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Ulaanbaatar is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipality is located in north central Mongolia at an elevation of about in a valley on the Tuul River. The city was founded in 1639 as a nomadic Buddhist monastic centre, changing location 29 times, and was permanently settled at its modern location in 1778.
During its early years, as Örgöö (anglicized as Urga), it became Mongolia's preeminent religious centre and seat of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the spiritual head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. Following the regulation of Kyakhta trade by the Treaty of Kyakhta in 1727, a caravan route between Beijing and Kyakhta opened up, along which the city was eventually settled. With the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the city was a focal point for independence efforts, leading to the proclamation of the Bogd Khanate in 1911 led by the Bogd Khan, and again during the communist revolution of 1921. With the proclamation of the Mongolian People's Republic in 1924, the city was officially renamed Ulaanbaatar and declared the country's capital.
Modern urban planning began in the 1950s, with most of the old replaced by Ugsarmal bair. In 1990, Ulaanbaatar was the site of large demonstrations that led to Mongolia's transition to democracy and a market economy. Since 1990, an influx of migrants from the rest of the country has led to an explosive growth in its population, a major portion of whom live in ger districts, which has contributed to harmful air pollution in winter. Excessive coal production and consumption in Ulaanbaatar make it one of the world's most polluted cities, causing the incidence of pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses to spike amongst children.
Governed as an Independent city, Ulaanbaatar is surrounded by Töv Province, whose capital Zuunmod lies south of the city. With a population of just over 1.6 million , it contains almost half of the country's total population. As the country's primate city, it serves as its cultural, industrial and financial heart and the centre of its transport network.
Other names include Bogdiin Khuree (), or simply Khüree (), itself a term originally referring to an enclosure or settlement.
Upon independence in 1911, with both the secular government and the Bogd Khan's palace present, the city's name was changed to Niĭslel Khüree ().
When the city became the capital of the new Mongolian People's Republic on 29 October 1924, its name was changed to Ulaanbaatar (), possibly in honor of Damdin Sükhbaatar. At the meeting of the 1st Great People's Khural in 1924, the majority of delegates voted in favor of renaming the capital of Mongolia to Bator-khoto ("City of the Hero," implicitly referring to the figure of Genghis Khan). Nevertheless, at the insistence of the Comintern representative, Soviet-Kazakhstan political figure Turar Ryskulov, who previously had no connection to Mongolia, the city was named Ulan Bator Khoto ("City of the Red Hero"). After the vote, he gave a speech:
In the Western world, Ulaanbaatar continued to be generally known as Urga or Khuree until 1924, and afterward as Ulan Bator (). Although related to the Russian form, Ulan Bator was approved by the Mongolian Post Office. This form was defined two decades before the Mongolian name received its current Cyrillic spelling and transliteration (1941–1950); however, the name of the city was spelled Ulaanbaatar koto during the decade in which Mongolia used the Latin alphabet.
Wang Khan, Toghrul of the Keraites, a Nestorian Christian monarch whom Marco Polo identified as the legendary Prester John, is said to have had his palace here (the Black Forest of the Tuul River) and forbade hunting in the holy mountain Bogd Uul. The palace is said to be where Genghis Khan stayed with Yesui Khatun before attacking the Tangut people in 1226, though accounts of the Mongol invasion of Tangut are conflicted.
During the Mongol Empire (1206–1368) and Northern Yuan (1368–1635) the main, natural route from the capital region of Karakorum to the birthplace and tomb of the Khans in the Khentii mountain region (Ikh Khorig) passed through the area of Ulaanbaatar. The Tuul River naturally leads to the north-side of Bogd Khan Mountain, which stands out as a large island of forest positioned conspicuously at the south-western edge of the Khentii mountains. As the main gate and stopover point on the route to and from the holy Khentii mountains, the Bogd Khan Mountain saw large amounts of traffic going past it and was protected from early times. Even after the Northern Yuan period it served as the location of the annual and triannual Assembly of Nobles ( Khan Uuliin Chuulgan).
