Worst Space Polluters

India and Pakistan have been sniping at each other recently, sometimes literally, but the latest accusation is made by Pakistan blaming India's Space Program of becoming a major source of space debris and urging the International Community to tut loudly at it.
Space debris is the fragments left over from old rocket parts and satellites that litter space and according to NASA, they are tracking 23,000 pieces of debris larger than 10cm (4in) and although India is one of the largest polluters, Russia, the US and China are the largest producers of space junk.
Russia is responsible for 5,099 potentially hazardous bits pinging around above our heads, closely followed by the 4,815 the USA has left up there and then its China with 3,720, France 507, then India with 163 and Japan 115.
In March this year, India became the fourth country to conduct an anti-satellite missile test.
This year India did conduct an anti-satellite missile test which added another 50 pieces of junk to the pile with the potential to collide with, and damage, the 2,000 satellites and International Space Station spinning around in the same orbit.
As the problem is growing, there have been tests to find ways to clean up the debris and in 2025 the European Space Agency will launch the first space mission to remove as debris as it can but admit that cleaning up the space environment remains a challenge.