Fun Facts About Mongolia

If you were going to move to another country, you'd want to find out everything about it. I did, and I'd like to share some of the interesting little fact(oid)s I've found about Mongolia.

• Mongolia is the 19th-largest country in the world.
• Mongolia is the 2nd-largest landlocked country in the world (after Kazakhstan). Before Kazakhstan became independent, Mongolia was THE largest landlocked country.
• Mongolia is bordered by 2 countries: Russia (the Siberian part) in the north, and China (the desert part) on all the other sides.
• Western Mongolia contains the furthest point away from the ocean of any point of land in the world.
• Mongolia has the lowest population density of any independent country (about 4 people per square mile).
• But it has 81 airports.
• Mongolia's capital, Ulaan Baatar, has the lowest average temperature of any world capital (it averages below freezing for 8 months of the year).
• Mongolia has on average 257 cloudless days a year (which doesn't sound that different from Southern California).
• The lake Khövsgöl Nuur contains 2% of the world's fresh water.
• Mongolia has snow leopards, wild gazelles, reindeer, the world's only REAL wild horses (i.e., not just feral), and some elusive thing called "the Gobi bear."
• Cows, sheep, goats, horses, yaks, and camels outnumber people almost 30 to 1.
• Mongolia was the world's second communist country (after Russia).
• More women than men go to college there.
• As much as 8% of the men in Asia (2% worldwide) are direct descendants of Genghis Khan.
• In Genghis Khan's time, urinating in water was punishable by death.
• In 2010, the tögrög was the best-performing currency world-wide.
• Rumors are circulating that the country will open its first McDonald's and Starbucks this year.