The following is an incomplete list of ghost towns, listed by continent, then by country.

Africa

Angola

Saint Martin of the Tigers (in Portuguese: São Martinho dos Tigres), a settlement situated on a peninsula now known as the Tigres Island (in Portuguese: Ilha dos Tigres), was originally a small but well-established fishing village. It was supplied with water from the nearby town of Foz do Cunene, at the mouth of the Cunene River. In the 1970s, Saint Martin of the Tigers was cut off from the mainland by the rising sea levels, and its water supply line was severed; both Tigres and Foz do Cunene were subsequently abandoned."Fishing Spots and Beaches in Angola South" , Cool Waters. The island, bound by the South Atlantic Ocean and the Tigres Strait, lies in a zone that is ideally suited for ecological projects. The island was mentioned in the BBC documentary "Unknown Africa: Angola". Foz do Cunene, located near Saint Martin of the Tigers and similarly abandoned due to rising sea levels. Miconje Velho, in northern Cabinda near the Congolese border. Nova Cidade de Kilamba was an underoccupied development built by China International Trust and Investment Company near Luanda. Although the city's population eventually grew, in early days it was heralded as a ghost town and predicted to stay that way.

Central African Republic

Goroumo, Beogombo Deux, and Paoua are among the many deserted villages created by the actions of government forces and killings by armed gangs from the years 2005 to 2008. Lere, Central African Republic.

Egypt

Avshalom, Dikla, Nahal Yam, Netiv HaAsara, Sufa, Talmei Yosef, Yamit, and Pri'el were Israeli settlements in the Sinai built after the Six-Day War in 1967. They were dismantled by the Israeli government after the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979 and are today abandoned.

Ethiopia

Dallol is a former mining town located in the Dallol crater, where the temperature can rise as high as 104 °F (40 °C). Abala, a town on the border between Tigray and Afar, was largely abandoned following months of violence during the Tigray War.

Ivory Coast

Grand-Bassam was the French Colonial capital of Côte d'Ivoire until 1896 when it was abandoned by the French Colonial Government. Commercial activity gradually weakened until the city became a virtual ghost town in 1960, the same year Côte d'Ivoire became independent. Today the city has revived somewhat as a tourist center, but it still has the aura of a ghost town.

Mauritania

Chinguetti is a former medieval trading center on the Adrar Plateau.

Morocco

Ahouli is an abandoned lead-mining village in central Morocco.

Namibia

From 1884 to 1915, Namibia was under the rule of the German Empire and was known as German South West Africa. When diamonds were discovered in 1908, German miners flocked to the area, and several new settlements were established, only to be abandoned once the supply of diamonds dried up. The ghost towns that were left behind include: Elizabeth Bay Kolmanskop Pomona

South Africa

Bowesdorp is a former village near Kamieskroon. Copperton is a former copper mining town in the Northern Cape. Eureka City is an abandoned mining town in Mpumalanga. It is now a historical site. Diepgezet is an abandoned asbestos mining town in Mpumalanga. It was transferred to tribal land and renamed to Msauli. Leydsdorp is an abandoned mining town near Tzaneen in Limpopo province. Millwood is an abandoned mining town near Knysna. Plaatjieskraal is an abandoned fishing town near Pearly Beach. Pomfret is an abandoned asbestos mining town in the North West province. Putsonderwater is an abandoned town in the Northern Cape. Schoemansdal was a town that was destroyed in 1867.

Sudan

In the northeast of Sudan lies the old city of Sawakin. It is now in ruins. It is said to be in restoration now and will reopen as a tourist attraction. El Fasher, the de facto capital of Darfur was overrun by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in late October 2025, after an 18-month siege, a development that left the RSF in control of the entire region which reverted to a "ghost town" status, showing no signs of life in the city.

South Sudan

Lukangol was destroyed during the 2011 South Sudan clashes. Before its destruction, it had a population of 20,000.

Western Sahara La Güera is a ghost town on the Atlantic coast at the southern tip of Western Sahara. It is Western Sahara's southernmost town. It has been uninhabited and partly buried by drifting sand since 2002.

Antarctica and sub-Antarctic islands

The islands of Antarctica, particularly South Georgia, were popular with whalers during the first half of the 20th century, and many of the settlements on these islands are former whaling stations. Most of them were closed down during the Great Depression, when whaling became unprofitable, and are now abandoned. These settlements include:

Deception Island

Whaler's Bay

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Grytviken Husvik Leith Harbour Ocean Harbour Prince Olav Harbour Stromness

Asia

Azerbaijan Sarıhacılı, a town of more than 28,000 in the late 1980s, its population has since dwindled to 0.

Bangladesh

Panam City in Sonargaon was established in the late 19th century as a trading center of cotton fabrics during British rule. Here the Hindu cloth merchants built their residential houses. After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and the Muslim-Hindu riot, Panam City has reduced into a vacant community. Today this area is protected under the department of archaeology of Bangladesh. Panam city area was linked with the main city area by three brick bridges – Panam Bridge, Dalalpur Bridge, and Panam Nagar Bridge – during the Mughal period. The bridges are still in use.

