"text":"<p>The peoples of Mongolia have a long history under a number of nomadic empires dating back to the period of the Xiongnu in the 4th century B.C. The name Mongol goes back to at least the 11th century A.D. The most famous Mongol, TEMÜÜJIN (aka Genghis Khan) emerged as the ruler of all Mongols in the early 1200s. By the time of his death in 1227, he had created through conquest a Mongol Empire that extended across much of Eurasia. His descendants, including ÖGÖDEI and KHUBILAI (aka Kublai Khan), continued military campaigns of conquest, taking control of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the rest of China where KHUBILAI established the Yuan Dynasty in the 1270s. The Mongols attempted to invade Japan and Java before their empire broke apart in the 14th century. In the 17th century, Mongolia fell under the rule of the Manchus of the Chinese Qing Dynasty. Following the collapse of the Manchus in 1911, Mongolia declared its independence, achieving it with help from the Soviet Union in 1921. Mongolia became a socialist state (the Mongolian People’s Republic) in 1924. Following independence and until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the country was a Soviet satellite state, and heavily reliant on economic, military, and political assistance from Moscow. The period also was marked by purges, political repression, economic stagnation, and tensions with China. <br><br>Mongolia peacefully transitioned to an independent democracy in 1990. In 1992, it adopted a new constitution and established a free market economy. Since the country's transition, it has conducted eight presidential and nine legislative elections as of 2021. Throughout the period, the ex-communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) - which took the name Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) in 2010 - has competed for political power with the Democratic Party (DP) and several other smaller parties. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, the MPP won overwhelming control of the Parliament over the DP, which had overseen a sharp decline in Mongolia’s economy during its control of the Parliament in the preceding years. Mongolians elected a DP member, Khaltmaa BATTULGA, as president in 2017. The June 2020 parliamentary elections left the MPP with continued dominant control of the parliament. Mongolians elected former prime minister and MPP member Ukhnaa KHURELSUKH as president in 2021. Mongolia maintains close cultural, political, and military ties with Russia while China is its largest economic partner. Mongolia’s foreign relations are focused on preserving its autonomy by balancing relations with China and Russia, as well as its other major partners, Japan, South Korea, and the US.</p>"
"text":"Amur (shared with China [s] and Russia [m]) - 4,444 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"sparsely distributed population throughout the country; the capital of Ulaanbaatar and the northern city of Darhan support the highest population densities"
},
"Natural hazards":{
"text":"dust storms; grassland and forest fires; drought; \"zud,\" which is harsh winter conditions"
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"landlocked; strategic location between China and Russia"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> Mongolia is one of the least densely populated countries in the world (2 people per sq km); twice as many ethnic Mongols (some 6 million) live in Inner Mongolia (Nei Mongol) in neighboring China"
"text":"sparsely distributed population throughout the country; the capital of Ulaanbaatar and the northern city of Darhan support the highest population densities"
"text":"limited natural freshwater resources in some areas; the burning of soft coal in power plants and the lack of enforcement of environmental laws leads to air pollution in Ulaanbaatar; deforestation and overgrazing increase soil erosion from wind and rain; water pollution; desertification and mining activities have a deleterious effect on the environment"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"desert; continental (large daily and seasonal temperature ranges)"
"text":"Amur (shared with China [s] and Russia [m]) - 4,444 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"the name means \"red hero\" in Mongolian and honors national hero Damdin SUKHBAATAR, leader of the partisan army that with Soviet Red Army help, liberated Mongolia from Chinese occupation in the early 1920s"
"text":"29 December 1911 (independence declared from China; in actuality, autonomy attained); 11 July 1921 (from China)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Naadam (games) holiday (commemorates independence from China in the 1921 Revolution), 11-15 July; Constitution Day (marks the date that the Mongolian People's Republic was created under a new constitution), 26 November (1924)"