As a mobile monastery-town, Örgöö was often moved to various places along the Selenga River, Orkhon River and Tuul rivers, as supply and other needs would demand. During the Dzungar Khanate wars of the late 17th century, it was even moved to Inner Mongolia. Улаанбаатар, Ulaanbaatar 2001, pg. 9f As the city grew, it moved less and less.
The movements of the city can be detailed as follows: Shireet Tsagaan Nuur (1639), Khoshoo Tsaidam (1640), Khentii Mountains (1654), Ogoomor (1688), Inner Mongolia (1690), Tsetserlegiin Erdene Tolgoi (1700), Daagandel (1719), Usan Seer (1720), Ikh Tamir (1722), Jargalant (1723), Eeven Gol (1724), Khujirtbulan (1729), Burgaltai (1730), Sognogor (1732), Terelj (1733), Uliastai River (1734), Khui Mandal (1736), Khuntsal (1740), Udleg (1742), Ogoomor (1743), Selbe (1747), Uliastai River (1756), Selbe (1762), Khui Mandal (1772) and Selbe (1778).
In 1778, the city moved from Khui Mandal and settled for good at its current location, near the confluence of the Selbe and Tuul rivers, and beneath Bogd Khan Uul, at that time also on the caravan route from Beijing to Kyakhta.Kohn, Michael Lonely Planet Mongolia (4th edition, 2005); , p. 52.
One of the earliest Western mentions of Urga is the account of the Scottish traveller John Bell in 1721:
By Zanabazar's death in 1723, Urga was Mongolia's preeminent monastery in terms of religious authority. A council of seven of the highest-ranking ( Khamba Nomon Khan, Ded Khamba and five Tsorj) made most of the city's religious decisions. It had also become Outer Mongolia's commercial centre. From 1733 to 1778, Urga moved around the vicinity of its present location. In 1754, the Erdene Shanzodba Yam of Urga was given authority to supervise the administrative affairs of the Bogd's subjects. It also served as the city's chief judicial court. In 1758, the Qianlong Emperor appointed the Khalkha Mongols Vice General Sanzaidorj as the first Mongol amban of Urga, with full authority to "oversee the Khuree and administer well all the Khutugtu's subjects".Majer, Zsuzsa & Krisztina Teleki, "Monasteries and Temples of Bogdiin Khuree, Ikh Khuree or Urga, the Old Capital City of Mongolia in the First Part of the Twentieth Century".
In 1761, a second amban was appointed for the same purpose, a Manchu people one. A quarter-century later, in 1786, a decree issued in Peking gave right to the Urga ambans to decide the administrative affairs of Tusheet Khan and Setsen Khan territories. With this, Urga became the highest civil authority in the country. Based on Urga's Mongol governor Sanzaidorj's petition, the Qianlong Emperor officially recognized an annual ceremony on Bogd Khan Mountain in 1778 and provided the annual imperial donations. The city was the seat of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktus, two Qing Dynasty ambans, and a Han Chinese trade town grew "four trees" east of the city centre at the confluence of the Uliastai and Tuul rivers.
By 1778, Urga may have had as many as ten thousand monks, who were regulated by a monastic rule, Internal Rule of the Grand Monastery or Yeke Kuriyen-u Doto'adu Durem. For example, in 1797 a decree of the 4th Jebtsundamba forbade "singing, playing with archery, myagman, chess, usury and smoking"). Executions were forbidden where the holy temples of the Bogd Jebtsundama could be seen, so capital punishment took place away from the city.
In 1839, the 5th Bogd Jebtsundamba moved his residence to Gandan Hill, an elevated position to the west of the Baruun Damnuurchin markets. Part of the city was moved to nearby Tolgoit. In 1855, the part of the camp that moved to Tolgoit was brought back to its 1778 location, and the 7th Bogd Jebtsundamba returned to the Zuun Khuree. The Gandan Monastery flourished as a centre of philosophical studies.
