OFFICIAL NAME

Mongolia

GEOGRAPHY

Vast semi-desert and desert plains, grassy steppe, mountains in west and southwest; Gobi Desert in south-central; landlocked between China and Russia

AREA

1,566,500 sq km / 604,633 sq miles

COMPARATIVE

Slightly smaller than Alaska

POPULATION

2,694,432

CAPITAL

Ulaanbaatar

LITERACY

98% (age 15+ and can read and write)

LANGUAGE

Official: Mongolian
Other: Chinese and Russian

RELIGION

Tibetan Buddhist Lamaism - 96%
Other - 4% ... includes Muslim (primarily in the southwest), Shamanism, and Christianity combined

POLITICS

The introduction of perestroika and glasnost in the USSR by Mikhail Gorbachev strongly influenced Mongolian politics leading to the peaceful Democratic Revolution of 1990. This, in turn, allowed the country to begin engaging in economic and diplomatic relations with the Western world. The nation finished its transition from a communist state to a multi-party capitalist democracy with the ratification of a new constitution in 1992.

INCOME

Per capita income = US$ 590 per year

CURRENCY

Tugrik (Tug)

TIME ZONES

GMT/UTC +8 and GMT/UTC +7