About Mongolia
Geographically, Mongolia
is a vast highland basin on the Central Asian plateau, nestled
between Russia to the North and China to the South.
There are more than ten times as many animals as people in Mongolia,
one of the world’s most sparsely populated countries in the world.
2.5 million people live in a territory about half the size of
Europe. Some
30 million sheep, goats, horses, yaks, and other animals graze on
vast pasturelands covering almost four-fifths of the country.
A country of nomadic herding traditions, Mongolia has a highly mobile
population, where families may need to pack and move their dwellings
(“ger”)
in order to follow rainfall patterns.
Provincial urban centers are usually small towns, with
populations varying between 15,000-20,000.
The major occupation of Mongolia is raising livestock.
The livestock sector generates about 90% of
Mongolia’s
agricultural output. Mongolia’s principal economic
activities are closely related to herding, which produces the raw
materials, including cashmere, for other sectors to process.
The climate is dry, with extreme winter temperatures that can plunge
to 40 degrees below zero.
Ulaanbaatar, the capital,
is the world’s coldest city.
Summers are short, and can be cool.
Summer droughts and unusually severe winter conditions known
as “dzud,” have caused massive
losses of livestock and destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of
families. After the
1999/2000 dzud, many rural people migrated temporarily to the urban
areas, In one
year, the rural population fell by almost 10%.
The
Government of Mongolia has undertaken the transition from a
centralized to a market economy.
The breakdown of industry and public administration left many
people unemployed and deprived of a social safety net.
The Russian-supported revolution in 1921 installed a
Communist government.
Marxism was renounced in 1990 and a multi-party democracy
instituted. A democratic
voting process began, with multi-party elections.
A residual Marxist influence
does remain.
For Christian missionaries, Mongolia holds a “restricted” status. One
must acquire a visa, requiring performance of a tent-making role in
order to enter the country for periods longer than 30 days.
As long as the missionary performs this role, they are free
to carry on with their desired ministry related functions.
Poverty is a recent reality in Mongolia.
Until 1990 there were virtually no poor people in rural
areas. Poverty has been
a direct consequence of this transition to a market economy, after
the breakup of the Soviet Union and the collapse of Mongolia’s centrally planned
economy. Privatization
of industry and state farms brought high levels of unemployment.
Benefits and assistance dried up.
Incomes shrank, inflation devoured purchasing power, and
people had to bear the cost of health and education.
Education in rural
Mongolia, where there is typically
only one school in each administrative district, requires herders’
children often to travel up to 300 km to receive a basic education.
Families have to pay the cost of the children’s food, and
lodging; an expense that puts an additional financial strain on poor
people. Mongolia
does have a high literacy rate.
Religion in
Mongolia
is: Shamanism/Animism (50%), Tibetan Buddhism (32%),
non-religious/Atheist (13%), Muslim (4%), evangelical Christianity
(0.5%) The
constitution honors Buddhism, Shamanism and Islam as
Mongolia’s main religions but
grants certain religious freedoms to all people.
Restrictions apply to “foreign” religions in cases where they
are perceived as a possible threat to national security.