By 1908,Lindon Wallace Bates, The Russian Road to China, 1910 there was a Russian quarter with a few hundred merchants and a Russian club and informal Russian mayor. East of the main town was the Russian consulate, built in 1863, with an Orthodox church, a post office and 20 Cossacks guards. It was fortified in 1900 and briefly occupied by troops during the Boxer Rebellion. There was a telegraph line north to Kyakhta and southeast to Kalgan and weekly postal service along these routes.
Beyond the Russian consulate was the Chinese trading post called Maimaicheng, and nearby the palace of the Manchu viceroy. With the growth of Western trade at the Chinese ports, the tea trade to Russia declined, some Chinese merchants left, and wool became the main export. Manufactured goods still came from Russia, but most were now brought from Kalgan by caravan. The annual trade was estimated at 25 million rubles, nine-tenths in Chinese hands and one-tenth in Russian.
The Moscow trade expedition of the 1910s estimated the population of Urga at 60,000, based on Nikolay Przhevalsky's study in the 1870s. "From Khutagtiin Khuree to Niislel Khuree". . Presentation of the Director of the General Archives Authority D. Ulziibaatar, archives.gov.mn; accessed 26 March 2018.
The city's population swelled during the Naadam festival and major religious festivals to more than 100,000. In 1919, the number of monks had reached 20,000, up from 13,000 in 1810.
On 29 December 1911, the Bogd Khan was declared ruler of an independent Mongolia and assumed the title Bogd Khan. Khüree as the seat of the Jebtsundamba Khutugtu was the logical choice for the capital of the new state. However, following the tripartite Kyakhta agreement of 1915, Mongolia's status was effectively reduced to mere autonomy.
In 1919, Mongolian nobles, over the opposition of the Bogd Khan, agreed with the Chinese resident Chen Yi on a settlement of the "Mongolian question" along Qing-era lines, but before this settlement could be put into effect, Khüree was occupied by the troops of Chinese warlord Xu Shuzheng, who forced the Mongolian nobles and clergy to renounce autonomy completely.
The city changed hands twice in 1921. First, on 4 February, a mixed Russian/Mongolian force led by White Movement warlord Roman von Ungern-Sternberg captured the city, freeing the Bogd Khan from Chinese imprisonment and killing a part of the Chinese garrison. Baron Ungern's capture of Urga was followed by the clearing out of Mongolia's small gangs of demoralized Chinese soldiers and, at the same time, looting and murder of foreigners, including a vicious pogrom that killed off the Jewish community.
On 22 February 1921, the Bogd Khan was once again elevated to Great Khan of Mongolia in Urga.Kuzmin, S. L. History of Baron Ungern: an Experience of Reconstruction. Moscow: KMK, 2011, pp. 165–200 However, at the same time that Baron Ungern was taking control of Urga, a Soviet-supported Communist Mongolian force led by Damdin Sükhbaatar was forming in Russia, and in March they crossed the border. Ungern and his men rode out in May to meet Red Russian and Red Mongolian troops, but suffered a disastrous defeat in June.Kuzmin, pp. 250–300
In July 1921, the Communist Soviet-Mongolian army became the second conquering force in six months to enter Urga, and Mongolia came under the control of Soviet Russia. On 29 October 1924, the town was renamed Ulaanbaatar. On the session of the 1st Great People's Khuraldaan of Mongolia in 1924, a majority of delegates had expressed their wish to change the capital city's name to Baghatur Khot (). However, under pressure from Turar Ryskulov, a Kazakh Soviet activist of the Comintern, the city was named Ulaanbaatar Khot ().Протоколы 1-го Великого Хуралдана Монгольской Народной Республики. Улан-Батор-Хото, 1925.
