Mongolia (2001) | World (2005) | |
Administrative divisions | 18 provinces (aymguud, singular - aymag) and 3 municipalities* (hotuud, singular - hot); Arhangay, Bayanhongor, Bayan-Olgiy, Bulgan, Darhan*, Dornod, Dornogovi, Dundgovi, Dzavhan, Erdenet*, Govi-Altay, Hentiy, Hovd, Hovsgol, Omnogovi, Ovorhangay, Selenge, Suhbaatar, Tov, Ulaanbaatar*, Uvs
note: there may be a new province named Gobi-Sumber; further, there may now be 21 provinces and 1 capital city instead of 18 provinces and 3 municipalities |
271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
32.99% (male 445,252; female 430,758) 15-64 years: 63.13% (male 837,771; female 838,384) 65 years and over: 3.88% (male 44,436; female 58,398) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 27.8% (male 919,726,623; female 870,468,158)
15-64 years: 64.9% (male 2,117,230,183; female 2,066,864,970) 65 years and over: 7.3% (male 207,903,775; female 263,627,270) note: some countries do not maintain age structure information, thus a slight discrepancy exists between the total world population and the total for world age structure (2005 est.) |
Agriculture - products | wheat, barley, potatoes, forage crops; sheep, goats, cattle, camels, horses | - |
Airports | 34 (2000 est.) | 49,973 (2004) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
8 2,438 to 3,047 m: 7 under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
26 over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5 1,524 to 2,437 m: 10 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 5 (2000 est.) |
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Area | total:
1.565 million sq km land: 1.565 million sq km water: 0 sq km |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Alaska | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | Long a province of China, Mongolia won its independence in 1921 with Soviet backing. A communist regime was installed in 1924. During the early 1990s, the ex-communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) gradually yielded its monopoly on power. In 1996, the Democratic Union Coalition (DUC) defeated the MPRP in a national election. Over the next four years the Coalition implemented a number of key reforms to modernize the economy and institutionalize democratic reforms. However, the former communists were a strong opposition that stalled additional reforms and made implementation difficult. In 2000, the MPRP won 72 of the 76 seats in Parliament and completely reshuffled the government. While it continues many of the reform policies, the MPRP is focusing on social welfare and public order priorities. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 21.8 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 20.15 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$262 million expenditures: $328 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.) |
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Capital | Ulaanbaatar | - |
Climate | desert; continental (large daily and seasonal temperature ranges) | two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones form a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates |
Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 356,000 km
note: 98 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bassas da India, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Europa Island, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Glorioso Islands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Juan de Nova Island, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Isle of Man, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tromelin Island, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan |
Constitution | 12 February 1992 | - |
Country name | conventional long form:
none conventional short form: Mongolia local long form: none local short form: Mongol Uls former: Outer Mongolia |
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Currency | togrog/tugrik (MNT) | - |
Death rate | 7.1 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 8.78 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Debt - external | $760 million (2000 est.) | $12.7 trillion (2004 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador John DINGER embassy: inner north side of the Big Ring, just west of the Selbe Gol, Ulaanbaatar mailing address: United States Embassy in Mongolia, P. O. Box 1021, Ulaanbaatar 13; PSC 461, Box 300, FPO AP 96521-0002 telephone: [976] (11) 329095 FAX: [976] (11) 320776 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Jalbuugiyn CHOINHOR chancery: 2833 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 333-7117 FAX: [1] (202) 298-9227 consulate(s) general: New York |
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Disputes - international | none | stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 325 international land boundaries separate the 192 independent states and 73 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; maritime states have claimed limits and have so far established over 130 maritime boundaries and joint development zones to allocate ocean resources and to provide for national security at sea; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; most disputes over the alignment of political boundaries are confined to short segments and are today less common and less hostile than borderland, resource, and territorial disputes; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries, however, encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation around the world; disputes over islands at sea or in rivers frequently form the source of territorial and boundary conflict; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially petroleum) resources, fisheries, and arable land; nonetheless, most nations cooperate to clarify their international boundaries and to resolve territorial and resource disputes peacefully; regional discord directly affects the sustenance and welfare of local populations, often leaving the world community to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, deforestation, and desertification |
Economic aid - recipient | $200 million (1998 est.) | $154 billion official development assistance (ODA) (2004) |
