When you hear a neighbor’s late‑night rave or a garbage truck blaring before sunrise, you might curse your block. Most of us enjoy the basics—heat, running water, electricity, and Wi‑Fi—but there are countless corners of the planet where those comforts are luxuries. In this rundown we’ll count down the 10 places around the world you absolutely would not want to call home.
Why These 10 Places Around the Globe Are Best Avoided
10 Soleil, Port Au Prince Haiti
Just beyond Port‑au‑Prince lies Cité‑Soleil, literally “Sun City,” a sprawling shantytown where gangs rule and sanitation is a nightmare. The settlement lacks any sewage system, leaving garbage and raw sewage pooled in stagnant, mosquito‑laden puddles. AIDS runs rampant, pulling life expectancy down into the low‑50s. With no police presence, drug lords and kidnappers have long held the streets in an iron grip. The Red Cross summed it up: the area epitomises Haiti’s chronic unemployment, illiteracy, non‑existent public services, unsanitary conditions, rampant crime and armed violence.
In 2004 the United Nations sent thousands of troops to Cité‑Soleil, engaging in fierce gun battles with the gangs. A fragile order was imposed, yet the slum remains a violence hotspot. Today, entry still requires passing an armed UN checkpoint. The 2010 earthquake left many structures standing, but the nearby National Penitentiary collapsed, releasing 3,000 inmates who stormed back into Cité‑Soleil on motorcycles armed to the teeth, erasing much of the UN’s hard‑won progress.
9 Favelas Of Rio De Janeiro Brazil
Rio de Janeiro dazzles tourists with Carnival, Copacabana’s white sands, and a vibrant cityscape. Yet on its fringes sprawl massive favelas—haphazard shacks stacked atop one another, cobbled together from discarded lumber, metal and stone. Of the roughly 1,000 favelas, Rocinha stands out as one of the most notorious, a hotbed for cocaine trafficking bound for Europe and a playground for ruthless drug lords.
One infamous figure, Erismar Rodrigues Moreira—known as Bem‑Te‑Vi—armed his crew with gold‑plated weapons and employed the brutal “necklacing” method, wrapping a tire around a victim’s head and setting it alight. He was killed in a 2005 police raid. The favelas’ future remains uncertain; the 2016 Olympics spurred a heightened police presence that once ignored these neighborhoods.
8 Detroit, Michigan USA
Formerly celebrated as the “Motor City,” Detroit now bears the grim title of one of America’s murder capitals. The collapse of the auto industry has left the city with a 25 % population decline since 2000, turning swaths of it into ghost towns of foreclosed, boarded‑up homes—some listed for under $100. Squatters have taken over many of these properties, and abandoned basements serve as dog‑fighting dens. The city also wrestles with a massive stray‑dog problem, predominantly pit bulls.
July 19 2013 marked Detroit’s bankruptcy filing, saddling it with roughly $18 billion in debt. Unemployment hovers around 16.3 %—an improvement over the 24.9 % peak in 2009. The TV show Hardcore Pawn spotlighted the city’s desperation, with lines of people queuing to pawn valuables just to keep the lights on. FBI and Justice Department data reveal that Detroit houses three of the nation’s most dangerous neighborhoods, the worst being the area around West Chicago Street and Livernois Avenue, where residents face a one‑in‑seven chance of becoming violent‑crime victims each year.
7 Ciudad Juárez Mexico
Just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, Ciudad Juárez has transformed into the epicenter of Mexico’s drug war. Rival cartels clash brutally for territory, leaving a trail of corpses. In 2009 the city earned the grim distinction of world murder capital, with 130 killings per 100,000 residents—a figure likely understated as many disappear into mass graves. Police forces are either corrupt or too frightened to leave their stations.
Women bear a disproportionate brunt of the violence: sexual assaults are rampant, and hundreds of teenage girls have been murdered since the 1990s, with countless others missing—victims of domestic abuse, drug‑related crime, or alleged serial killers roaming the streets.
