Mongolia (Mongolian: Монгол Улс) is a landlocked country located in East Asia. Mongolia is also sometimes classified as being a part of Central Asia, depending on the definition used. It is bordered by Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south. Its capital and largest city is Ulaanbaatar.
Mongolia was the center of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century and was later ruled by China during the Manchu Qing Dynasty from the end of the 18th century until 1921, when an independent government was formed with Soviet assistance. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, and after the fall of communism in Mongolia in 1990, Mongolia adopted democracy via elections. A new, democratic constitution which was ratified in 1992 officially marked the birth of Mongolia as a democratic country, making it one of the world's youngest democracies.
At 1,564,116 square km, Mongolia is the 18th largest country in the world. However, the country contains very little arable land as much of its area is covered by arid and unproductive steppes with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Approximately 30 percent of the country's 2.8 million people are nomadic or semi-nomadic. The predominant religion in Mongolia is Tibetan Buddhism, and the majority of the state's citizens are of the Mongol ethnicity, though many Kazakhs and Tuvans also live in the country, especially in the west. About one-third of the population lives in Ulaanbaatar.
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