Mongolia
Name
| Official name | Mongolia — Mongol Uls (Монгол Улс), the Mongol State |
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| Former names | The Mongolian People's Republic (1924–92); the Bogd Khanate of Mongolia (1911–24); Outer Mongolia of the Qing (1691–1911); the Northern Yuan of the Mongol khans (1368–1635); the Mongol Empire (1206–1368); the Great Khural's "Mongol Uls" restored 12 February 1992 |
| Demonym | Mongolian; Mongol |
| Meaning of the name | From the Mongols, the Mongghol of the Secret History — "the brave," or from mong, the eternal; the tribes of the Onon that Temüjin united, the name of the empire and of the language; Outer and Inner the Qing's division by the Gobi |
| Motto | None official |
Quick facts
| Capital | Ulaanbaatar — "Red Hero," the name of 1924 for Urga, the Ikh Khüree of the Bogd Gegeen fixed on the Tuul in 1778; about 1.7 million, half the country; the coldest capital in the world |
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| Largest cities | Ulaanbaatar; Erdenet, about 100,000, the town of the copper mine of 1978; Darkhan, the Soviet-built industrial city of 1961; Choibalsan of the east; Mörön; Khovd; Ölgii of the Kazakhs; Bayankhongor; Sainshand of the refinery; Zuunmod |
| Official language | Mongolian — the Khalkha dialect of the majority, written in the Cyrillic of 1941 with two added letters, and in the traditional vertical script of Chinggis' chancery, the Mongol bichig, restored to official use alongside the Cyrillic from 2025 by the law of 2020; Kazakh in Bayan-Ölgii; Russian by the old, English by the young |
| Currency | Tögrög — MNT, ₮; 100 möngö; since 9 December 1925; about 3,600 to the U.S. dollar |
| Time zones | Ulaanbaatar Time, UTC+8, for most of the country; UTC+7 for Khovd, Uvs and Bayan-Ölgii of the west; the summer time abolished 2017 |
| Calling code | +976 |
| Internet domain | .mn |
| ISO 3166 codes | MN · MNG · 496 |
| Vehicle registration code | MGL |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and E |
| Independence | 29 December 1911, declared from the Qing dynasty as it fell, the Bogd Khan enthroned; the revolution of 11 July 1921 with the Soviet army; the People's Republic proclaimed 26 November 1924; independence recognized by China on 5 January 1946 after the plebiscite of 20 October 1945; the United Nations 27 October 1961 |
| National days | 11 July, the National Day and the first day of the Naadam of the three manly games, 11–13 July, with 12 and 13 July; 29 December, Independence Day; 26 November, the Republic Day of 1924; Tsagaan Sar, the White Moon of the lunar new year, three days of February; 1 June, the children's day; the birthday of Chinggis Khaan on the first day of the first winter month by the lunar calendar; 8 March; Naadam the festival of the nation |
| Constitution | 13 January 1992 — the Constitution of Mongolia, the fourth, in force 12 February 1992, adopted by the People's Great Khural as the socialist republic ended: a parliamentary democracy with a president elected by the people, the State Great Khural, the government responsible to it, the Constitutional Court, the human rights and the private property; amended in 1999 and 2000, in November 2019 to strengthen the prime minister and cut the president to one term of six years, and in May 2023 to enlarge the parliament from 76 to 126 members for the election of 2024 |
| Population | 3,296,866 at the census of 2020; about 3.6 million (NSO, 2026 est.) — from 760,000 in 1956 |
| Area | 1,564,116 km² (603,909 sq mi) — land 1,553,556 km², water 10,560 km²; the eighteenth-largest; landlocked |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three vertical bands of red, blue and red with the golden Soyombo on the hoist band — the blue of the eternal sky, the red of progress and prosperity; the Soyombo the emblem of the lama Zanabazar's alphabet of 1686, the flame of the three times, the sun and the moon, the spearheads pointing down at the enemies, the rectangles of honesty and the fish of the yin and yang, the walls of unity; the flag of the People's Republic of 1940 with its socialist star removed on 12 February 1992, the day the new Constitution came into force.Flag of Mongolia |
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| State emblem | A blue circle bordered by the tumen nasan pattern of eternity, bearing the golden wind horse, the khiimori, carrying the Soyombo, above a wheel of the Dharma wrapped in a khadag scarf and the mountains, with the sun, the moon and the flame above and the lotus below; the three jewels at the top; adopted 12 February 1992 in place of the socialist emblem of the herder on horseback |
| National anthem | The State Anthem of Mongolia — "Mongol ulsyn töriin duulal" — music by Bilegiin Damdinsüren and Luvsanjambyn Mördorj of 1950, the words of Tsendiin Damdinsüren revised in 1961, 1991 and 2006, when Chinggis Khaan returned to the second verse; "Our sacred independent country is the ancestral hearth of all Mongols" |
