You may think living in the UK is grim, but one look at the Russian city dubbed the ‘world’s most depressing’ will leave you thanking your lucky stars.
Norilsk – an ex-USSR town deep in north Siberia – has been given this unenviable title by multiple sources over the years. And it’s not hard to see why.
The city sits within the Arctic Circle, with year-round snow and temperatures that peak at 9°C in summer yet drop to an excruciating -50°C in January.
Plus, during the winter, the sun never rises, and residents live in complete darkness for 45 days every year.
Located 1,800 miles from Moscow and 930 miles from Krasnoyarsk, the oblast’s capital, it’s incredibly remote. No roads lead in or out of Norilsk; just a freight railway line to the port of Dudinka where residents can cross the river to the rest of the country (when it’s not frozen over, as it is for much of the year, that is).
Otherwise, the only year-round route to and from the city is a five-hour flight to Moscow or one of Russia’s smaller, regional airports.
Norilsk was built in the 1930s on the site of a former Gulag labour camp, after geologists discovered huge deposits of nickel, copper and cobalt.
It was largely constructed by Soviet prisoners, an estimated 16,806 of whom died working in the sub-zero temperatures between 1935 and 1936. On TikTok, @cmardukh, who visited the town, says ‘there are human bones everywhere in the soil,’ as a result.
These days, a fifth of the world’s nickel and more than half of its palladium comes from Norilsk, and almost everyone there has some connection to the Norilsk Nickel plant.
This industry keeps the local economy going, but it also causes disastrous levels of pollution. The smelting process here pumps out around two million tons of toxic gas each year, with an estimated 1% of global sulphur dioxide emissions stemming from this one small city.
Meanwhile, permanent smog and acid rain show its visible effects, killing off half of the surrounding forests and creating a barren landscape of blackened tree skeletons.
Perhaps the most obvious example of the severe impact of pollution came in 2016 and again in 2020, when suspected waste pipe leaks from the plant turned the nearby Daldykan River blood red.
‘In the winter, the snow is also red,’ former factory worker Evgeny Belikov previously told ABC. ‘On the one hand, it’s beautiful, but on the other it’s chemical.’
If that didn’t sound scary enough, it’s not unheard of to see wild polar bears walking the streets of Norilsk. According to the the Royev Ruchei Zoo in Krasnoyarsk, which rescues the creatures, they have been forced into the town by warming winters and lack of Arctic hunting grounds – they’re not exactly friendly neighbours though.
On a Reddit thread about the location’s dour reputation, some felt it had a unique charm, including @The_Mage_Lyn who commented: ‘It looks actually kind of pleasant to me, beautiful and wonderful in a sort of “last refuge” way.’
‘It’s oddly calming to me,’ wrote another, @chubbycanine, while former resident @Juldris added: ‘Never found my city depressive at all.’
Others were far less complimentary though, calling it ‘oppressive’, ‘bleak’, ‘desolate’ and ‘dystopian’, or comparing it to post-apocalyptic scenes in video games and movies.
Life in Norilsk
With all this in mind, you may wonder why anyone would choose to live in Norilsk – yet over 170,000 people do just that.
This is largely due to the employment opportunities here: workers at Norilsk Nickel can earn more than £800 a month, a significant bump against the national average of less than £600.
Additionally, Reddit user @liquidio explains: ‘The training/career advancement is actually quite good as the company does invest in the people who are willing to go there and give them opportunities as there is always turnover.’
The community feel is also a draw for some. When Estonian journalist Jaanus Piirsalu visited in 2018, the claimed: ‘In Norilsk, the cold weather is compensated by the warm-hearted people.’
Due to its harsh conditions however, calling Norilsk home comes at a different price.
Not only is the life expectancy in Norisk 10 years lower than the rest of Russia (59 compared to 69) studies have shown that the risk of cancer is also double the rest of country, and rates of blood illness in children are 44% higher compared to an average child in Siberia.
Along with respiratory illnesses from the pollution, people here can experience a range of ‘polar syndromes’, where the lack of light and warmth causes symptoms like depression, irritation, sleep problems, difficulties with concentration and memory and absent-mindedness.
In fact, children in Norilsk receive a daily dose of ultraviolet rays during the polar night to protect them from the worst of it.
When it comes to amenities, residents only got proper access to the internet in 2017, having to rely on a dodgy satellite link to get online beforehand.
But the city does boasts a range of shops, a theatre and various museums, while the pretty Lake Dolgoye is popular with swimmers and sunbathers when the weather is warm(ish).
Much is being done to improve Norilsk too, from buildings in the central city and Leninsky Prospekt being repainted bright sunflower yellow to the opening of a gallery – the Arctic Museum of Modern Art (AMMA) – which mayor Dmitry Karase said ‘everyone will want to visit.’
Can you visit Norilsk?
Still want to take a trip to this far-flung land? Besides the fact you’ll have to be a pretty tough customer to brave its inhospitable environment, you’ll also need special permission from the Russian government.
Only around 200 foreigners a year are granted permits to visit Norilsk, and restrictions are pretty strict.
That said, if you’re one of the chosen few, you can experience its wild scenery and delve into its chilling past. The Norilsk Golgotha memorial, erected at the foot of Mount Schmidtich to commemorate the lives lost in the Norillag labour camp here.
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