The Trans-Mongolian Railway, connecting Ulaanbaatar with Moscow and Beijing, was completed in 1956, and cinemas, theaters, museums and other modern facilities were erected. Most of the temples and monasteries of pre-socialist Khüree were destroyed following the anti-religious purges of the late 1930s. The Gandan monastery was reopened in 1944 when the U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace asked to see a monastery during his visit to Mongolia.
Since Mongolia's transition to a market economy in 1990, the city has experienced rapid growth. From a population of 535,000 in 1990, it had grown to 1 million inhabitants by 2007, and 1.5 million by 2021, or about half the entire country's population. Much of this rapid population rise is attributed to migration from rural areas, as herder families abandon their traditional lifestyles in search of opportunities in the city. Much of these new arrivals settle in without plumbing, sanitation, central heating, and basic services. This rise in population, including the formation of new settlement areas, has not been accompanied with appropriate investment in infrastructure and services, hampering development and causing a myriad of problems.
Ulaanbaatar was the scene of riots in 2008 after supporters of the opposition parties disputed the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party's claim of victory after the parliamentary elections. A four-day state of emergency was declared, the capital was placed under a curfew, and alcohol sales banned with no further riots taking place. This was the first deadly riot in modern Ulaanbaatar's history.
In April 2013, Ulaanbaatar hosted the 7th Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies, and has also lent its name to the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security.
Chinggis Khaan International Airport in south of Ulaanbaatar was opened to the public on 4 July 2021 as the main airport of the city.
Since the 2010s Ulaanbaatar has seen a construction boom filling the city with high-rise offices and apartment blocks.
The 2019 Mongolian government budget originally included items for the demolition of a number of historic neoclassical buildings in the heart of Ulaanbaatar, including the Natural History Museum, Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Drama Theatre and National Library. The decision was met by a public outcry and criticism from the Union of Mongolian Architects, which demanded that the buildings be preserved and restored. In January 2020, culture minister Yondonperenlein Baatarbileg denied that the government intended to demolish buildings other than the Natural History Museum, and stated that the government planned to renovate them instead.
The forests of the mountains surrounding Ulaanbaatar are composed of evergreen pines, deciduous larches and , while the riverine forest of the Tuul River is composed of broad-leaved, deciduous Populus, and . Ulaanbaatar lies at roughly the same latitude as Vienna, Munich, Orléans and Seattle. It lies at roughly the same longitude as Chongqing, Hanoi and Jakarta.
The city features brief, warm summers and long, bitterly cold and dry winters. The coldest January temperatures, usually at the time just before sunrise, are between with no wind, because of temperature inversion. Most of the annual precipitation of falls from May to September. The highest recorded annual precipitation in the city was at the Khureltogoot Astronomical Observatory on Bogd Khan Mountain. Ulaanbaatar has an average annual temperature of , making it the coldest capital in the world. Ulaanbaatar's annual average is brought down by its cold winter temperatures even though it is significantly warm from late April to early October.
The city lies in the zone of discontinuous permafrost, which means that building is difficult in sheltered locations that preclude thawing in the summer, but easier on more exposed ones where soils fully thaw. Suburban residents live in traditional that do not protrude into the soil. Extreme temperatures in the city range from in January 1957 to in July 1988.
Major landmarks include the Gandantegchinlen Monastery,"Documentation of Mongolian Monasteries" http://mongoliantemples.org/index.php/en/ the socialist monument complex at Zaisan Memorial with its views over the city, the Bogd Khan's Winter Palace, and the Choijin Lama Temple."Mongolia: Museum Highlights", San Francisco, 2005, p. 89 Mongolia's tallest building is the Shangri-La Hotel complex at 91.5 m.
Important shopping districts include the 3rd Microdistrict Boulevard (simply called Khoroolol or "the District"), Peace Avenue around the State Department Store (simply called Ikh Delguur or "Great Store") and the Narantuul Market area (simply called Zakh or "the Market").
Ulaanbaatar presently has multiple cinemas, one modern ski resort, two large indoor stadiums, several large department stores and one large amusement park. Food, entertainment and recreation venues are steadily increasing in variety.