Economy - overview | Economic activity traditionally has been based on agriculture and breeding of livestock. Mongolia also has extensive mineral deposits: copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production. Soviet assistance, at its height one-third of GDP, disappeared almost overnight in 1990-91, at the time of the dismantlement of the USSR. Mongolia was driven into deep recession, which was prolonged by the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party's (MPRP) reluctance to undertake serious economic reform. The Democratic Coalition (DC) government has embraced free-market economics, easing price controls, liberalizing domestic and international trade, and attempting to restructure the banking system and the energy sector. Major domestic privatization programs were undertaken, as well as the fostering of foreign investment through international tender of the oil distribution company, a leading cashmere company, and banks. Reform was held back by the ex-communist MPRP opposition and by the political instability brought about through four successive governments under the DC. Economic growth picked up in 1997-99 after stalling in 1996 due to a series of natural disasters and declines in world prices of copper and cashmere. In August and September 1999, the economy suffered from a temporary Russian ban on exports of oil and oil products, and Mongolia remains vulnerable in this sector. Mongolia joined the World Trade Organization (WTrO) in 1997. The international donor community pledged over $300 million per year at the last Consultative Group Meeting, held in Ulaanbaatar in June 1999. The MPRP government, elected in July 2000, is anxious to improve the investment climate; it must also deal with a heavy burden of external debt. | Global output rose by 4.9% in 2004, led by China (9.1%), Russia (6.7%), and India (6.2%). The other 14 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 7% range of growth. Growth results posted by the major industrial countries varied from a small gain in Italy (1.3%) to a strong gain by the United States (4.4%). The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably the European Union. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 75 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuate a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued into 2005. |
Electricity - consumption | 2.767 billion kWh (1999) | 14.28 trillion kWh (2002 est.) |
Electricity - exports | 80 million kWh (1999) | 500.8 billion kWh (2002 est.) |
Electricity - imports | 363 million kWh (1999) | 497.6 billion kWh (2002 est.) |
Electricity - production | 2.671 billion kWh (1999) | 15.29 trillion kWh (2002 est.) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
100% hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1999) |
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Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Hoh Nuur 518 m highest point: Nayramadlin Orgil (Huyten Orgil) 4,374 m |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m |
Environment - current issues | limited natural fresh water resources in some areas; policies of the former communist regime promoting rapid urbanization and industrial growth have raised concerns about their negative effects on the environment; the burning of soft coal in power plants and the lack of enforcement of environmental laws have severely polluted the air in Ulaanbaatar; deforestation, overgrazing, the converting of virgin land to agricultural production have increased soil erosion from wind and rain; desertification and mining activities have also had a deleterious effect on the environment | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion |
Environment - international agreements | party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Ethnic groups | Mongol (predominantly Khalkha) 85%, Turkic (of which Kazakh is the largest group) 7%, Tungusic 4.6%, other (including Chinese and Russian) 3.4% (1998) | - |
Exchange rates | togrogs/tugriks per US dollar - 1,097.00 (December 2000), 1,076.67 (2000), 1,072.37 (1999), 840.83 (1998), 789.99 (1997), 548.40 (1996) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state:
President Natsagiyn BAGABANDI (since 20 June 1997) head of government: Prime Minister Nambaryn ENKHBAYAR (since 26 July 2000) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the State Great Hural in consultation with the president elections: president nominated by parties in the State Great Hural and elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held 20 May 2001 (next to be held NA May 2005); following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition is usually elected prime minister by the State Great Hural; election last held 2 July 2000 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: Natsagiyn BAGABANDI reelected president; percent of vote - NA%; Nambaryn ENKHBAYAR elected prime minister by a vote in the State Great Hural of 68 to 3 |
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Exports | $454.3 million (f.o.b., 1999) | 693.7 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
Exports - commodities | copper, livestock, animal products, cashmere, wool, hides, fluorspar, other nonferrous metals | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | China 60%, US 20%, Russia 9%, Japan 2% (2000 est.) | US 15.7%, Germany 7.7%, China 5.4%, France 5.1%, UK 5.1%, Japan 4.5% (2004) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | - |
Flag description | three equal, vertical bands of red (hoist side), blue, and red; centered on the hoist-side red band in yellow is the national emblem ("soyombo" - a columnar arrangement of abstract and geometric representation for fire, sun, moon, earth, water, and the yin-yang symbol) | - |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $4.7 billion (2000 est.) | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
36% industry: 22% services: 42% (2000 est.) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2004 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $1,780 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $8,800 (2004 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | -1% (2000 est.) | 4.9% (2004 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 46 00 N, 105 00 E | - |
Geography - note | landlocked; strategic location between China and Russia | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
Highways | total:
3,387 km paved: 1,563 km unpaved: 1,824 km note: there are also 45,862 km of rural roads that consist of rough, unimproved, cross-country tracks (2000) |
total: 32,345,165 km
paved: 19,403,061 km unpaved: 12,942,104 km (2002) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
2.9% highest 10%: 24.5% (1995) |
lowest 10%: NA %
highest 10%: NA % |
Illicit drugs | - | cocaine: worldwide, coca is grown on an estimated 173,450 hectares - almost exclusively in South America with 70% in Colombia; potential cocaine production during 2003 is estimated at 728 metric tons (or 835 metric tons of export quality cocaine); coca eradication programs continue in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru; 376 metric tons of export quality cocaine are documented to have been seized in 2003, and 26 metric tons disrupted (jettisoned or destroyed); consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been 800 metric tons
opiates: cultivation of opium poppy occurred on an estimated 137,944 hectares in 2003 - mostly in Southwest and Southeast Asia - with 44% in Afghanistan, potentially produced 3,775 metric tons of opium, which conceivably could be converted to the equivalent of 429 metric tons of pure heroin; opium eradication programs have been undertaken in Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam |
Imports | $510.7 million (c.i.f., 1999) | 718.7 billion cu m (2001 est.) |
Imports - commodities | machinery and equipment, fuels, food products, industrial consumer goods, chemicals, building materials, sugar, tea | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | Russia 33%, China 21%, Japan 12%, South Korea 10%, US 4% (1999) | Germany 9.4%, US 9.3%, China 8.5%, Japan 6.5%, France 4.5% (2004) |