| National motto | None official |
| National colors | Red and blue; the gold of the Soyombo |
| National animal | The horse — the Mongol horse of the herds and the racing, and the takhi, Przewalski's horse, the last wild horse on earth, returned from the zoos to Khustain Nuruu in 1992; the wolf of the ancestors of the Secret History; the snow leopard of the Altai; widely cited |
| National bird | The saker falcon — the falcon of the hunt and the Gulf princes' purchase, declared the national bird in 2012; the golden eagle of the Kazakh hunters of Bayan-Ölgii; widely cited |
| National flower | The scabiosa — the Ber tsetseg, the "bride's flower" of the steppe, declared 2014 |
| National tree | The Siberian larch of the northern taiga and the saxaul of the Gobi; widely cited |
| National dish | Buuz — the steamed mutton dumplings of Tsagaan Sar by the thousand; khorkhog, the mutton cooked with hot stones in a milk can; boodog, the goat cooked in its own skin; airag, the fermented mare's milk of the summer, the national drink; the aaruul curds and the salt-milk tea; the Naadam khuushuur; widely cited |
| National sport | The three manly games of the Naadam — bökh wrestling of the eagle dance, the horse races of the child jockeys over 25 km, the archery of men and women; the sumo of the six Mongolian yokozuna in Japan, Asashōryū, Hakuhō, Harumafuji, Kakuryū, Terunofuji and Hōshōryū of 2025; the judo and boxing golds of Beijing 2008; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag and the emblem by the Constitution of 1992 and the law of the state symbols; the anthem by the same; the bird and flower by declaration; the animals, tree, dishes and sports widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Eastern and Central Asia, landlocked between Russia to the north and China on every other side — the Siberian taiga at one edge and the Gobi at the other, the roof of the continent between the Altai and the Khingan; the Pacific 1,700 km away at Tianjin |
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| Land borders | 8,082 km (5,022 mi) with two neighbors — China 4,630, Russia 3,452; the Gashuunsukhait and Zamyn-Üüd crossings of the coal trucks and the trains to China, the Altanbulag of the Russian road and the Sükhbaatar railway; the Kazakh corner at the Altai, the fifth-closest point 38 km away |
| Coastline | None — landlocked, the largest such country after Kazakhstan; Tianjin the port by treaty with China |
| Highest point | Khüiten Peak, 4,374 m (14,350 ft), in the Altai Tavan Bogd, the "cold peak" of the five holy mountains |
| Lowest point | Hoh Nuur, 560 m (1,837 ft), the lake of the Dornod steppe |
| Mean elevation | 1,528 m (5,013 ft) — the whole country above 500 m |
| Rivers | The Orkhon, 1,124 km, the longest, from the Khangai past the ruins of Karakorum to the Selenge; the Kherlen, 1,090 km, of the eastern steppe and Chinggis' homeland to the Chinese Hulun; the Selenge, the largest by flow, 992 km in the country, the Baikal's main feeder; the Tuul of Ulaanbaatar; the Onon of the Secret History; the Zavkhan and the Khovd of the west; the Ider; the rivers of the Gobi that vanish in the sand |
| Lakes | Uvs Nuur, 3,350 km², the largest, the salt lake of the western basin, a World Heritage site; Khövsgöl, 2,760 km² and 262 m deep, the "blue pearl" of the north with 70% of the country's fresh water, the sister of Baikal; Khar-Us and Khyargas of the Great Lakes Depression; Buir on the Chinese border; the Terkhiin Tsagaan of the volcano; Hoh Nuur of the lowest point; the salt lakes of the Gobi |
| Terrain | The Altai of the west with the glaciers of the Tavan Bogd, the Khangai of the center with the Otgontenger at 4,008 m, the Khentii of the Burkhan Khaldun and Chinggis' birthplace; the steppe of the east, the largest intact grassland on earth; the Gobi of the south, a third of the country, the fifth-largest desert, of gravel and rock more than sand, the Khongoryn Els dunes and the Flaming Cliffs of Bayanzag; the Great Lakes Depression of the west; the taiga of the north with the reindeer people of the Darkhad; the Orkhon valley of the empires |
| Climate | Continental and extreme — the Land of the Blue Sky with 250 clear days a year; winters to −40°C, Ulaanbaatar's January at −25°C, the summer at 20°C, a swing of 60 degrees; the rain about 200–350 mm on the steppe and under 100 in the Gobi, falling in July and August; the wind of the spring and the dust |
