Just a few hours’ drive from the Belarus capital of Minsk, many villagers still live off the land. Nearly 80% of the country’s 9.5 million citizens live in urban areas, but for the rest, being close to nature can outweigh the hardships of country life. Here: Boys play in the Stviga River on a hot summer day near the village of Pogost, Belarus, August 16, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Even the powerhouse of Europe has its fair share of abandoned properties and empty shop fronts as seen in these pictures of decaying buildings in Germany. Photographer Daniel Barter, 30, from London traveled Berlin and the surrounding countryside to capture buildings in need of work on film. Far from being resplendent in vintage glory, the deserted music venues and crumbling hospitals are a shadow of their former selves. German eagle motifs flake off ceilings and concert halls designed for hundreds have not seen a show for years. Photo: Lung sanatorium. (Photo by Daniel Barter/Caters News)

In the build-up to Halloween those hunting for a real-life ghost town need look no further than this haunting spot. Bodie, California, USA – which requires special access to photograph at night – is one of the best preserved ghost towns in America, still featuring the abodes of the former miners who inhabited it more than 100 years ago. Here: Bodie, California, a real-life ghost town. (Photo by Matthew Christopher/Caters News Agency)

A bulky tree appears to have crashed down on the roof of this clapped-out Citroen. The haunting images were taken by Belgian security guard, Kenneth Provost at various locations across Germany and Belgium. (Photo by Kenneth Provost/Mediadrumworld.com)

Zulmira Jesus poses for a portrait at a street in Povoa de Agracoes, near Chaves, Portugal April 19, 2016. In the villages of Agracoes and Povoa de Agracoe, the steady drip-drip of emigration has brought down population numbers from more than 50 residents to fewer than a dozen each. These remaining villagers share the same glum acceptance that, after they have gone, their villages will die out too. It is the same desolate picture in scores of other backwater settlements in Portugal's interior, north to south. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)

Tsukimi Ayano steps out of her house in the village of Nagoro on Shikoku Island in southern Japan February 24, 2015. Tsukimi Ayano made her first scarecrow 13 years ago to frighten off birds pecking at seeds in her garden. The life-sized straw doll resembled her father, so she made more. Today, the tiny village of Nagoro in southern Japan is teeming with Ayano's hand-sewn creations, frozen in time for a tableau that captures the motions of everyday life. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

In this photo taken on Sunday, July 5, 2015, police officers walk along a giant poster to give an improved appearance, in downtown Ufa, Russia. Ufa will host SOC (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summits July 7 to July 9, 2015. (Photo by Vadim Braydov/AP Photo)

This picture taken on May 23, 2017 shows visitors posing for photos along a path at an Indonesian hamlet dubbed “the rainbow village” in Semarang, central Java, that has become an internet sensation and attracting hordes of visitors. (Photo by Suryo Wibowo/AFP Photo)