Independence | 11 July 1921 (from China) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | 2.4% (2000 est.) | 3% (2003 est.) |
Industries | construction materials, mining (particularly coal and copper); food and beverages, processing of animal products | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | 53.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | total: 50.11 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 52.1 deaths/1,000 live births female: 48.01 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 7.6% (1999) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in several Third World countries (2004 est.) |
International organization participation | ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN (observer), CCC, EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 5 (2001) | - |
Irrigated land | 800 sq km (1993 est.) | 2,714,320 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court (serves as appeals court for people's and provincial courts, but rarely overturns verdicts of lower courts; judges are nominated by the General Council of Courts for approval by the president) | - |
Labor force | 1.3 million (1999) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | primarily herding/agricultural | agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | total:
8,161.9 km border countries: China 4,676.9 km, Russia 3,485 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 250,472 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries
note: 43 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
Land use | arable land:
5.7% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 81% forests and woodland: 11.4% other: 1.9% (2000 est.) |
arable land: 10.73%
permanent crops: 1% other: 88.27% (2001) |
Languages | Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) | Chinese, Mandarin 13.69%, Spanish 5.05%, English 4.84%, Hindi 2.82%, Portuguese 2.77%, Bengali 2.68%, Russian 2.27%, Japanese 1.99%, German, Standard 1.49%, Chinese, Wu 1.21% (2004 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Legal system | blend of Russian, Chinese, Turkish, and Western systems of law that combines aspects of a parliamentary system with some aspects of a presidential system; constitution ambiguous on judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | unicameral State Great Hural (76 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 2 July 2000 (next to be held NA July 2004) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - MPRP 72, other 4 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population:
64.26 years male: 62.14 years female: 66.5 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 64.33 years
male: 62.73 years female: 66.04 years (2005 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97% male: 98% female: 97.5% (2000) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 82% male: 87% female: 77% note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.) |
Location | Northern Asia, between China and Russia | - |
Map references | Asia | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm , contiguous zone - 24 nm , and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm ; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm |
Merchant marine | - | total ships: 30,936 (2005) |
Military branches | Mongolian Armed Forces (includes General Purpose Forces, Air and Air Defense Forces, Civil Defense Troops); note - Border Troops are under Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs in peacetime | - |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $25.5 million (FY01) | aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.3% (FY01) | roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
748,779 (2001 est.) |
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Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
486,491 (2001 est.) |
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Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age | - |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
30,230 (2001 est.) |
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National holiday | Independence Day/Revolution Day, 11 July (1921) | - |
Nationality | noun:
Mongolian(s) adjective: Mongolian |
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Natural hazards | dust and snow storms, grassland and forest fires, drought and "zud", which is a combination of drought followed by harsh winter conditions | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | oil, coal, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, phosphates, tin, nickel, zinc, wolfram, fluorspar, gold, silver, iron, phosphate | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Citizens' Will Party or CWP (also called Civil Will Party) [Sanjaasurengyn OYUN]; Democratic Party or DP [D. DORLIGAN]; Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party or MPRP [Nambaryn ENKHBAYAR]; Mongolian Democratic New Socialist Party or MDNSP [B. ERDENEBAT]; Mongolian Republican Party or MRP [B. JARGALSAIHAN]
note: the MPRP is the ruling party |
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Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | - |
Population | 2,654,999 (July 2001 est.) | 6,446,131,400 (July 2005 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 40% (2000 est.) | - |
Population growth rate | 1.47% (2001 est.) | 1.14% (2005 est.) |
Ports and harbors | none | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 7, FM 9, shortwave 4 (2001) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Radios | 155,900 (1999) | - |
Railways | 1,815 km
broad gauge: 1,815 km 1.524-m gauge (2001) |
total: 1,115,205 km
broad gauge: 257,481 km standard gauge: 671,413 km narrow gauge: 186,311 km (2003) |
Religions | Tibetan Buddhist Lamaism 96%, Muslim (primarily in the southwest), Shamanism, and Christian 4% (1998) | Christians 32.84% (of which Roman Catholics 17.34%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.44%, Anglicans 1.27%), Muslims 19.9%, Hindus 13.29%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs 0.39%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 12.63%, non-religious 12.44%, atheists 2.36% (2003 est.) |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female total population: 1 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | - |
Telephone system | general assessment:
very low density: about 3.5 telephones for each thousand persons domestic: NA international: satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean Region) |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 104,100 (1999) | 843,923,500 (2003) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 110,000 (2001) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 4 (plus 18 provincial repeaters and many low powered repeaters) (1999) | NA |
Terrain | vast semidesert and desert plains, grassy steppe, mountains in west and southwest; Gobi Desert in south-central | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 2.39 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 2.6 children born/woman (2005 est.) |
Unemployment rate | NA% | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment |
Waterways | 400 km (1999) | 671,886 km (2004) |