| Natural hazards | The dzud — the winter after a dry summer that kills the animals by the millions, 10 million in 2009–10 and 7.1 million in the winter of 2023–24, the worst in half a century; the desertification of three-quarters of the land by the count of the government, the host of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification's conference of August 2026 at Ulaanbaatar; the sandstorms that reach Beijing and Seoul; the earthquakes of the Altai, the Mongolian Altai quake of 1957 at magnitude 8; the floods of the Tuul; the air of Ulaanbaatar in winter, among the worst on earth from the coal of the gers; the fuel shortage of March 2026 when the Strait of Hormuz crisis raised the prices of the Russian fuel |
| Natural resources | Coal of Tavan Tolgoi, the coking coal of 6 billion tons in the South Gobi; copper and gold of Oyu Tolgoi and Erdenet; gold; fluorspar, the third producer in the world; molybdenum, tungsten, tin, zinc; uranium of the Gobi at Zuuvch-Ovoo; rare earths; iron; oil of Tamsag in the east; the pasture of 110 million hectares; the cashmere of the goats; the sun and wind of the Gobi |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 73%, nearly all of it the pasture; forest about 8%, the larch of the north; the arable under 1%, the wheat of Selenge |
| National parks | Bogd Khan Uul above Ulaanbaatar, protected by the Qing in 1778, by the claim the oldest protected area in the world; Khustain Nuruu of the takhi; Gorkhi-Terelj of the weekend; Gobi Gurvansaikhan, the largest, of the Yolyn Am ice gorge and the dunes; the Great Gobi strictly protected area of the Gobi bear, the last 40, and the wild camels; Altai Tavan Bogd; Khövsgöl; Khan Khentii of Chinggis' mountain; the protected areas about a fifth of the land, toward the 30% pledged |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 6 — the Uvs Nuur Basin (2003, shared with Russia), the lakes and the snow leopards; the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape (2004), Karakorum, Erdene Zuu and the steppe of the empires; the Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai (2011), 12,000 years of rock art; the Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain (2015), Chinggis' sacred mountain and perhaps his grave; the Landscapes of Dauria (2017, shared with Russia); the Deer Stone Monuments and Bronze Age sites (2023); the morin khuur fiddle (2008), the long song (2008), the khöömei throat singing (2010), the Naadam (2010), the eagle falconry (2010), the ger craft (2013) and the camel coaxing ritual (2015) on the intangible list, the calligraphy on the urgent one |
| Administrative divisions | 21 provinces — aimags — from Arkhangai to Zavkhan, with Ulaanbaatar the capital city of nine districts a unit of its own; 330 sums beneath the aimags and the bags of the herders; Bayan-Ölgii the Kazakh aimag of the west; Ömnögovi the mining aimag of the south with the largest area and the fewest people |
People
| Population | 3,296,866 (census of 2020); about 3.6 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 2.3 per km² (6 per sq mi) — the lowest of any sovereign country; Ulaanbaatar with half the people on a thousandth of the land |
| Population growth | About 1.5% a year — the "three million" celebrated in 2015, the four million by 2040 |
| Median age | About 30 years |
| Life expectancy | About 72 years — 68 for men, 77 for women, the gap of the vodka and the winters |
| Fertility rate | About 2.7 births per woman — the state's medals for the mothers of many |
| Urban population | About 69% — Ulaanbaatar half the country, the ger districts on its hills |
| Adult literacy | About 99% |
| Ethnic groups | Khalkha Mongols 83.8%, the people of the center and the standard; Kazakh 3.8%, the Muslim Turkic herders and eagle hunters of Bayan-Ölgii; Dörvöd 2.6%, Bayad 2%, Buryat 1.4%, Zakhchin 1.2%, Dariganga, Uriankhai, Darkhad, Torguud and Öölds of the west and north; the Tuvan and Tsaatan reindeer herders of the taiga, a few hundred; the Chinese, Russians and Koreans of the capital (census of 2020); the 6 million Mongols of China's Inner Mongolia and the Buryats and Kalmyks of Russia beyond the borders |
| Languages | Mongolian by 95%, the Khalkha of the state and the Oirat, Buryat and other dialects; Kazakh by 4%; the Cyrillic of 1941 and the vertical script of 1204 taught in the schools and required of the state since 2025; Russian by the Soviet generation, English by the students, Korean and Japanese by the workers abroad |
| Religion | Buddhist 51.7% — the Tibetan Gelug school of the Dalai Lamas since Altan Khan's conversion of 1578, the Gandan monastery of Ulaanbaatar that survived the purges, the 700 monasteries destroyed and the 17,000 lamas killed in 1937–39, the revival since 1990, the Dalai Lama's visits and China's anger, the tenth Bogd's reincarnation found in 2023; no religion 40.6%; Muslim 3.2%, the Kazakhs; shamanist 2.5%, the old faith of the eternal sky, Tengri, reviving; Christian 1.3%, the missionaries of the 1990s (census of 2020) |
