Mongolia

Health & Safety

What makes Mongolia the world's most 'socially connected' place? Maybe it's #yurtlife

7:18am November 11, 2023

by Katya Cengel

A Gallup survey ranks countries based on degree of "social connectedness" people feel with friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, even strangers. We asked Mongolians why they think they top the list.

Children in traditional dress welcome Pope Francis arriving for a meeting with charity workers and for the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023.

World News

Francis opens a homeless clinic on the 1st papal visit to Mongolia

1:54am September 04, 2023

by The Associated Press

Several of the foreign-staffed Catholic religious orders in Mongolia run shelters, orphanages and nursing homes to care for a population of 3.3 million where one in three people lives in poverty.

A sandstorm moves the Gobi desert in Mongolia.

Buried Alive In Mongolia's Worst Sandstorms In A Decade

9:13am May 30, 2021

Even the rescue teams could not go forward during one of the fiercest of many sandstorms this spring. Herders have lost their herds — an estimated 1.6 million livestock — and their lives.

Whatever Happened To ... The Heavy Metal Mongolian Band Called The Hu?

7:00am September 05, 2020

by Katya Cengel

They're cooking up new music — including a song for a 'Star Wars' video game — and videos on how to prepare traditional foods. Care for a fried meat pie?

Photo highlights from our top stories: Inuit parenting teaches kids how to control anger; a fisherman holds up a fish caught in Lake Malawi, where transactional sex is part of the fish trade; the Dandora Landfill in Nairobi, Kenya.

7 Of Our Most Popular Global Health And Development Stories In 2019

10:13am December 20, 2019

by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

Secrets of Inuit parenting, a Mongolian heavy metal band and a controversial medical center in Uganda were among the topics that drew the most readers.

Fleas transmit plague — but the pneumonic plague, the type reported from China this week, can spread from person to person as well.

Health & Safety

China Reports 2 Cases Of The Most Dangerous Type Of Plague

12:50pm November 15, 2019

Authorities have censored Chinese-language news of the hospitalization of a couple who traveled from Mongolia to Beijing for treatment, perhaps to tamp down fears.

Trucks churn up coal dust at the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine in the South Gobi desert. The Tavan Tolgoi deposit is estimated to possess 6.5 billion tons of coal, including high-grade coking coal — a product vital to the steel-making process.

Mongolia's Long Road To Mining Wealth

11:49am July 31, 2019

by Emily Kwong

Mongolia is undergoing a dramatic transformation from a pastoral society to one whose economy is based on mining, especially copper and coal. With the change has come opportunity — and loss.

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Rapid population growth in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, coupled with a household dependence on coal for heating and cooking has created perfect conditions for one of the most extreme cases of air pollution in the world.

Mongolia's Capital Banned Coal To Fix Its Pollution Problem. Will It Work?

3:10pm July 30, 2019

by Emily Kwong

Winter nights in Ulaanbaatar can drop to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Many residents without electricity burn coal to heat their homes, leading to toxic air and health problems.

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Herders bury animal carcasses in 2010 in Mongolia's Dundgovi province. A decade ago, an extreme winter — known in Mongolia as a dzud — claimed the lives of 22% of the nation's livestock and sped up migration from rural areas to urban centers.

The Deadly Winters That Have Transformed Life For Herders In Mongolia

11:40pm July 29, 2019

by Emily Kwong

Mongolia's herders are accustomed to cold, but the extreme conditions of the country's terrible winters, known as dzuds, killed countless livestock and livelihoods. Herders have had to adapt.

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The domesticated Bactrian camel is the largest species of camel in the world. They are able to withstand the harsh terrain of Central and East Asia. Adapted to keep sand at bay, the camels have two rows of eyelashes and sealable nostrils.

Where Camels Become Beauty Queens: Inside Mongolia's Biggest Camel Festival

4:56pm May 11, 2019

by Emily Kwong

Two-humped Bactrian camels were domesticated thousands of years ago to carry goods and people across Asia. Every year, herders come to one Gobi Desert town to celebrate this gentle giant.

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