Page | 48Standard of Living
Results of an October 2009 poll of Mongolians
from various parts of the country revealed that
more than one-fifth of the respondents felt that the
low standard of living was Mongolia’s biggest
economic and sociopolitical problem. Even more
(nearly 29%) thought that high unemployment,
one of the markers of a low standard of living,
was the nation’s biggest problem.^258 In
Ulaanbaatar, in particular, a rapidly escalating
population has led to the spread of slums around
the city’s outer edges. Many of these areas lack basic necessities, such as running water
and connections to the city’s central heating grid.^259
However, Mongolia’s vast untapped wealth in coal and minerals, such as copper and
uranium, provides hope that the nation’s overall standard of living will rise once mines
start operations.
260
In response to these concerns, the Mongolian government plans to set up a sovereign
wealth fund that will be stocked by the mineral royalties and taxes. The government will
funnel part of the fund’s monies to cash and stock programs that will provide annual
income to all Mongolians, similar to other such programs in resource-rich areas such as
Alaska and Norway.
Concerns persist, nevertheless, about how much of the coal and
mineral revenues will circulate down to the general population and be used to provide
much-needed infrastructure to many areas. Furthermore, an economy’s overreliance on
mining income often results in making the local currency more valuable (because of all
the foreign investment) and thus lessening the competiveness of other economic sectors
such as manufacturing.
(^261) The fund will also be used to develop processing industries and
improve the nation’s education, science, and technology capacities.^262
(^258) Mongolian Views, “Sant Maral Foundation Politbarometer (Part I),” 20 October 2009,
http://www.mongolianviews.com/2009/10/sant-maral-foundation-politbarometer.html
(^259) Mongolian Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, “Sustainable Housing and Urban Planning:
Ger Districts,” 2011, http://www.mongolia-institute.org/Sustainable-Housing-and-Urban-
Planning/sustainable-housing-and-urban-planning.html
(^260) Patrick Allen, “Mongolia: Boldly Go Where No Investor...,” CNBC.com, 14 April 2011,
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42584629
(^261) BBC News, “Norway Country Profile,” 18 October 2010,
http://www.dermundo.com/www.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1023276.stm
(^262) Bloomberg News, “Mongolia Fund to Manage $30 Billion Mining Jackpot (Update2),” 11 September
2009, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aWm8u8kb0R5E