| Human Development Index | 0.747 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high; about 97th of 193 |
| The herders | About 180,000 herding households, a quarter of the people, on the 110 million hectares of pasture with 57.6 million animals at the end of 2024 — 30 million goats of the cashmere, 20 million sheep, the cattle, the yaks, the 4 million horses and the camels of the Gobi — the herds grown from 25 million in 1990 and the overgrazing of the goats; the dzud of 2023–24 that killed 7.1 million; the move to the city and the ger districts; the Naadam and the nomads' year |
| Sport | The Naadam of 11–13 July, the wrestlers in the zodog and the shuudag, the horses ridden by children of five to twelve, the archers; the sumo of Japan and its Mongolian champions since Asashōryū of 2003, Hōshōryū the 74th yokozuna in January 2025; the Olympic golds of 2008, Tüvshinbayar in judo and Badar-Uugan in boxing, the medals of wrestling and shooting, the silver and bronze of Paris 2024; the eagle festival of Ölgii; the boxing, the basketball of the Ulaanbaatar streets, the football of the Blue Wolves |
| Diaspora | About 200,000 Mongolians abroad — South Korea first with some 50,000, the United States, the Czech Republic, Japan, Germany, Turkey; the remittances; the Mongols of Inner Mongolia twice the nation's number under Beijing's language rules of 2020 |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary semi-presidential republic under the Constitution of 1992 as amended in 2019 — the president elected by the people for a single term of six years as head of state, commander of the forces, with the veto and the nomination of the prime minister on the majority party's proposal; the prime minister and the government responsible to the State Great Khural of 126; the Constitutional Court, the Tsets; the "oasis of democracy" of Asia in the phrase of the 1990s, its Freedom House score slipping |
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| President | Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh (Mongolian People's Party — MPP), since 25 June 2021 — the sixth president; born 14 June 1968 at Ulaanbaatar, an army officer of the political school, the deputy prime minister of 2014–15 and prime minister of 2017–21, the party's chairman of 2017–21, resigned the premiership in January 2021 over a COVID patient's treatment and won the presidency on 9 June 2021 with 67.7%, the largest share ever; his one term to June 2027 under the amendment his own government made; the veto of 20 October 2025 that kept his ally Zandanshatar in office, "the voting formula was incorrectly used"; the environmentalist of the "billion trees" of 2021; the host of Putin in September 2024 despite the warrant of the International Criminal Court, the court's rebuke and Ulaanbaatar's "energy dependence" |
| Prime Minister | Nyam-Osoryn Uchral (MPP), since 30 March 2026 — the thirty-fifth prime minister, appointed by the State Great Khural with 88 votes of 107, his seal received from Zandanshatar on 31 March, his coalition government of the MPP, the HUN Party and the National Coalition sworn on 4 April 2026 after the Democratic Party refused to join; born 1987, a rapper in his youth, the "millennial" of the party — the digital development and communications minister of 2022–24, the Chief Cabinet Secretary of 2024–25, the First Deputy Prime Minister of 2025, elected the party's chairman on 15 November 2025 with 94.9% of the congress after both rivals stood aside, the Speaker of parliament from 20 November 2025 until the day of his appointment; the "pro-business reform" of the party's new leadership and the Development Plan of 2026–30; Sandagiin Byambatsogt (MPP) the Speaker since 3 April 2026 |
| The three prime ministers | Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, prime minister 27 January 2021 – 3 June 2025 and the longest-serving of the democratic era, the founder of the sovereign wealth fund on Norway's model, felled by the "It's easy to resign" protests of the young that began 14 May 2025 over his son's fiancée's designer bags and helicopter rides, "wealth exceeding that of a civil servant," the petition of 59,000 — the Democratic Party expelled from his grand coalition on 21 May, the confidence vote of 3 June lost at 44 of the 64 needed with the Democrats abstaining, the president's "don't be attached to the small position you hold" from the rostrum; Gombojavyn Zandanshatar, the former Speaker and the president's chief of staff, appointed 13 June 2025 by 108 votes to 9 with the austerity budget, the loser of the party chairmanship to Dashzegviin Amarbayasgalan at the congress of 27–28 September in a vote his side called irregular, the 32 and 33 of the split caucus, DISMISSED BY THE PARLIAMENT ON 17 OCTOBER 2025 by 71 votes to 40 after a 24-hour session — the shortest-serving prime minister at 125 days for