winter conditions

Environment - current issues: limited natural fresh water resources
in some areas; policies of the former Communist regime promoting
rapid urbanization and industrial growth have raised concerns about
their negative effects on the environment; the burning of soft coal
in power plants and the lack of enforcement of environmental laws have
severely polluted the air in Ulaanbaatar; deforestation, overgrazing,
the converting of virgin land to agricultural production have increased
soil erosion from wind and rain; desertification and mining activities
have also had a deleterious effect on the environment

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the
selected agreements

Geography - note: landlocked; strategic location between China and Russia

People Mongolia

Population: 2,694,432 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 32% (male 438,176; female 422,960) 15-64
years: 64.1% (male 864,033; female 865,172) 65 years and over: 3.9%
(male 45,080; female 59,011) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.48% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 21.8 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 7.01 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.76
male(s)/female total population: 1 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 51.97 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: 66.87 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 2.37 children born/woman (2002 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.01% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: less than 100 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA

Nationality: noun: Mongolian(s) adjective: Mongolian

Ethnic groups: Mongol (predominantly Khalkha) 85%, Turkic (of which
Kazakh is the largest group) 7%, Tungusic 4.6%, other (including Chinese
and Russian) 3.4% (1998)

Religions: Tibetan Buddhist Lamaism 96%, Muslim (primarily in the
southwest), Shamanism, and Christian 4% (1998)

Languages: Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can