},
"Constitution":{
"history":{
"text":"several previous; latest adopted 13 January 1992, effective 12 February 1992"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by the State Great Hural, by the president of the republic, by the government, or by petition submitted to the State Great Hural by the Constitutional Court; conducting referenda on proposed amendments requires at least two-thirds majority vote of the State Great Hural; passage of amendments by the State Great Hural requires at least three-quarters majority vote; passage by referendum requires majority participation of qualified voters and a majority of votes; amended 1999, 2000, 2019"
}
},
"Legal system":{
"text":"civil law system influenced by Soviet and Romano-Germanic legal systems; constitution ambiguous on judicial review of legislative acts"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
},
"Citizenship":{
"citizenship by birth":{
"text":"no"
},
"citizenship by descent only":{
"text":"both parents must be citizens of Mongolia; one parent if born within Mongolia"
"text":"directly appointed by the prime minister following a constitutional amendment ratified in November 2019; prior to the amendment, the cabinet was nominated by the prime minister in consultation with the president and confirmed by the State Great Hural (parliament)"
"text":"presidential candidates nominated by political parties represented in the State Great Hural and directly elected by simple majority popular vote for one 6-year term; election last held on 9 June 2021; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition is usually elected prime minister by the State Great Hural"
"text":"Ukhnaagiin KHURELSUKH elected president in first round; percent of vote - Ukhnaa KHURELSUKH (Mongolian People's Party) 67.7%, Dangaasuren ENKHBAT (Right Person Coalition) 20.31%, Sodnomzundui ERDENE (Democratic Party) 5.99%"
"text":"unicameral State Great Hural or Ulsyn Ikh Khural (76 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote; each constituency requires at least 50% voter participation for the poll to be valid; members serve 4-year terms)"
},
"elections":{
"text":"last held on 24 June 2020 (next to be held in 2024)"
"text":"percent of vote by party - MPP 44.9%, DP 24.5%, Our Coalition 8.1%, independent 8.7%, Right Person Electorate Coalition 5.2%, other 8.5%; seats by party - MPP 62, DP 11, Our Coalition 1, Right Person Electorate Coalition 1; independent 1; composition - 63 men, 13 women; percent of women 17.1%"
"text":"Supreme Court (consists of the Chief Justice and 24 judges organized into civil, criminal, and administrative chambers); Constitutional Court or Tsets (consists of the chairman and 8 members)"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Supreme Court chief justice and judges appointed by the president upon recommendation by the General Council of Courts - a 14-member body of judges and judicial officials - to the State Great Hural; appointment is for life; chairman of the Constitutional Court elected from among its members; members appointed from nominations by the State Great Hural - 3 each by the president, the State Great Hural, and the Supreme Court; appointment is 6 years; chairmanship limited to a single renewable 3-year term"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"aimag (provincial) and capital city appellate courts; soum, inter-soum, and district courts; Administrative Cases Courts"
"text":"36 parties registered for the 2020 legislative elections to the State Great Hural; among them, the following parties won seats:<br>Democratic Party or DP [Sodnomzunduin ERDENE]<br>Mongolian People's Party or MPP [Ukhnaagiin KHURELSUKH]<br><br>Others include:<br>Civil Will-Green Party or CWGP [Tserendorj GANKHUYAG] <br>Justice Party [Batbayar NASANBILEG]<br>Mongolian National Democratic Party or MNDP [Bayanjargal TSOGTGEREL]<br>Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party [Nambaryn ENKHBAYAR]<br>Mongolian Social Democratic Party or MSDP [Adiya GANBAATAR]<br>Mongolian Traditionally United Party or MTUP [Batdelgeriin BATBOLD]<br>National Labor Party or HUN [Togmidyn DORJKHAND]<br><br>Coalitions:<br>Our Coalition (MPRP, Civil Will-Green Party, and Mongolian Traditionally United Party)<br>Right Person Electorate Coalition or ZKEE (National Labor Party, Mongolian Social Democratic Party, Justice Party) [Togmidyn DORJKHAND]"
"text":"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); blue represents the sky, red symbolizes progress and prosperity"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"soyombo emblem; national colors: red, blue, yellow"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Mongol ulsyn toriin duulal\" (National Anthem of Mongolia)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Tsendiin DAMDINSUREN/Bilegiin DAMDINSUREN and Luvsanjamts MURJORJ"