three days — the Speaker Amarbayasgalan resigning the same day, the motion VETOED by the president on 20 October for the "incorrect voting formula" and ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court on 23 October in a 38-page decision, the deputy speaker Bulgantuya dismissed for it, the Deputy Prime Minister Amarsaikhan out on 29 October for a government that "undermines the foundations of democracy," Amarbayasgalan placed under investigation on 27 October for the coal theft of 2022; the truce of November with Uchral as chairman; the Democratic Party's boycott of 18 March 2026 against a Speaker who was also the party's chairman, "inappropriate for the chairman of a multi-party parliament," the parliament unable to muster its quorum of 64, and Zandanshatar's RESIGNATION of 27 March 2026 "to prevent the deadlock amid internal and external turmoil," accepted by 54 votes to 19; "the island of democracy or a banana republic," the constitutional lawyers asked; "electoral autocracy," the East Asia Forum wrote; the MPP's "stability" answer |
| The 2024 election | Held 28 June 2024 for the enlarged State Great Khural of 126 — 78 seats from the districts and 48 by proportional lists: the Mongolian People's Party 68, its majority cut from 62 of 76; the Democratic Party 42, the largest opposition in a generation; the HUN Party 8; the National Coalition 4; the Civil Will–Green Party 4; turnout 69.3%, 32 women elected; the grand coalition of the MPP, the DP and HUN of July 2024, "for stability," that lasted ten months |
| Parliament | The State Great Khural — Ulsyn Ikh Khural — 126 members elected for four years by the mixed system of the amendment of 2023; Sandagiin Byambatsogt the Speaker since 3 April 2026; MPP 68, DP 42, HUN 8, the National Coalition 4, CWGP 4; Odongiin Tsogtgerel the Democratic Party's chairman and the leader of the opposition since August 2025, the boycotter of March 2026; the quorum of 64 the weapon of 2026 |
| The next election | The presidential election in June 2027, Khürelsükh barred from a second term, the MPP and the Democrats to choose; the parliamentary election in June 2028 |
| The corruption | The coal theft of 2022 — the millions of tons of Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi's coal sent across the Chinese border unrecorded, US$12 billion by the protesters' count, the demonstrations of December 2022 on Sükhbaatar Square in −20°C, the arrests and the trials, the former Speaker Amarbayasgalan under investigation since October 2025; the "Dior bag" of 2025; the Development Bank loans of 2022; the "MANAN" cabal of the two parties' businessmen that Khürelsükh promised to break in 2019; Transparency International's rank of about 120; the Anti-Corruption Agency and its politics; the sovereign wealth fund of 2024 to hold the mining shares for the people, the "national wealth fund" of a share to every citizen |
| Legal system | Civil law of the German and Soviet traditions, the codes of the 1990s and 2002; the Constitutional Court of nine that ruled twice in the crisis; the Supreme Court; the death penalty abolished 2017 after Elbegdorj's moratorium of 2010; the anti-corruption law; the "Erdenet" nationalization ruling of 2016; the media law of 2025 the journalists' fear |
| Local government | 21 aimag governors appointed by the prime minister on the elected khurals' nomination, the sum governors likewise; the citizens' khurals of the aimags and Ulaanbaatar elected in 2024 with the parliament; Khishgeegiin Nyambaatar the mayor of Ulaanbaatar since 2023; the ger districts' fight for water, roads and heat |
| Defense | The Mongolian Armed Forces of about 35,000 with the conscription of a year for the men of 18 to 25; the Russian arms of old and the American trucks; the peacekeepers of Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq, about 900 in the field at the peak, the highest per head of any country by the claim; the Khaan Quest exercises with the United States since 2003; no alliance, the "third neighbor" policy; the nuclear-weapon-free status declared in 1992 and recognized by the five nuclear powers in 2012 |
| China and Russia | The two neighbors of 8,000 km — China the buyer of 90% of the exports, the coal, the copper and the cashmere, the builder of the border rail; Russia the supplier of 95% of the fuel and a fifth of the power, the co-owner of the railway and the Erdenet mine until 2016, the memory of the purges and the Khalkhin Gol; the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline through the country, the Soyuz Vostok, the memorandum of Beijing of September 2025 and no contract yet; Putin's visit of 2–3 September 2024 and Xi's of 2014; the Egiin Gol dam blocked by Russia for Baikal; the fuel shock of March 2026; the "third neighbors" — the United States of the strategic partnership of 2019 and the rare earths, Japan of the airport and the loans, South Korea of the workers, India of the refinery, the European Union, Turkey, Kazakhstan of the eagle hunters — sought against the two |
