What's it like living in Siberia?

Siberia ranges from ordinary city life to extreme cold, where heating, distance, and season shape nearly every routine.

Ordinary Siberia

Nastya shows snow, family meals, a summer house, culture, and ordinary routines in Novosibirsk.

Winter family routines

A Yakutian family layers up, faces school closures, and heats their home repeatedly in severe cold.

Warmth-built homes

Maria Solko shows housing adapted to permafrost, including stilted blocks and private homes with limited water systems.

Declining resource towns

DW Planet A portrays Vorkuta as a polluted former coal boomtown shrinking after Soviet collapse.

Gardens and mosquitoes

Nastya’s summer routine includes fresh produce, childcare constraints, dacha life, and persistent mosquitoes.

−42°C winter

Winter averages −42°C, freezing groceries and vehicles while residents rely on idling cars and an ice highway across the Lena River.

80-degree temperature swing

Western Siberia sees temperatures from −40°C in winter to +40°C in short, very hot summers, she says.

$1,500 Yakutsk salary

Residents earn about $1,000–1,500, while living costs approach $700, with entertainment centered on indoor venues and cafes.

Snowy dacha chores

At about −5°C, residents clear heavy snowfall before settling into a few days of dacha life.

Rainy home day

At 19°C after heavy rain, a resident plans a home day with a fire, shashlik, grilled sandwiches, and tea.

Planning around −50°C

At −50°C, children walk quickly to nursery while residents stock up because the distant grocery store makes trips infrequent.