FACTS ABOUT MONGOLIA

Official name: Mongolia
Population: 3,259,414
Area: 1,565,000 square km 
Capital: Ulaanbaatar city 
Official language:  Mongolian language  
Major religion: Buddhism 
Literacy: about 98.4%
Political system: Parliamentary republic 

Currency: Tugrug (MNT or ₮)

LOCATION AND GEOGRAPHY

Mongolia is located in the central part of Asia, bordering with Russia and China. The total territory of the country is over 1.5 million square kilometers and the most sparsely populated country in the world. (approximately 1 square kilometer per 1.6 persons.) Mongolia is the eighteenth largest country in the world by size of territory. It is also the world's second-largest landlocked country. The average altitude is 1580m above sea level. The highest point is the Huiten peak (4374m) in the Altai mountain ranges in the west. The lowest point is the Hoh nuur or lake (532m) above sea level which is located in the east. From the west to the east, it’s around 2392 km long and 1259 km long from south to north. Mongolia is home to high mountains, wide steppe and Gobi desert. There are over 3800 permanently running rivers in the territory of Mongolia. Mongolian rivers are included in Arctic, Pacific and land-locked central Asian River basins. About 4000 lakes are in Mongolia. The biggest fresh water lake is Hovsgol and the biggest salt one is Uvs.

Additionally, Mongolia is land of a lot of species of fauna and flora including 146 species of mammal, almost 430 different types of birds, 8 kinds of amphibians and 76 species of fish. There are some rarest animals like Gobi bear, snow leopard, Takhi or wild horse etc.

CLIMATE 

Mongolia, a landlocked country, is located far from the seas and oceans so it has a harsh continental climate with very little rainfall, long, cold winters and short summers. Generally, average temperatures are around 0.2°C (32°F), winter temperatures are -10° …-30°C (14° …22°F) and summer temperatures are 10° …27°C (50° …80°F). Several occasions, temperatures can falls to as low as -50 degree Celsius in January, the coldest month whereas summer’s temperatures can rise to 30 degree Celsius in July, the hottest month. The annual average precipitation is 200 to 220 mm. Mongolia is the land of winds and especially sharp winds blow in spring, April and May. Mongolia is called “The land of the blue sky” as there are about 250 sunny days a year.  

LANGUAGE

The official language is Mongolian which belongs to Altaic language family. It is spoken by 95% of the population. Rest of the people speak Kazakh, Tuvan and Buryat across the country.

Today, the Cyrillic alphabet has been written in Written language since 1946, even though in the past several scripts such as Mongolian traditional script, Tod script, Durvuljin or Square script and Soyombo scripts were used in written language. One of these scripts is Mongolian Traditional script or Hudum Mongol Bichig was created specifically for the Mongolian language. It is traditionally written in vertical lines, top-down and derived from the Old Uighur alphabet.  

PEOPLE

Mongolia has approximately over 3 million people. The majority of the population of Mongolia is Khalkha Mongols (85%), but minority groups include Kazakh, Dorvod, Bayad, Buriad, Dariganga, Zahchin, Urianhai, Oold, Torguud and more. In other words, there are more than 20 ethnic groups. The largest of these minority groups, Kazakhs make up around 5% percent of the total population.
The nation also has an extremely young population, with over 60 percent of people less than thirty years old while 40% under the age of 14.

CUISINE 

The Mongolian cuisine is divided into dairy products and meat food. The meat food comprises the meals made of pure and fresh meat alone. The uncut meat is being boiled together with other seasoning and flavoring with vegetables and served and the uncut meat is also used for making such national special dishes as horhog (pieces of meat cooked by means of putting them into a sealed vessel together with the red-hot stones inside), boodog (the whole of goat, marmot cooked with red-hot stones put inside). Also, two of the most popular dishes are Buuz (a meat filled steamed dumpling) and Khuushuur (deep-fried pastry.)
In summertime, Mongolians prefer to drink fermented milk (mare’s milk), cow and goat’s milk, yoghurt and eat dried curds, cream and cheese which contain different types of vitamins and minerals.     

RELIGION

In Mongolia, there are different types of religions such as Buddhism (53%) since the 16th century, Shamanism (in the north), Muslims in the West (Kazakh groups). The main religion is Buddhism or Lamaism, which is the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Until 16th century, shamanism, worshipping the Blue Sky, was the dominant religion in Mongolia. Lamaism was introduced in 1586 by the leader Altan Khan (1507–83) then it gained more popularity.

Tibetan Buddhism shared the common Buddhist goals of individual release from suffering and reincarnation.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Mongolia had hundreds of Buddhist monasteries and about 30 percent of all men were monks. Communists led an anti-religious campaign in the 1930s, more than 700 monasteries were destroyed and thousands of monks were killed.

ECONOMY OF MONGOLIA

Economic activity traditionally in Mongolia has been based on the agriculture and breeding of livestock: sheep, goats, cattle (mainly yak), horses, and camels. From these livestock, numerous products including meat, dairy products, wool and cashmere are collected. The total of livestock is about 71 million in 2019.  Agricultural production takes place in some regions where grains (wheat, crop,) potatoes and other vegetables are grown.
The country is rich in natural resources or mineral deposits including coal, copper, gold, fluorspar, and molybdenum, tin, tungsten and gold account for a large part of industrial production and foreign investment. 

HISTORY OF MONGOLIA

Chronologies of important events
Mongolia in the 13th century
Mongolia in the 17th-19th centuries
Mongolia in 20th century
Modern Mongolia