| United Nations | Member since 27 October 1961; the Security Council never; the nuclear-weapon-free single state; the conference of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification hosted at Ulaanbaatar in August 2026; the Pope's visit of 1–4 September 2023, the first ever |
| Other memberships | The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as an observer since 2004, the summit of Moscow of November 2025 attended by the prime minister; the OSCE (2012); the Asian Development Bank; the WTO (1997); the Non-Aligned Movement; the Community of Democracies, chaired 2011–13; the Asia Cooperation Dialogue; the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian security since 2014 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$25 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$7,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$21,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 5% in 2024 and 2025 — the fall of the coal exports in the first half of 2025 and their recovery, the copper at its high — and about 6% expected in 2026 with Oyu Tolgoi's underground; inflation about 8%; the tögrög at about 3,600 to the dollar; the boom of 17% in 2011 and the bust of 2016 |
| Economy by sector | Mining about 25% of GDP and 90% of exports; agriculture and herding about 12%; industry about 40% with the mining; services about 50% |
| Currency | Tögrög (MNT) |
| Coal | A record 80 million tons exported in 2024, worth US$8.6 billion, all of it to China across the Gobi — the coking coal of Tavan Tolgoi, the state's Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi and the private Energy Resources, the trucks of Gashuunsukhait and the railway of 2022; the theft scandal of 2022; the royalty fight of October 2025 over the switch from the world benchmark to the lower domestic price that the parliament's rebels called a gift to the miners and the government the market; the fall of the first half of 2025 and the recovery |
| Copper and gold | Oyu Tolgoi in the South Gobi — the mine of Rio Tinto, 66%, and the state, 34%, open pit since 2013 and underground since March 2023, toward 500,000 tons of copper a year and the fourth-largest copper mine in the world, the US$10 billion investment and the quarrel over the taxes and the debt settled in 2022; Erdenet, the state's mine of 1978 on the Russian model, nationalized fully in 2016; the gold of the Gobi and the ninjas of the artisanal pits; the fluorspar; the Zuuvch-Ovoo uranium of France's Orano, the €1.6 billion agreement of 17 January 2025; the rare earths the Americans want |
| Cashmere and the herds | The second producer of raw cashmere in the world after China, about 40% of the supply from 30 million goats, Gobi Cashmere and the knitwear of Ulaanbaatar, the goats' hooves the desertification's cause; the meat to China and Russia; the wool, the hides, the airag; the wheat and potatoes of the north since the virgin-lands campaign of 1959; the 57.6 million animals of 2024 |
| Industry and the rest | The Sainshand oil refinery built with India's US$1.7 billion credit, the country's first, to end the Russian fuel monopoly, due in 2026–27; the Erdenet copper concentrate and the Darkhan steel; the coal power plants of the capital; the leather and the felt; the IT of Ulaanbaatar; the tourism of about 800,000 visitors in 2024 for the steppe, the Gobi and the Naadam, the "Years to Visit Mongolia" of 2023–25 |
| Energy | Coal for 80% of the electricity from the four plants of Ulaanbaatar of the Soviet years and the imports from Russia and China for a fifth; the fuel from Russia's Rosneft, 95% of the gasoline and diesel, the prices set in Moscow and the shortages of 2022 and March 2026; the wind farms of Salkhit and the solar of the Gobi; the "Asia Super Grid" of the Gobi's sun the dream; the Egiin Gol hydro dam blocked by Russia's Baikal objection since 2016; the stoves of the gers and the winter smog |
| Public finances | Public debt about 45% of GDP, from 90% at the crisis of 2016 and the IMF bailout of US$5.5 billion of 2017, the coal revenues the rescue; the budget of 2026 passed 13 November 2025 in the crisis with 990 billion tögrög of cuts; the sovereign wealth fund of 2024 and the national wealth fund's shares; the mortgage program of 6% and the housing of the ger districts; the teachers' strike of October 2025 for a wage of 3.5 million tögrög |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank); a landlocked developing country |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Chinggis Khaan International Airport in the Khöshig valley 50 km south of the capital, opened 4 July 2021, built with Japan's loans in place of Buyant-Ukhaa, about 2 million passengers; the aimag airfields of Khovd, Ölgii, Dalanzadgad and Mörön |
