The total population of Mongolia estimated 3.12 million persons at the end of 2016, a growth of 2.1% (63.2 thousand persons) from the previous year by National Statistics office of Mongolia.

Mongolians belong predominantly to the Mongols ethnic group for about 95% of the population and consist of Khalkh (86% of Mongols) and other groups (Oirats, Buryats and others), all distinguished primarily by dialects of the Mongol language. There are significant Kazakh and Tuvan minorities of approximately 4.5% of the population9, with a very distinct language and culture.

The official language of Mongolia is Mongolian, and is spoken by 95% of the population. A variety of dialects of Oirat and Buryat are spoken across the country. In the west of the country, Kazakh and Tuvan, both Turkic languages, are also spoken. Today, Mongolian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, although in the past it was written using the Mongolian script (vertical script). During the socialist period, the first foreign language taught was Russian. However, English is now widely taught and often a requirement to work for international companies. Chinese, Korean, Japanese and German are also popular languages.

Shamanism is the oldest religious tradition in Mongolia and was replaced by Buddhism from the sixteenth century onwards. Under Communism, all religion was suppressed and most temples and monasteries were destroyed. The majority of the population now identifies as Buddhist, with small Shamanist, Christian and Muslim minorities.

About two-thirds (67%) of the total population is between 15 and 64, under 15 at 30% and least 4% of population consist of 65 and elders. Sex ratio is 0.97 male/female.

With a UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.727 out of 1.000, Mongolia has a rank of 90^th among 188 countries. HDI rank improved by 14 placements since 2009 and Mongolia ranked 10 highest HDIs in East Asia and the Pacific region. Between 2000 and 2014 Mongolia's HDI value increased from 0.589 to 0.727 and annual average increase was about 1.49%.