Golden Gate Friends of Mongolia

People

Mongolia’s total population as of July 2007 is estimated at 2.9 million people. The majority of Mongolians are of Mongol descent and there are small populations of Kazakh, Tuvan and Tungus people. Mongolia’s population growth rate is estimated at 1.54%; and about two-thirds of the total population is under age 30, 36% are under age 14.

Nearly half of the people live in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, and in other provincial centers. Nomadic lifestyle still predominates in the country.

The official language of Mongolia is Khalkha Mongolia, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and is spoken by 90% of the population. A variety of different dialects such as Kazakh and Tuvan languages, are spoken across the country. Mongolian is one of the Mongolic languages. Mongolic is included in the Altaic languages, which also includes Turkic and Tungusic languages. The Russian language is the most frequently spoken foreign language in Mongolia, followed by English, though English has been replacing Russian as the second language.

Various forms of tengriism and shamanism have been practiced throughout the history of Mongolia. Such beliefs gradually gave way to Tibetan Buddhism, but shamanism has left a mark on Mongolian religious culture. Some shamanistic practices and traditions, such as the use of “ovoo” as religious sites, are still practiced. The fall of communism in 1991 restored the legality of public religious practice, and Tibetan Buddhism, which had been the predominant religion in the region before the rise of Communism; again rose to become the most widely practiced religion in Mongolia.

During the socialist period, education was one of the areas of significant achievement in Mongolia. Illiteracy was virtually eliminated. Primary and secondary education formerly lasted ten years, but recently has been expanded to eleven years. National University of Mongolia and Mongolian University of Science and Technology are the biggest state universities in the country. The liberalization of the 1990s led to a boom in private institutions of higher education.