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| Airlines | MIAT Mongolian Airlines, the state carrier of 1956, the Boeing 787s to Seoul, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Istanbul; Hunnu Air and Aero Mongolia to the aimags; Air China, Korean Air and Turkish the links; the Ulaanbaatar–Beijing route of the Trans-Mongolian |
| Main port | None — landlocked; Tianjin in China the sea port by the transit treaty, 1,700 km from Ulaanbaatar; the dry ports of Zamyn-Üüd and the coal terminal of Gashuunsukhait on the Chinese line |
| Railways | About 1,900 km (1,180 mi) of the Russian broad gauge — the Trans-Mongolian Railway of 1949–55 from Sükhbaatar on the Russian border through Ulaanbaatar to Zamyn-Üüd and Beijing, the Ulaanbaatar Railway a joint venture with Russia; the Tavan Tolgoi–Gashuunsukhait coal line of 2022, the Zuunbayan line; the cross-border links of the 2020s for the coal, the Khangi–Mandal line and the gauge-change at the Chinese border; the Moscow–Beijing train through the Gobi |
| Roads | About 113,000 km (70,000 mi), about 11,000 paved — the Millennium Road across the country from east to west, the Ulaanbaatar–Darkhan and the Asian Highway 3 to the Russian and Chinese borders; the tracks of the steppe where the road is wherever the last truck went; the traffic of Ulaanbaatar and its 600,000 cars, half of them right-hand-drive Priuses from Japan on the right side of the road; the horses and the camels of the countryside |
| Communications | Mobile phones with more subscriptions than people, Unitel and Mobicom; the internet by three-quarters; the E-Mongolia of the digital minister who became prime minister; the Russian and Chinese fiber the country's connection |
History in dates
| 209 BC | Modu Chanyu's Xiongnu empire — the first steppe state |
|---|---|
| 552 | The Göktürk khaganate; the Uyghur khaganate of Karabalgasun, 744 |
| 1206 | Temüjin proclaimed Chinggis Khaan at the kurultai on the Onon |
| 1227 | Chinggis dies, 18 August — the empire from Korea to the Caspian |
| 1235 | Karakorum built by Ögedei |
| 1271 | Kublai proclaims the Yuan dynasty; Marco Polo at his court |
| 1368 | The Yuan falls — the khans return to the steppe |
| 1578 | Altan Khan and the third Dalai Lama — the title and the faith |
| 1586 | Erdene Zuu, the first monastery |
| 1691 | The Khalkha submit to the Qing at Dolon Nor |
| 1911 | Independence declared, 29 December — the Bogd Khan |
| 1921 | The revolution, 11 July — Sükhbaatar and the Red Army |
| 1924 | The People's Republic, 26 November |
| 1937 | The purges, to 1939 — 30,000 killed, the monasteries razed |
| 1939 | Khalkhin Gol, May–September — Zhukov beats Japan |
| 1945 | The plebiscite, 20 October — 100% for independence; China recognizes, 5 January 1946 |
| 1961 | The United Nations, 27 October |
| 1981 | Gürragchaa in space, 22 March |
| 1990 | The democratic revolution, January–March; the first free election, 29 July |
| 1992 | The Constitution, 13 January — in force 12 February |
| 2008 | The election riots, 1 July — five dead; the Olympic golds |
| 2013 | Oyu Tolgoi ships its first copper |
| 2019 | The amendments, 14 November — one presidential term |
| 2021 | The pandemic protests; Oyun-Erdene, 27 January; Khürelsükh president, 25 June |
| 2022 | The coal-theft protests, December |
| 2023 | The Pope, 1–4 September; the parliament enlarged |
| 2024 | The dzud kills 7 million; the election, 28 June; Putin, 2–3 September |
| 2025 | The Orano deal, 17 January; the protests, 14 May; Oyun-Erdene falls, 3 June; Zandanshatar, 13 June; the dismissal, veto and ruling, 17–23 October; Uchral chairman, 15 November |
| 2026 | The Democratic boycott, 18 March; Zandanshatar resigns, 27 March; Uchral prime minister, 30 March; the cabinet, 4 April; the desertification conference, August |
Records & firsts
| The least densely peopled country | About 2 per km² |
|---|---|
| The coldest capital | Ulaanbaatar, −25°C in January |
| The largest contiguous empire in history | The Mongols, 24 million km² |
| The oldest protected area, by the claim | Bogd Khan Uul, 1778 |
| The last wild horse | The takhi, back since 1992 |
| The largest intact grassland | The eastern steppe |
| The first dinosaur eggs found | The Flaming Cliffs, 1923 |
| The largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan | 1.56 million km² |
| Six sumo yokozuna | From Asashōryū to Hōshōryū |
| The world's largest equestrian statue | Chinggis at Tsonjin Boldog, 40 m |
| A record 80 million tons of coal | 2024 |
| Three prime ministers in ten months | 2025–26 |
| A dismissal undone by veto and court | October 2025 |
| The nuclear-weapon-free single state | Since 1992 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Mongolia?
