President: Natsagiyn Bagabandi (1997)
Prime Minister: Nambaryn Enkhbayar (2000)
Area: 604,247 sq mi (1,565,000 sq km)
Population (2003 est.): 2,712,315 (growth rate: 1.4%);
birth rate: 21.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 57.2/1000; density per sq mi:
4
Capital and largest city(1993 est.):
Ulaan Baatar, 619,000
Monetary unit: Tugrik
Languages: Mongolian, 90%; also Turkic, Russian, and
Chinese
Ethnicity/race: Mongol 90%, Kazak 4%, Chinese 2%,
Russian 2%, other 2%
Religions: predominantly Tibetan Buddhist; Islam about
4%
Literacy rate: 97% (1989)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2001 est.): $4.7 billion; per
capita $1,770. Real growth rate: 2.4%. Inflation: 11.8% (2000 est.).
Unemployment: 20% (2000). Arable land: 0.84%. Agriculture: wheat, barley,
potatoes, forage crops; sheep, goats, cattle, camels, horses. Labor force: 1.4
million (2000); primarily herding/agricultural. Industries: construction
materials, mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar, and gold); oil; food and
beverages, processing of animal products. Natural resources: oil, coal, copper,
molybdenum, tungsten, phosphates, tin, nickel, zinc, wolfram, fluorspar, gold,
silver, iron, phosphate. Exports: $466.1 million (f.o.b., 2000): copper,
livestock, animal products, cashmere, wool, hides, fluorspar, other nonferrous
metals. Imports: $614.5 million (c.i.f., 2000): machinery and equipment, fuels,
food products, industrial consumer goods, chemicals, building materials, sugar,
tea. Major trading partners: China, U.S., Russia, Japan, South Korea.
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 104,100
(1999); mobile cellular: 110,000 (2001). Radio broadcast stations: AM 7, FM 9,
shortwave 4 (2001). Radios: 155,900 (1999). Television broadcast stations: 4
(plus 18 provincial repeaters and many low powered repeaters) (1999).
Televisions: 168,800 (1999). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 5 (2001).
Internet users: 30,000 (2001).
Transportation: Railways: total: 1,815 km (2001).
Highways: total: 3,387 km; paved: 1,563 km; unpaved: 1,824 km; note: there are
also 45,862 km of rural roads that consist of rough, unimproved, cross-country
tracks (2000). Ports and harbors: none. Airports: 34 (2001).
International disputes: none.