6 Medellín Colombia
During the late 1980s, Medellín was the world’s most violent city, dominated by Pablo Escobar’s cocaine cartel and paramilitary groups. Though Escobar was killed in 1993 and overall crime fell, the city still records thousands of homicides annually. In 2009 there were 2,899 murders—a sharp drop from the 6,500 recorded in 1991—but many remain tied to drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping. Tourists are sometimes targeted, held for ransom and forced to empty bank accounts at ATMs.
Since 2012, a fierce rivalry between the Office of Envigado and Los Urabeños cartels has reignited violence, as both vie for control of the city’s lucrative drug routes.
5 Brownsville, Brooklyn USA
Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood is a stark contrast to the borough’s gentrifying image. The area is dominated by massive NYCHA public‑housing projects where crime runs high. While many parts of New York have seen crime rates tumble, Brownsville remains one of the city’s most violent enclaves, to the point that some UPS drivers make deliveries escorted by armed guards.
The drug trade fuels much of the violence, though the crack epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s has waned. Gangs have fragmented into smaller factions, but residents still often resort to fists to survive. The neighborhood has produced a remarkable lineup of boxing champions—Riddick Bowe, Shannon Briggs, Zab Judah, and “Iron” Mike Tyson—reflecting its gritty, fight‑or‑flight culture.
4 La Perla, San Juan Puerto Rico USA
La Perla is a compact shantytown on the outskirts of San Juan, originally built around a slaughterhouse. Today, it’s infamous for a thriving heroin trade fed by South‑American suppliers. Spanning about 15 blocks, the settlement is often omitted from tourist maps to keep visitors away. Despite its poverty, La Perla boasts colorful houses, stunning ocean views, and a Caribbean beach of its own.
In 2011, a massive DEA‑led investigation culminated in a police raid that netted 114 drug arrests, underscoring the area’s entrenched narcotics problem.
3 Ferghana Valley Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan
The breakup of the Soviet Union left the Ferghana Valley—a region split among Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan—riven with tension. The valley has become a flashpoint for Islamic fundamentalism, ethnic clashes, a crippled economy and rampant corruption. Hundreds of thousands of refugees wander its streets, and bodies litter the sidewalks.
The most brutal episode occurred on May 13 2005 in Andijan, Uzbekistan, when the military opened fire on protesting citizens. Official figures claimed 187 deaths, but eyewitnesses allege over 1,000 were killed, including many women and children, with bodies allegedly buried in secret mass graves to conceal the true scale of the carnage.
2 Kibera, Nairobi Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya’s bustling capital, harbors one of the world’s largest slums: Kibera. The area is largely abandoned by the state; a few enterprising criminals tap into the city’s power grid, but most of Kibera lives in darkness. Homes are rudimentary mud‑and‑concrete huts with dirt floors, and water sources are polluted, leading to typhoid and cholera outbreaks. Sanitation consists of communal pits used by hundreds, and women walking after dark risk rape.
About half the population is unemployed. To stave off boredom, many turn to glue‑sniffing or the potent local brew changaa. HIV/AIDS spreads rapidly; women often resort to prostitution to feed themselves, and orphaned children—many born with HIV—wander the trash‑filled streets.
1 Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong China
Kowloon Walled City, demolished two decades ago, still deserves a mention for its legendary lawlessness. Originally a Chinese military fort, it morphed after World War II into a dense maze of squatters. By 1987, roughly 30,000 people crammed into a 6.5‑acre plot, yielding a staggering density of 3,250,000 residents per square mile—far surpassing Manila’s 111,002 per square mile.
The Triads effectively ruled the enclave, with police only entering in large forces. Prostitution, gambling, drug use, murder and opium dens thrived under the dim light that barely penetrated the alleyways, while rats ran rampant. In the early 1990s, the Hong Kong government finally ordered an evacuation; demolition began in March 1993. Today, the site houses Kowloon Walled City Park, a peaceful garden filled with monuments.