Mongolia — Mongol Uls, the Mongol State — the name the Constitution of 1992 gave the country when it dropped the "People's Republic" of the Soviet decades, the state that declared its independence from the Qing dynasty on 29 December 1911 under the Bogd Khan, made its revolution with the Soviets on 11 July 1921 and became the Mongolian People's Republic in 1924, the second communist state in the world. The name is the people's own: the Mongols, the tribes of the Onon and the Kherlen that Temüjin united in 1206 and took the name Chinggis Khaan, whose empire became the largest contiguous one in history; the outer Mongolia of the Qing maps is the country, the inner the Chinese region south of the Gobi.
What is the capital of Mongolia?
Ulaanbaatar — "Red Hero," the name of 1924 for the monastery town of Urga, Ikh Khüree, that moved with the Bogd Gegeen's tents until it settled on the Tuul river in 1778 — the coldest capital in the world, at 1,350 m with a January mean of −25°C, and one of the most polluted in winter from the coal stoves of the ger districts on its hills; about 1.7 million people, half the country, the Sükhbaatar Square of the Government Palace and the Chinggis statue, the Gandan monastery, the Zaisan hill. Erdenet of the copper mine and Darkhan of the steel are the second and third cities, with 100,000 each; Choibalsan, Mörön and Khovd the towns of the aimags.
How big is Mongolia, and how many people live there?
About 1,564,116 km² (603,909 sq mi) — the eighteenth-largest country in the world, half the size of India, larger than Alaska — landlocked between Russia and China, the steppe, the Gobi and the mountains of the Altai and Khangai with the taiga of the north, the largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan. The census of 2020 counted 3,296,866 people; the estimate for 2026 is about 3.6 million, growing 1.5 percent a year on a young population, the least densely peopled country on earth at two to the square kilometer, half of them in Ulaanbaatar and a quarter still herding the 57 million animals on the steppe.
What are the highest and lowest points of Mongolia?
Khüiten Peak, 4,374 m (14,350 ft), in the Altai Tavan Bogd, the five holy peaks of the far west where the borders of Mongolia, Russia and China meet in the glaciers; and Hoh Nuur, a lake in the Dornod steppe of the east at 560 m (1,837 ft), so that the whole country lies above 500 m at an average of 1,528 m. The Orkhon, 1,124 km, is the longest river and the Selenge the largest, flowing north to Lake Baikal; Uvs Nuur, 3,350 km² of salt water, is the largest lake and Khövsgöl, 262 m deep, the deepest and the "blue pearl," holding most of the country's fresh water.
What currency does Mongolia use?
The tögrög (ISO code MNT, ₮), of 100 möngö, issued since 9 December 1925 by the bank the republic founded with the Soviets, the "circle" of the name — about 3,600 tögrög to the U.S. dollar, the notes bearing Chinggis Khaan and Sükhbaatar. Clocks keep Ulaanbaatar Time, UTC+8, in most of the country and UTC+7 in the three western provinces, the summer time abolished in 2017; Mongolia drives on the right, though half its cars are right-hand-drive imports from Japan.
Who governs Mongolia?
President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh of the Mongolian People's Party, the head of state since 25 June 2021 for the single six-year term the amended Constitution allows, who names the prime minister and holds the veto; and Prime Minister Nyam-Osoryn Uchral, the 39-year-old chairman of the same party, a former rapper and digital-development minister, whom the parliament appointed on 30 March 2026 as its third prime minister in ten months — after the youth protests of 2025 over a minister's son's luxury toppled Oyun-Erdene, and the party's civil war between its 1970s and 1980s generations felled Zandanshatar, whom the parliament voted out in October 2025, the president restored by veto and the Constitutional Court kept in office until he resigned in March 2026 to end the opposition's boycott. The State Great Khural of 126 has held the MPP's 68 seats since the election of June 2024. The presidential election is due in June 2027 and the parliamentary in June 2028.
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