"text":"Uvs Nuur Basin (n); Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape (c); Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai (c); Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain and surrounding sacred landscape (c); Landscapes of Dauria (n)"
"text":"lower middle-income East Asian economy; large human capital improvements over last 3 decades; agricultural and natural resource rich; export and consumption-led growth; high inflation due to supply bottlenecks and increased food and energy prices; currency depreciation"
"text":"construction and construction materials; mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar, tin, tungsten, gold); oil; food and beverages; processing of animal products, cashmere and natural fiber manufacturing"
"text":"liberalized and competitive telecoms market comprises of a number of operators; fixed-line penetration increased steadily in the years to 2018 as more people took on fixed-line access for voice calls and to access copper-based broadband services; the number of lines fell in 2019, and again and more sharply in 2020, partly through the economic consequences of the pandemic (GDP fell 5.3% in 2020, year-on-year) and partly due to the migration to the mobile platform and to VoIP; fixed broadband penetration remains low, mainly due to a limited number of fixed lines and the dominance of the mobile platform; the attraction of fixed broadband as a preferred access where it is available is waning as the mobile networks are upgraded with greater capacity and capabilities; the growing popularity of mobile broadband continues to underpin overall broadband and telecom sector growth, with Mongolia’s market very much being dominated by mobile services, supported by widely available LTE; this will largely determine and shape the future direction of Mongolia’s developing digital economy (2021)"
"text":"following a law passed in 2005, Mongolia's state-run radio and TV provider converted to a public service provider; also available are 68 radio and 160 TV stations, including multi-channel satellite and cable TV providers; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available (2019)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"580 km (2010) (the only waterway in operation is Lake Hovsgol) (135 km); Selenge River (270 km) and Orhon River (175 km) are navigable but carry little traffic; lakes and rivers ice-free from May to September)"
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>the National Police Agency and the General Authority for Border Protection, which operate under the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, are primarily responsible for internal security; they are assisted by the General Intelligence Agency under the prime minister; the MAF assists the internal security forces in providing domestic emergency assistance and disaster relief"
"text":"18-27 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service (can enter military schools at age 17); 12-month conscript service obligation for men in the army, air forces, or police (can be extended 3 months under special circumstances); conscription service can be exchanged for a 24‐month stint in the civil service or a cash payment determined by the Mongolian Government; after conscription, soldiers can contract into military service for 2 or 4 years; volunteer military service for men and women is 24 months, which can be extended for another two years up to the age of 31 (2023)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> from 2003 to July 2021, some 3,300 Mongolian troops served in Afghanistan, including about 1,300 under the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission (2015 to 2021); since 2002, Mongolia has deployed more than 19,000 peacekeepers and observers to UN operations in more than a dozen countries"
"text":"the MAF does not face any significant external military threats and focuses instead on counterterrorism, disaster response, and international peacekeeping; the Ground Force is the military’s primary service and is centered on a motorized infantry brigade equipped largely with Soviet-era equipment; it also has a battalion devoted to peacekeeping duties and hosts an annual international peacekeeping exercise known as “Khaan Quest”; Mongolia’s primary military partner is Russia, and in addition to receiving Russian military equipment, the MAF participates in Russia’s large “Vostok” exercise, which is conducted every four years<br><br>Mongolia has been engaged in dialogue and cooperation with NATO since 2005 and is considered by NATO to be a global partner; Mongolia supported the NATO-led Kosovo Force from 2005-2007 and contributed troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from 2009-2014, as well as to the follow-on Resolute Support Mission that provided training, advice, and other assistance to the Afghan security forces (2015-2021) (2023)"
