Oymyakon, a remote village in Russia's Sakha Republic, is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement on Earth, nestled in a valley along the Indigirka River. Its name may derive from the Even word meaning "unfrozen patch of water" or "frozen lake," and its extreme subarctic climate features continuous permafrost. The settlement holds a remarkable temperature record: an unofficial reading of −71.2°C in 1924, and an official −67.7°C on 6 February 1933, nearly matching Verkhoyansk as the Northern Pole of Cold. These frigid conditions result from surrounding mountains trapping cold air, scarce winter daylight, and its distance from the ocean. During World War II, an airfield was built for the Alaska–Siberian route to ferry Lend-Lease aircraft, but the population has since fallen from roughly 2,500 to fewer than 900 by 2018. Today, locals rely on fur trading and ice fishing, while most are Orthodox Christians or non-religious, though a presence of Aiyy Faith and Shamanism persists.