Why Mongolia Is So Empty

Imagine a country larger than Germany, France, and Italy combined, yet with fewer people

than many global cities. This is Mongolia, one of the emptiest countries on Earth.

But why does such a vast land remain so sparsely populated? The answer lies in geography,

history, climate, and now, technology. Mongolia sits between

Russia and China, far from oceans, trade routes, and dense urban networks.

Over sixty percent of its land is desert, dominated by the Gobi, while much of the

rest is harsh steppe and mountains. Winters here are brutal, with temperatures

dropping below minus forty degrees Celsius, making large scale farming almost impossible. For centuries,