Urban poverty and in-migration in the capital of Mongolia

Solongo Algaa, Mongolian National University

This paper highlights the main findings of a 2003 survey on urban poverty and in-migration in Ulaanbaatar. The survey covering 1500 randomly selected households. The main objectives of the survey are to determine the living standards of the population in Ulaanbaatar based on their consumption expenditures and to study the compexity of poverty and in-migration. Alternative poverty measures based on concepts of capabilities and social deprivation are presented. We analyze how they link with more traditional poverty measures based on expenditure. 1/3 of the Ulaanbaatar population lives below the poverty line. 1/10 are very poor. Poverty is higher in Ger areas and among migrants. Migrants are not poorer because they are migrants, they are poor because they have lower education levels, for example. Migrants seem to face the same opportunities that the non-migrants face, their problem seems to be that they lack some qualifications in a bit greater extent than the non-migrants.