Name: Russias countryside in decline: Service closures push families to relocate
Uploaded: 2025-12-26T13:50:07.666Z
Duration: 2 min 24 s
Description: Thousands of villages in Russia are being abandoned as young people move to cities.

Thousands of villages in Russia are being abandoned as young people move to cities.

Tver

Villages across Russia's Tver region are experiencing significant decline, with abandoned buildings and shrinking populations. Once thriving agricultural communities now consist mainly of elderly residents living in deteriorating homes, as younger generations have left in search of better opportunities.

The rural exodus, which began after villagers gained freedom of movement in 1974, has led to the closure of schools and hospitals, further accelerating depopulation. Residents and observers note that entire villages with rich histories are fading away, and traditional rural life is disappearing even in areas not far from Moscow.

Russia's countryside in decline: Service closures push families to relocate

This abandoned church of the Presentation of the Lord in the Korkos village was built at the beginning of the 19th century. It was decorated with Christian-themed frescoes which are still seen on the ceiling and the walls. The crosses on the cathedral's dome are destroyed too and there is no one to fix them. Korkosh is just one of many abandoned villages scattered across Russia's Tver region. Time and the weather have done their job, leaving the creepy signs of decay. What once used to be strong collective farms and agricultural lands with crops and cattle has now turned into hundreds of kilometers of isolated land and uninhabited settlements with a few elderly villagers living in their old ramshackle huts. And it's just some 200 kilometers northwest of Moscow. But the exodus from villages in Russia began quite a while ago. During Tsarist times, peasants were tied to the land, unable to leave their owners' estates. Under Soviet rule, people were forced into collective farms and denied passports, which made them unable to move freely within the country. They received the right to choose where to live only in 1974, and that triggered the outflow of the villagers. There used to be a lot more people here. We had a school and a hospital, but now the young people have left. None of the few people we met in Koi, once a large settlement with a rich history, were optimistic that life will ever return to these places. There are only two or three young families with kids left, like ours. Other villagers are much older. Some people become alcoholics. Others don't want to work. Not long ago, people were still living here. Now there are not many left. Entire villages with rich histories are quietly fading away, right next to the capital. The Russian village, its traditions and its way of life is simply disappearing. Yulia Shapovalova, Al Jazeera, the Tver Region.

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