Analysis

Chernobyl 40 years later: millions of victims and ongoing debates over consequences

 26.04.2026, 14:52
Alina Zayats, age 2, diagnosed with leukemia, held by her mother at the Homiel Regional Clinical Hospital. August 20, 1996, Homiel, Belarus. Following the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986, millions of people were affected by radioactive contamination. In the affected regions, there was a rise in childhood cancers, particularly thyroid cancer—one of the most well-documented medical consequences of the disaster
Alina Zayats, age 2, diagnosed with leukemia, held by her mother at the Homiel Regional Clinical Hospital. August 20, 1996, Homiel, Belarus. Following the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986, millions of people were affected by radioactive contamination. In the affected regions, there was a rise in childhood cancers, particularly thyroid cancer—one of the most well-documented medical consequences of the disaster. Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images

Chernobyl is one of the most extensively studied man-made disasters in history. But even nearly 40 years later, scientists still do not have a single answer to the main question: how many people were actually affected, and which consequences can be considered proven—especially since Belarus still lacks data that would allow for a precise distinction between the consequences of Chernobyl and general statistics on illness and mortality.