Mongolia is No Longer Mongolia, It is a Really Big Deal

When Did This Happen?

Business Week reports on the boom in the economy of Mongolia.  Yes, Mongolia.  First of all there is not a lot of people in Mongolia but there is a lot of livestock.

Squeezed between China and Russia, and equal in size to Western Europe, Mongolia has just 2.8 million people, making it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, though not with livestock: Mongolia’s National Statistical Office estimates there are 33 million head of livestock in the country, including goats, sheep, horses, cattle, and camels.

Left: Tending horses in Bugat; Right: Sunset over Ulaanbaatar From left: Timothy Fadek/Polaris; Getty Images

But relatively little population, Mongolia it turns out has a lot of mineral wealth, the kind of mineral wealth a developing Asia needs.

Mongolia is one of the richest countries in terms of natural resources, and that’s just the known deposits: Four-fifths of the country is still unsurveyed

The result, a fast growing economy that will take off in the next decade.

Parmeshwar Ramlogan, the Ulaanbaatar-based resident representative for Mongolia at the International Monetary Fund. Ramlogan predicts Mongolia could grow at double-digit rates for at least the next 10 years, lifting per capita income—now at $2,470—fourfold within a decade and making it one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Who would have thought?