Mongolia is a giant land of open plains and mountains, but it has so few people that you could travel for miles without seeing a single neighbor!
Mongolia is a massive country in Central Asia, about three times the size of France. However, despite its giant size, it has very few people living in it compared to how much space there is.
On average, Mongolia has only about 2 people for every square kilometer (about 5 people per square mile). To give you an idea of how empty that is, a crowded city like Macau has over 20,000 people in that same amount of space! If everyone in Mongolia spread out evenly, you would have a huge park all to yourself.
Most of Mongolia is covered by vast grassy plains (steppes), high mountains, and the freezing Gobi Desert. The weather can be extreme, with very hot summers and incredibly cold winters. Because much of the land is not good for farming, many people live as nomads, moving their animals from place to place, which requires a lot of open space.
While the country is mostly empty, nearly half of the entire population lives in just one place: the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. Outside of the capital, the land remains a quiet, beautiful wilderness where nature still rules.
Mongolia is the least densely populated independent country in the world. Its giant size and small population mean there is more "elbow room" there than anywhere else on the planet.
