Mongolia’s Population – 3 Million And Counting

Back in January 2015, Mongolia’s population hit 3 million. (As I update this blog post at the end of 2021, it is approaching 3.3 million.) The National Statistical Office (NSO) was given the task of identifying the third millionth citizen. Together with the Ministry of Health and Sports, they held an online meeting and provided a formal explanation. I created a blog post about it and the rules were as follows:

1. The child must have a Mongolian nationality (that clears that up then).

2. If the child was conceived by a mother living overseas but who hasn’t changed her Mongolian nationality then they can be counted.

3. The child can be born naturally or by scheduled delivery (there’s some controversy over this as there is a possibility of women choosing to have a C-section just for the purpose of winning. However, the government is keeping the exact population number sort of secret (see below) to try and prevent this from happening).

According to the NSO, 1% of pregnant women give birth at home (or elsewhere outside of a maternity hospital) in Mongolia. Those who are not able to give birth in a hospital have been told that they should notify their district hospital with the date and details of the delivery as soon as possible to prevent any potential conflicts.

Apparently, residents living in remote areas will be able to send information (provided formally by the doctor) with time adjusted (just to add to the general confusion, there is an one hour time difference between western Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar) to Ulaanbaatar’s time – with mothers having their address and movement verified before leaving the hospital (as of course they may be a nomadic family). The Bata family at Baga Gazriin Chuluu. Image by our guest Hui Li.

And…..(are you keeping up?!)

According to Mongolia’s English-language newspaper, the UB Post, the NSO formally announced the population of Mongolia. On December 31 2013, the population of Mongolia was 2,930,277. In the year leading up to December 31 2014, 81,715 babies were born with 1,124 of them being born abroad. 16,495 people died in 2014 meaning that the total population became 2,995,949 as of January 1 2015 … which as far as I can make out … the numbers don’t add up.

 Never mind. On average, 200 to 240 children are born each day, while over 40 people die. Basically, the third millionth citizen will be born sometime from January 20th onwards (depending on what source you read). The third millionth citizen will be identified from all 21 provinces and the 9 districts of Ulaanbaatar. 

 There’s still confusion (mainly mine having read through all the articles!) about what will be awarded in the way of benefits. As far as I can make out, the provinces and districts will each identify one contemporary baby born in their area close to the time the third millionth citizen is born in Ulaanbaatar. Some articles say that the third millionth citizen will be awarded with an apartment or monetary reward equivalent to 70 million tugrik and the contemporary babies will be issued with three million tugrik. Another article says that 30 newborns will be awarded a cash prize of 70 million tugrik. Apparently, the governors of the 21 provinces and nine districts are responsible for issuing an apartment to the children selected as contemporaries of the third millionth citizen.

Either way, there’s going to be a lot of very happy children!

As a final thought …

One of our long-term friends who are due to have their second child in January mentioned that, as he remembers, the clock in the delivery room where their first child was born was around 7 minutes slow … Anyway. There you go.