Mongolia is a landlocked country of Central Asia, located between China and Russia. It is geographically spread over about 1.5 million square kilometers but has the lowest population density in the world. The country’s population is about 2.8 million people (2011), and its capital is Ulaanbaatar, where about 40 percent of the population lives. A lot of Mongolians lead a nomadic, herder style of life.
Administratively, Mongolia is divided into 21 provinces (aimags). The provinces are sub-divided into 329 districts (soums). The topography of Mongolia is varied. The southern part is covered by the Gobi Desert, while the northern and western parts are covered by mountains. Mongolia’s climate comprises lengthy bitter cold winters, dry and hard summers, low precipitation, and drastic temperature fluctuations. The average temperature of the capital city remains around the freezing point throughout the year.
Context
Context
In Mongolia, the entire land is owned by the state. There is little private ownership of land if any as private landholders have either possession rights (leasable) or use rights (non-sellable). The agricultural sector comprises a large sub-sector of livestock and comparatively small sub-sector of crops, contributing about 37 percent of the national GDP. Mongolia has a history of state and collective farms. Arable land and permanent crops cover about 1.3 million hectares while permanent pastures cover about 117 million hectares. The livestock sub-sector provides about 90 percent of the agricultural GDP. Herd animals are goats, sheep, cattle and horses. Extreme winter weather (dzud) often causes high livestock mortality rate. The number of goats has been increasing for cashmere production, as Mongolia is the second biggest cashmere producer in the world. Main crops include corn, wheat, barley and potatoes. Besides fodder crops, sunflower, grapes, sea buckthorn, apples, European black currants, watermelons, muskmelons, onion and garlic are also grown. Mongolia has vast areas covered by forests. Freshwater fishing is also of economic importance.
Key Statistics and Indicators
|
Indicator |
Value |
Year |
|
Agricultural land (sq km) Agricultural land (% of land area) Arable land (hectares) Arable land (% of land area) Arable land (hectares per person) |
1,158,000 74.53 960,000 0.61 0.35 |
2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 |
|
Fertilizer consumption (kg per hectare of arable land) |
7.88 |
2009 |
|
Agriculture, value added (% of GDP) Food production index (2004-2006 = 100) Food exports (% of merchandise exports) Food imports (% of merchandise imports) |
14.48 114.29 1.71 11.82 |
2011 2010 2007 2007 |
|
GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$) |
2310 |
2011 |
|
Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above) Literacy rate, youth female (% of females ages 15-24) Literacy rate, youth male (% of males ages 15-24) Ratio of young literate females to males (% ages 15-24) Ratio of female to male secondary enrollment (%) |
97.40 97.35 94.36 103.16 105.65 |
2010 2010 2010 2010 2011 |
|
Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) Internet users (per 100 people) |
105.07 20 |
2011 2011 |
|
Population, total Population density (people per sq. km of land area) Rural population Rural population (% of total population) Agricultural population (% of total population)* Total economically active population Total economically active population in agriculture* Total economically active population in agriculture (in % of total economically active population) Female economically active population in agriculture (% of total economically active population in agriculture)* |
2,800,114 1.77 883,206 31.54 17.60 1,183,147 493,000 41.66 47.94 |
2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 |
Sources: The World Bank; *Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO
The following list shows an excerpt from the Acknowledgements
- Authored by M. Kalim Qamar (February, 2013)
- Edited by Burton E. Swanson