Bogd Khan Uul, which dominates the south, is a strictly protected area with a length of and width of , covering an area of . Nature conservation dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries when the Toghrul of the Mongolian Ancient Keraites Aimag – who prohibited logging and hunting activities – claimed the Bogd Khan as a holy mountain. The ruins of Manjusri Monastery are located on the southern flank of Bogd Khan Mountain and is a popular destination for outings.
The National Amusement Park is an amusement park located in the downtown section, south of Shangri-La Hotel. It is also a popular place for young people to hang out. This small amusement park features rides, games and paddle boats. Its original Artificial Lake Castle was built in 1969.
The National Garden Park, in the southeastern outskirts of the city, opened in 2009 and has become a popular summer destination for residents. It has a total area of 55 hectares, with over 100,000 trees planted. The park is geared towards becoming an educational centre for healthy, responsible living as well as environmental education.
Other city parks, gardens or forests in the city are Bogd Khaan Memorial Garden, Korea-Mongolia Friendship Forest and Misheel Botanical Garden.
Two-thirds of the city's inhabitants live in , areas with inadequate infrastructure, sanitation, and public services.
64.6% of the population was reported to have been born in Ulaanbaatar. The Foreign born population was recorded as 17,456 in 2020.
According to the 2020 national census, 46.3% of the population over 15 years of age identified as being irreligious, while 53.7% identified as being religious, a decrease of 7.7 percentage points in religiosity since the 2010 census.
Of the people identifying as religious, responses included Buddhism (89.1%), Shamanism (5.4%), Christianity (3.3%), and Islam (0.9%). Muslims in Ulaanbaatar are mostly the ethnic Kazakhs minority who reside in Nalaikh.
Although administratively part of Ulaanbaatar, Nalaikh and Baganuur are separate cities. Bagakhangai and Baganuur are noncontiguous exclaves, the former located within the Töv Province, the latter on the border between Töv and Khentii Province provinces.
The garuḍa appears on Ulaanbaatar's emblem. In its right hand is a key, a symbol of prosperity and openness, and in its left is a Nelumbo flower, a symbol of peace, equality and purity. In its talons it is holding a snake, a symbol of evil of which it is intolerant. On the 's forehead is the soyombo symbol, which is featured on the flag of Mongolia. The city's flag is sky blue representing the Tngri and has the in the centre.
Ulaanbaatar (Urga) has been a key location where the economic history and wealth creation of the nation has played out. Unlike the highly mobile dwellings of herders nomadizing between winter and summer pastures, Urga was set up to be a semi-permanent residence of the high lama Zanabazar. It stood in one location (Khoshoo Tsaidam) from 1640 to 1654, an unusually long period of 15 years, before Zanabazar moved it east to the foot of Mount Saridag in the Khentii Mountains. Here he set about building a permanent monastery town with stone buildings. Urga stayed at Mount Saridag for a full 35 years and was indeed assumed to be permanent there when Oirats suddenly invaded the region in 1688 and burnt down the city. With a major part of his life's work destroyed, Zanabazar had to take the mobile portion of Urga and flee to Inner Mongolia.
More than half the wealth created in Urga in the period from 1639 to 1688 is thought to have been lost in 1688. Only in 1701 did Urga return to the region and start a second period of expansion, but it had to remain mobile until the end of the 70-year-long Dzungar-Qing Wars in 1757. After settling down in its current location in 1778, Urga saw sustained economic growth, but most of the wealth went to the Buddhist clergy, nobles as well as the temporary Shanxi merchants based in the eastern and western China-towns of Urga. There were numerous companies called puus (пүүс) and temple treasuries called jas (жас), which functioned as businesses, but none of these survived the Communist period. During the Mongolian People's Republic, private property was only marginally tolerated, while most assets were state-owned. The oldest companies still operating in Ulaanbaatar date to the early MPR. Only the Gandantegchinlen Monastery has been operating non-stop for 205 years (with a 6-year gap during World War II), but whether it can be seen as a business is still debated.
