Country Info:
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Mongolia Location:
47°55'N, 106°53'E
Mongolia Geography:
At 604,209 mi2 (1,565,000 km2[5]), Mongolia is the world's nineteenth-largest country (after Iran). It is significantly larger than the next-largest country, Peru, and is nearly as large as the US state of Alaska.
The Mongolian heartland consists of relatively flat steppes. The southern portion of the country is taken up by the Gobi Desert, while the northern and western portions are mountainous. The highest point in Mongolia is Nayramadlin Orgil (Huyten Orgil) at 4,374 m (14,350 feet). The basin of the lake Uvs Nuur, shared with Tuva Republic in Russia, is a natural World Heritage Site.
Most of the country is hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter, with January averages dropping as low as -30ºC (-22ºF). The country is also subject to occasional harsh climatic conditions known as zud or dzud. Ulaanbaatar has the coldest average temperature of any national capital in the world.
Mongolia is high, cold, and windy. It has an extreme continental climate with long, cold winters and short summers, during which most of its annual precipitation falls. The country averages 257 cloudless days a year, and it is usually at the center of a region of high atmospheric pressure. Precipitation is highest in the north (average of 20 to 35 centimeters per year) and lowest in the south, which receives 10 to 20 centimeters annually. The extreme south is the Gobi, some regions of which receive no precipitation at all in most years. The name "Gobi" is a Mongol term for a desert, depression, salt marsh, or steppe, but which usually refers to a category of arid rangeland with insufficient vegetation to support marmots but with enough to support camels. Mongols distinguish Gobi from desert proper, although the distinction is not always apparent to outsiders unfamiliar with the Mongolian landscape. Gobi rangelands are fragile and are easily destroyed by overgrazing, which results in expansion of the true desert, a stony waste where not even Bactrian camels can survive.
Mongolia People:
Population
- December 2006 estimate 2,594,100 [1] (139th)
- 2000 census 2,407,500 [2]
- Density 1.7 /km2 (227th)
4.4 /sq mi
Mongolia Government:
Government Parliamentary democracy
- President Nambaryn Enkhbayar
- Prime minister Miyeegombyn Enkhbold
Until June 27, 2004, the predominant party in Mongolia was the social democratic Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, or MPRP (ex-Communist Party). The main opposition party was the Democratic Party or DP, which controlled a governing coalition from 1996 to 2000.
From 2000 to 2004, the MPRP was back in power, but results of the 2004 elections required the establishing of the first ever coalition government in Mongolia between the MPRP and MDC (Motherland Democratic Coalition). The coalition broke down in January 2006, the current government has been formed with the MPRP, some small parties and some DP defectors.
Mongolia Economy:
Mongolia's economy is centered on agriculture and mining. Mongolia has rich mineral resources, and copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production.
There are currently over 30,000 independent businesses in Mongolia, chiefly centered around the capital city[citation needed]. The majority of the population outside urban areas participate in subsistence herding; livestock typically consists of sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and Bactrian camels. Agricultural crops include wheat, barley, vegetables, and other forage crops.
GDP per capita in 2005 was $1,900.[6] Although GDP has risen steadily since 2002 at the rate of 6.2% in an official 2005 estimate, the state is still working to overcome a sizable trade deficit. A massive ($11 billion) foreign debt to Russia was settled by the Mongolian government in 2004 with a $250 million payment. Despite growth, the proportion of the population below the poverty line is estimated to be 36.1% in 2004, and both the unemployment rate and inflation rate are high at 6.7% and 10.9%, respectively[6] Mongolia's largest trading partner is China. As of 2003, 46.6 percent of Mongolia's exports went to China, and China supplied 24.4 percent of Mongolia's imports
Mongolia More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia |
