21.07.2026 08:20
Vorkuta, located in Russia's Arctic region and once a major industrial center, is rapidly emptying out and turning into one of the world's coldest ghost towns. With its population dropping to as low as 50,000, residents are leaving the area by selling their homes for symbolic amounts like $100 (4,700 lira).
Founded during the Soviet era primarily for coal mining around the Gulag labor camps, Vorkuta once hosted a large population. However, in the 2000s, as coal mines lost profitability and closed one by one, the city's biggest source of employment disappeared. Left with unemployment, thousands of people found relief in migrating to other regions.
HARSH CLIMATE AND HEAVY BILL BURDEN
In addition to the economic crisis, Vorkuta's brutal climate conditions made life unbearable. Located just above the Arctic Circle, with winter temperatures dropping to minus 50 degrees Celsius, the city became an intolerable geography for people once job opportunities vanished.
The reason behind houses being sold for 100 dollars or abandoned with unlocked doors lies in heavy infrastructure costs. According to Russian regulations, even if a house is vacant, basic expenses such as the central heating system and maintenance fees must be paid. Property owners who cannot find work and face insurmountable accumulated bills try to transfer their homes to the municipality for free or sell them at very low prices.
FROZEN ABANDONED BUILDINGS
Today, when you visit satellite neighborhoods like Vorgashor and Severny around Vorkuta, the scale of the disaster is clearly visible. Completely emptied apartment blocks summarize the situation. Most people have left everything behind and departed, thinking it's not even worth the cost of moving their belongings. What was once an attractive and profitable mining city now awaits its fate, transformed into a true ghost town under the influence of economic collapse and freezing cold.