Languages: Mongolian, 90%; also Turkic and Russian
(1999)
Ethnicity/race: Mongol (predominantly Khalkha) 94.9%, Turkic
(of which Kazak is the largest group) 5%, other (including Chinese
and Russian) 0.1% (2000)
Religions: Buddhist Lamaist 50%, Islam 4%, Shamanism and
Christian 4%, none 40% (2004)
Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)
Economic summary:GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $8.448 billion; per capita $2,900. Real growth rate:
9.9% (2006). Inflation: 15.1% (2007). Unemployment: 3%
(2007). Arable land: 1%. Agriculture: wheat, barley,
vegetables, forage crops; sheep, goats, cattle, camels, horses.
Labor force: 1.042 million; agriculture 39.9%, industry
11.7%, services 49.4%, (2006). Industries: construction and
construction materials; mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar,
tin, tungsten, and gold); oil; food and beverages; processing of
animal products, cashmere and natural fiber manufacturing.
Natural resources: oil, coal, copper, molybdenum, tungsten,
phosphates, tin, nickel, zinc, wolfram, fluorspar, gold, silver,
iron, phosphate. Exports: $1.889 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.):
copper, apparel, livestock, animal products, cashmere, wool, hides,
fluorspar, other nonferrous metals. Imports: $2.117 c.i.f.
(2007 est.): machinery and equipment, fuel, cars, food products,
industrial consumer goods, chemicals, building materials, sugar,
tea. Major trading partners: China, U.S., Canada, Russia
(2006).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 158,900 (2006); mobile cellular: 775,300 (2006). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 7, FM 115 (includes 20 National radio
broadcaster repeaters), shortwave 4 (2006). Radios: 155,900
(1999). Television broadcast stations: 456 (including
provincial and low-power repeaters) (2006). Televisions:
168,800 (1999). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 298
(2007). Internet users: 268,300 (2005).
Transportation: Railways: total: 49,250
km (2006). Highways: total: 49,250 km; paved: 1,724 km;
unpaved: 47,526 km (2002). Ports and harbors: none.
Airports: 44 (2007).
Mongolia lies in central Asia between Siberia on the north and China on
the south. It is slightly larger than Alaska.
The productive regions of Mongolia—a tableland ranging from 3,000 to
5,000 ft (914 to 1,524 m) in elevation—are in the north, which is well
drained by numerous rivers, including the Hovd, Onon, Selenga, and Tula.
Much of the Gobi Desert falls within Mongolia.
Government
Parliamentary republic now in transition from communism.
History
Nomadic tribes that periodically plundered agriculturally based China
from the west are recorded in Chinese history dating back more than 2,000
years. It was to protect China from these marauding peoples that the Great
Wall was constructed around 200 B.C. The name
Mongol comes from a small tribe whose leader, Ghengis Khan, began a
conquest that would eventually encompass an enormous empire stretching
from Asia to Europe, as far west as the Black Sea and as far south as
India and the Himalayas. But by the 14th century, the kingdom was in
serious decline, with invasions from a resurgent China and internecine
warfare.
The State of Mongolia was formerly known as Outer Mongolia. It contains
the original homeland of the historic Mongols, whose power reached its
zenith during the 13th century under Kublai Khan. The area accepted Manchu
rule in 1689, but after the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the fall of the
Manchus in 1912, the northern Mongol princes expelled the Chinese
officials and declared independence under the Khutukhtu, or “Living
Buddha.”
In 1921, Soviet troops entered the country and facilitated the
establishment of a republic by Mongolian revolutionaries in 1924. China
also made a claim to the region but was too weak to assert it. Under the
1945 Chinese-Russian Treaty, China agreed to give up Outer Mongolia,
which, after a plebiscite, became a nominally independent country.
Allied with the USSR in its dispute with China, Mongolia began
mobilizing troops along its borders in 1968 when the two powers became
involved in border clashes on the Kazakh-Sinkiang frontier to the west and
at the Amur and Ussuri rivers. A 20-year treaty of friendship and
cooperation, signed in 1966, entitled Mongolia to call on the USSR for
military aid in the event of invasion.
In 1989, the Mongolian democratic revolution began, led by
Sanjaasurengiyn Zorig. Free elections held in Aug. 1990 produced a
multiparty government, though it was still largely Communist. As a result,
Mongolia has moved only gradually toward a market economy. With the
collapse of the USSR, however, Mongolia was deprived of Soviet aid.
Primarily in reaction to the economic turmoil, the Communist Mongolian
People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) won a significant majority in
parliamentary elections in 1992. In 1996, however, the Democratic
Alliance, an electoral coalition, defeated the MPRP, breaking with
Communist rule for the first time since 1921. But in 1997, a former
Communist and chairman of the People's Revolutionary Party, Natsagiyn
Bagabandi, was elected president, further strengthening the hand of the
antireformers. In 1998, however, Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj, a pro-reform
politician, became prime minister, but parliamentary cross-purposes led to
his resignation, and a succession of prime ministers followed. In 2005,
Nambariin Enkhbayar of the former Communist party MPRP became president,
and Miyeegombo Enkhbold, also of the MPRP, was elected prime minister in
2006. Mongolia is plagued by poor economic growth, corruption, and
inflation.
Enkhbold resigned in November 2007 after the MPRP ousted him as
chairman of the party, citing his weakness as a leader. Sanj Bayar
succeeded Enkhbold as both party chairman and prime minister.