As Mongolia's main industrial centre, Ulaanbaatar produces a variety of consumer goods, and it is responsible for about two-thirds of Mongolia's total gross domestic product (GDP). "Economic Development in Mongolia". The Asia Foundation. Accessed 13 November 2016.
The transition to a market economy in 1990 has so far correlated with an increase in GDP, leading to a shift towards service industries (which now make up 43% of the city's GDP) along with rapid urbanization and population growth.
Mining is the second-largest contributor to Ulaanbaatar's GDP, at 25%. North of the city are several gold mines, including the Boroo Gold Mine, and foreign investment in the sector has allowed for growth and development. However, in light of a noticeable drop in GDP during the 2008 financial crisis, as demand for mining exports dropped, there has been movement towards diversifying the economy.
The Mongolian State Grand National Orchestra was established in 1945. It has the largest orchestra of traditional instruments in the country, with a repertoire going beyond national music, encompassing dozens of international musical pieces.
The Tumen Ekh Ensemble comprises artists who perform all types of Mongolian song, music and dance. They play traditional instruments, including the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), and perform Mongolian long song, epic and eulogy songs, a Shamanism ritual dance, an ancient palace dance and a Tsam mask dance.
The Morin Khuur Ensemble of Mongolia is part of the Mongolian State Philharmonic, based at Central Cultural Palace. It is a popular ensemble featuring the national string instrument, the morin khuur, and performs various domestic and international works.
Another is the Gandan Monastery, which dates to the 19th century. Its most famous attraction is a 26.5-meter-high golden statue of Migjid Janraisig.Kohn, pp. 63–64 These monasteries are among the very few in Mongolia to escape the wholesale destruction of Mongolian monasteries under Khorloogiin Choibalsan.
The National Museum of Mongolia includes exhibits from prehistoric times through the Mongol Empire to the present.Kohn, pp. 61, 66 The Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts has a large collection of Mongolian art, including works of the 17th-century sculptor/artist Zanabazar, as well as Mongolia's most famous painting, One Day In Mongolia by Marzan Sharav.Kohn, p. 61 The Mongolian Theatre Museum presents the history of the performing arts in Mongolia.
Pre-1778 artifacts that have never left the city since its founding include the Vajradhara statue made by Zanabazar himself in 1683 (the city's main deity, kept at the Vajradhara temple); an ornate throne presented to Zanabazar by the Kangxi Emperor (before 1723); a sandalwood hat presented to Zanabazar by the Dalai Lama (c. 1663); Zanabazar's large fur coat, also presented by the Kangxi Emperor; and a great number of original statues made by Zanabazar (e.g., the Green Tara).
The Mongolian Military Museum features two permanent exhibition halls, commemorating the war history of the country from prehistoric times to the modern era. In the first hall, one can see various tools and weapons from the Paleolithic age to the times of the Manchu people empire. The second hall showcases the modern history of the Mongolian military, from the Bogd Khan period (1911–1924) up until Mongolia's recent military involvement in peacekeeping operations.
The Ulaanbaatar City Museum offers a view of Ulaanbaatar's history through old maps and photos. Among the permanent items is a huge painting of the capital as it looked in 1912, showing major landmarks such as Gandan Monastery and the Green Palace. Part of the museum is dedicated to special photo exhibits that change frequently. The Mongolian Railway History Museum is an open-air museum that displays six types of locomotives used during a 65-year period of Mongolian rail history.
The International Intellectual Museum displays a comprehensive collection of complex wooden toys that visitors can assemble.
The Memorial Museum of Victims of Political Repression – dedicated to those fallen under the Communist purge that took the lives of over 32,000 statesmen, herders, scholars, politicians and lamas in the 1930s – told about one of the most tragic periods in Mongolia's 20th-century history. "Victims of Political Persecution Memorial Museum". , Attractions, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Asia. Lonely Planet. Retrieved 13 September 2022. The small building had fallen into serious disrepair and was demolished on 7 October 2019, despite public outcry in favor of renovation.
