1.4: Sparsely Populated Case Study: Mongolia (Paper 1)

Question 1

Explain the causes for why Mongolia is sparsely populated: (3)

Answer 1

• The climate in Mongolia is very harsh with most of the land made up of deserts.
  Temperatures drop significantly during winters, especially in the north where temperatures drop to -30 degrees. This causes a very low population density in Mongolia. (1)
• In Mongolia, there is poor access to infrastructure and communication, only 20% of roads are made from tarmac. This discourages firms to locate their businesses here which causes a low population density. (1)
• In Mongolia, out of the 365 days in a year, the growing season only lasts 90 days. This may discourage people from living in Mongolia as they aren’t able to grow crops leading to low employment in rural areas and this leads to a low population density. (1)

Question 2

Explain the effects that low population density has on Mongolia: (3)

Answer 2

• Because 69% of the Mongolian population live in cities, there is poor demand for healthcare and other services in rural areas which makes it difficult for them to access such services when they are unavailable in those areas. (1)
• Mongolia has a poverty rate of 27.8%. This is because there is a lack of jobs. (1)
• Due to the development of the capital city (Ulaanbatar) and the area surrounding it. This encouraged many people to migrate to the capital in hope of better job opportunities. This caused the population of Ulaanbaatar to double to 1.5 million, accounting to half of the population. (1)