British Indian Ocean Territory

East Point was a settlement in the atoll of Diego Garcia, and it has been abandoned after the depopulation of the territory, it is restricted to visitors.

Cambodia

Bokor Hill Station was a resort town built by colonial French settlers in 1921.

China

Niya, in the Tarim Basin, was once a major commercial center dating back to around 500–1000 AD. Houtouwan, a depopulated fishing village, now a major tourist attraction. Khara-Khoto, abandoned Western Xia city

Cyprus

Mansoura Varosha was once the modern tourist area of the city of Famagusta. It was fenced off by the Turkish army following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and is now under TRNC rule. United Nations Security Council Resolution 550 forbids any attempt "to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants", so the area had remained abandoned since 1974, but the Turkish government reopened the city to visitors. Vikla

Georgia

Armazi, the original capital of the country, was destroyed in AD 736 by the Arab invader Marwan ibn Muhammad and never rebuilt, apart from a church, built in the 12th century but later abandoned. The ruins are now protected. Ochamchire was a city of 18,700 people in 1978 but was left largely abandoned by the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in 1992–1993. Tkvarcheli is a coal mining town that suffered a drastic population decline as a result of the war in Abkhazia.

India

Dhanushkodi, on Pamban Island, was a flourishing tourist town until it was wiped out by the 1964 Dhanushkodi cyclone. Fatehpur Sikri was briefly the capital of the Mughal Empire, but was abandoned soon after its completion, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mandu is a fortress town in Madhya Pradesh, dating back at least as far as 555 AD. Old Goa was once the center of Christianization in the east, but it became largely abandoned in the 17th century, due to an outbreak of malaria and cholera. Ross Island was the administrative center of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands until the 1941 Andaman Islands earthquake, leaving the settlement in ruins. Vijayanagara was possibly the second-largest city in the world in 1500, with around 500,000 inhabitants. It was captured and destroyed by Muslim armies in 1565, and has been abandoned ever since. Hampi is a World Heritage Site within this town. Lakhpat was once a bustling port town at the mouth of Kori creek of Kutch. After the earthquake of 1819, the Indus River changed its course of flow resulting in the abandonment of the port by people. The town surrounded by a fort wall now houses only a few hundred people and a large number of ruined buildings. Bhangarh Fort, a 17th-century fort built by King Sawai Madho Singh in Rajasthan was abandoned following a curse, according to legends. Kuldhara is an abandoned town near Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Prabalgad, a hill fort near Matheran, Maharashtra which was abandoned due to its difficult access and scarcity of water. Madh Fort near Mumbai is a small fort that is in disuse following a decline in its importance. Golconda Fort near Hyderabad was a fort city and the seat of the Qutb Shahi dynasty was destroyed after defeating by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Indonesia

Berastepu, a village in Karo Regency, North Sumatra, was abandoned due to 2013 eruptions of Mount Sinabung. Lubuk Laweh, a village in Padang Pariaman Regency, West Sumatra, was destroyed following the 2009 Sumatra earthquakes. It has since been treated as a mass grave of the victims. Petobo, a village in Palu, Central Sulawesi, was destroyed by the liquefaction of the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami.

Iran

Soltaniyeh was the 14th century capital of the Mongol Ilkhanid rulers of Persia, but is now "a deserted, crumbling spread of ruins".

Japan

Hashima Island was a Japanese mining town from 1887 to 1974. Once known for having the world's highest population density (in 1959 at ), the island was abandoned when the coal mines were closed down. Ōkuma, Fukushima was a large Japanese town with a population of 11,515 people. It was completely evacuated along with the ( voluntarily) zone surrounding the nuclear plant in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Ikeshima Island was a mining town in Nagasaki Prefecture. The town had an estimated population of over 10,000, but after the coal mines closure in 2001 thousands left. In 2018 it had a population of 130.

Kazakhstan

Chagan, former Soviet air base and urban settlement. Malye Kamkaly, Baytal and Aral were abolished in 2019.

Kyrgyzstan

Balykchy, a lakeside town. Though maintaining a large population, the town has declined significantly from its former industrial power. Engilchek, an old Soviet mining town. Ming Kush, a Soviet uranium mining town that declined from 20,000 to 3,600 residents. Sary-Jaz

Laos

Boten, once a hub of gambling and crime, turned into an underpopulated development by casino shutdowns and Chinese economic decisions. Loechon, also known as Lakhon, an ancient abandoned city near Thakhek.

Lebanon

Bjerrine, in the Byblos District, was a town with a silk factory that was abandoned during the great famine under Ottoman control during World War I. Urban legends say that all of the villagers were on the same boat to America when it sank, taking the town's history with it. Ain el-Halazoun, a Christian village that was destroyed during the Lebanese Civil War. The village's sole inhabitant was a former resident who returned to his decimated hometown, shown in the 2008 documentary "The One Man Village".

Malaysia

Bukit Kutu is a former hill station that was abandoned after being bombed by the Japanese army during World War II. Bukit Besi is a former mining town in Terengganu, Malaysia. The population dropped drastically after 1971 when the Eastern Mining and Metal Corporation (EMMCO) closed their operation because the iron ore there was exhausted.