The American School of Ulaanbaatar and the International School of Ulaanbaatar are examples of Western-style K-12 education in English for Mongolian nationals and foreign residents.
The Metropolitan Central Library of Ulaanbaatar, sometimes also referred to as the Ulaanbaatar Public Library, is a public library with a collection of about 500,000 items. It has 232,097 annual users and a total of 497,298 loans per year. It does charge users a registration fee of 3800 to 4250 tugrik, or about US$1.06 to $1.18. The fees may be the result of operating on a budget under $176,000 per year. They also host websites on classical and modern Mongolian literature and food, in addition to providing free internet access.
In 1986, the Ulaanbaatar government created a centralized system for all public libraries in the city, known as the Metropolitan Library System of Ulaanbaatar (MLSU). This system coordinates management, acquisitions, finances and policy among public libraries in the capital, in addition to providing support to school and children's libraries. "The 800th Anniversary of Great Mongolian State. History". Other than the Metropolitan Central Library, the MLSU has four branch libraries. They are in Chingeltei (established in 1946), Khan-Uul District (established in 1948), Bayanzurkh District (established in 1968) and iSongino-Khairkhan District (established in 1991). There is also a Children's Central Library, which was established in 1979. "The 800th Anniversary of Great Mongolian State. Branches".
The American Center for Mongolian Studies (ACMS) operates a research library with 1,500 volumes related to Mongolia in numerous languages. It also hosts an online library that includes special reference resources and access to digital databases, including a digital book collection.
There is a Speaking Library at School #116 for the visually impaired, funded by the Zorig Foundation, and the collection is largely based on materials donated by Mongolian National Radio.
The Mongolia-Japan Center for Human Resources Development Mongolia-Japan Center for Human Resources Development maintains a library in Ulaanbaatar consisting of about 7,800 items, with a strong focus on both aiding Mongolians studying Japanese and books in Japanese about Mongolia. "Library".
Ulaanbaatar has hosted the 2019 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup the 2023 East Asian Youth Games, and the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup.
All Mongolian Premier League football teams play at the MFF Football Centre in Ulaanbataar, even those that don't represent Ulaanbataar.
In 2021, public transport usage totaled 147 million passengers, with 61% of the population using public transport.
In July 2015, a smart card system was rolled out for bus fare payments (U Money); previously the bus network had conductors from which tickets would be bought using cash. As of 2025, fares are 200₮ for children and 1,000₮ for adults.
Eight companies operate 372 official taxis within the city as of 2021, down from 566 official taxis in 2019. Usage of unofficial taxis and ride-sharing apps (UBCab) is common.
The city's traffic is concentrated around its main thoroughfares — Peace Avenue (Enkh Taivny örgön chölöö), Ikh Toiruu, Narnii Zam, and Chinggis Avenue ( Chinggisiin örgön chölöö).
Congestion is a major problem in Ulaanbaatar, with average peak hour driving speeds in the city being 8.9 km/h in 2021. In the same year, city residents spent an average of 2.5 hours a day stuck in traffic. Recent studies predict rush hour speeds plummeting to just 5 km/h by 2025. Another major problem is flooding, with only 16% of paved roads having a Drainage.
There are 6 helipads in the city.
In 2019, the government banned the burning of raw coal within Ulaanbaatar, instead distributing coke briquettes, claiming fuel efficiency and less smoke pollution. Results have been inconclusive since the switch to briquettes, though as of 2023 smoke is still a major concern in winter.
Sources of the pollution are mainly the simple stoves used for heating and cooking in the city's , but also the local coal-fueled power plants. The problem is compounded by Ulaanbaatar's location in a valley between relatively high mountains, which shield the city from the winter winds and thus obstruct air circulation.
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