025, Iraq had become the second most polluted country in the world, while more than five million cubic meters of untreated wastewater flowed into its rivers every day —two figures that capture the scale of a country drowning in its own environmental collapse.

From toxic air and contaminated water to mountains of uncollected waste and the constant hum of urban noise, pollution in Iraq is no longer a single-sector problem. It is a nationwide condition shaping daily life and steadily eroding public health, food security, and economic stability. Millions of Iraqis live inside this crisis, often without the means to escape it.

The Gray Suffocation

On many mornings in Baghdad, a gray veil hangs over the city, blurring skylines and muting the sun before noon. By evening, air quality monitors often register levels unsafe even for brief outdoor activity.

In 2024, the capital recorded an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 113, placing it in the “unhealthy” category for extended periods. Other Iraqi cities, including Karbala, Al-Anbar, and Diyala, repeatedly appeared on global lists of the most polluted urban areas.

The sources are neither mysterious nor new. Heavy gas flaring from oil extraction —placing Iraq among the world’s largest flaring countries— releases vast volumes of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. Chronic electricity shortages keep tens of thousands of diesel generators humming day and night, while aging vehicle fleets add a steady stream of exhaust.

“Air pollution in Iraq is no longer episodic or seasonal. It has become a constant background exposure,” explained environmental researcher Ahmed Al-Bayati, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Baghdad. “When people breathe this air every day, for years, the damage accumulates inside the body even if symptoms do not appear immediately.”

Hospital corridors reveal the human cost, with international disease-burden models linking polluted air in Iraq to tens of thousands of premature deaths annually, alongside sharply elevated risks of heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. Within the country, the 2025 Ministry of Health reports show rising hospital admissions for asthma, bronchitis, and cardiovascular conditions during peak pollution months, particularly in southern and central provinces.

Speaking to Shafaq News, pulmonologist Dr. Zainab Al-Mousawi observed a shift in patient profiles. “We are seeing people in their twenties and thirties with lung function similar to that of much older patients. Many have never smoked. Their common factor is long-term exposure to polluted air,” she explained.

Read more: The air we breathe: How pollution is quietly rewriting Iraq’s future

Wealth Wasted

According to the World Bank, air pollution, unsafe water, and unmanaged waste together drain several percentage points of Iraq’s GDP each year through healthcare costs, lost productivity, and premature deaths. “Environmental harm in Iraq functions like a hidden tax on society,” remarked Mustafa Al-Kinani, a development economics lecturer at Al-Mustansiriyah University. “The state pays more to treat preventable illnesses, families lose breadwinners earlier than they should, and entire sectors operate below potential because workers are simply not healthy.”

More than five million cubic meters of untreated wastewater pour daily into Iraq’s rivers, poisoning up to 90% of watercourses, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. Only a fraction of households —30% in urban areas and 1.7% in rural regions— have access to sewage treatment, leaving millions dependent on unsafe surface water. In Basra and other southern provinces such as Dhi Qar, Maysan, and Najaf, advancing seawater and shrinking river flows have pushed drinking water salinity far beyond safe limits, sending tens of thousands to hospitals during peak contamination periods.

Hydrologist Ali Al-Taie, a former adviser to the Ministry of Water Resources, warned that what Iraq is experiencing is the collapse of its water management system. When wastewater, industrial discharge, and saline intrusion combine, ‘’you do not just get bad-tasting water,’’ he explained, but ‘’you get a toxic mixture that damages kidneys, livers, and the nervous system over time.”

For farmers, the effects travel from tap to field: polluted and saline water corrodes the soil, diminishes crop yields, and forces families to abandon lands that have sustained them for generations.

At city edges, the crisis is impossible to ignore. Smoke curls from open dumps where mountains of uncollected waste smolder, injecting toxic compounds into neighborhoods already burdened by polluted air. Iraq produces an estimated 23 million tons of municipal solid waste annually —more than two kilograms per person each day, according to Eco Iraq— but barely half, around 11 million tons, is formally collected. The remainder burns, spills into rivers, or rots in informal landfills.

“When waste is not collected and safely treated, it becomes a hazard at every stage,” explained Sarah Al-Hakim, a consultant on urban sanitation projects. “Open burning releases carcinogenic gases, while unlined dumps allow toxic leachate to seep into soil and shallow groundwater.”

Read more: Pollution gnaws at Iraq: Laws without teeth, fines without impact

Screaming Silence

Amid Iraq’s environmental crises, noise pollution has emerged as a growing and often overlooked hazard, posing risks as serious as air and water contamination. Cities such as Baghdad now experience constant high-decibel levels, turning daily life into a prolonged assault on hearing, nerves, and cardiovascular health.

Measurements in Baghdad over recent years have recorded noise ranging between 37.5 and 76 decibels —levels that often exceed World Health Organization recommendations for residential areas, capped at 55 decibels by day and 45 by night. For large segments of the population, this means living in an environment that is chronically unsafe for health.

“The rise in urban noise is not just an annoyance,” noted Layla Al-Kazemi, an environmental health specialist, stressing that chronic exposure to high-decibel environments often contributes to hearing loss, hypertension, sleep disturbances, stress, and even cognitive deficits in children.”

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in its August 2025 booklet that daily exposure above 85 decibels, even for eight hours, can cause cumulative damage to the auditory system, nervous system, and heart. Chronic exposure above 80 decibels, as occurs in many Baghdad streets, is linked to tinnitus, higher risks of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, and impaired concentration.

Taken together, the evidence paints a stark reality: Iraq is not merely facing pollution; it is living inside it —in air, water, soil, and even the food on the table.

Because the crisis can be measured, it can also be confronted. What remains uncertain is whether Iraq’s political system will marshal the will, funding, and long-term planning needed to reverse a trajectory decades in the making.

For now, millions continue to breathe, drink, and live amid pollution that steadily erodes their health, often without seeing the danger, but always paying its price.

Read more: Baghdad Fading: How shrinking rivers and failed policies endanger the capital

Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.