Premier reports on population resettlement and urban development

During Parliament’s Friday session, Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh held a briefing about the current issues of the country’s population resettlement and urban development.

U.Khurelsukh said, “The situation of rural-to-urban migration in Mongolia has been intensifying due to climate change and natural disasters that occurred in recent years.”

He noted the country should carry a robust policy based on a right path for the nation’s population resettlement and urban development.

“Particularly, air pollution and soil contamination in Ulaanbaatar is expected to worsen. We need to pay more attention to improving living conditions and increasing employment in other cities and rural areas in order to mitigate the overconcentration of population in the capital,” said the prime minister.

He emphasized that climate change is increasing the risk of natural disasters, including droughts and dzud in Mongolia.

U.Khurelsukh pointed out that as nearly 600,000 people lost their livestock to dzud in past decades, most of them migrated to Ulaanbaatar.

He added that supporting herders who have lost their livestock to dzud and other natural disasters to address rural-to-urban migration resulting in increased air pollution in Ulaanbaatar is crucial.

The premier noted that nearly 66 percent of the country’s total population lives in cities.