Linfen is located in the southwestern part of Shanxi, on the lower reaches of the Fen River, bounded by
Changzhi and
Jincheng to the east, the
Yellow River to the west (which also forms the border with
Shaanxi),
Jinzhong and
Lüliang to the north, and
Yuncheng to the south. The prefecture ranges in latitude from 35° 23′ N to 36° 37′ N, spanning , and in longitude from 110° 22′ E to 112° 34′ E, spanning . In all, the city's administrative area, at , covers 13% of the province's area.
Pollution China's rapid industrialization and urbanization beginning in the 1990s (see
reform and opening up) led to increased energy demand causing a dramatic increase in the price of coal. This led to a rapid expansion of loosely regulated private mines. Mining, cooking, smelting and other heavy industries which developed around the city have led to catastrophic environmental damage. In 2006, the
Blacksmith Institute included Linfen in its annual "10 worst" report, calling the city the most polluted city in China. It has also been listed as one of the world's ten dirtiest cities by the
Popular Science website. The city has ranked at the bottom of the World Bank's air quality rankings. From its low point, in 2004, with only fifteen days out of the year with an acceptable level of
air pollution, the environmental situation has improved. After a series of negative reports on the extreme level of pollution in the city, efforts were made to clean up Linfen. Substandard mines were closed. other sources suggest that little progress has been made in combating pollution. In 2018, the Chinese government openly criticized the city's failure to meet pollution targets, and a 2019 report by the
Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment found that the city's air pollution was the worst among the 168 cities the ministry monitored. Following the report, the city's government ordered further pollution controls for the city's industry. ==Administrative divisions==