Demography

The role of Women in Mongolian society

Wednesday, 04 January 2006 06:09 Mongoliana

50.5 per cent or 1,232,800 of Mongolia's population are women. 61,300 women of them head the family. The educational achievement of women is improving year by year. To date, 11 per cent of Mongolian parliament members, 9.1 per cent of deputy ministers, 16.9 per cent of chiefs of agencies and organisations, 4.5 per cent of presidiums of Citizens' Representative Meetings of cities and aimags and 3.3 per cent of governors of aimag and districts are women. In recent years, the percentage of tertiary educated women has increased from 55.0 per cent to 65.4 per cent.

The National Programme for Advancement of Mongolian Women (NPAW) adopted by the Government in 1996 represented progress in advancing women's status in Mongolia. Also a National Programme to Satisfy Gender Equity will be implemented from 2003 until 2020 to build a comfortable environment'so that women can equally participate in social development and equally receive the fruits of social growth. As for employment, 64.5 per cent of workers in educational sector, 71.3 per cent of workers in the social welfare sector and 63 per cent of judges are women.

In secondary education,the gross enrolment rate for girls is 20.0 percent higher than for boys, while in tertiary education women now account for 70.0 percent of all students. The unemployment level of women stood at 18.2 per cent as of the 2000 population census. Mongolia has joined around 20 international agreements on Human Rights and one is the UN Convention on eliminating all forms of discrimination towards women. There are over 50 non-government women organizations in Mongolia including Ulaanbaatar women soviet, which has 85 years history.

Care for Children and Youth in Mongolia

Wednesday, 04 January 2006 06:06 Mongoliana

As of the population census 2000, 46.6 per cent of the Mongolian population consists of children under 18. Mongolia has joined international legal documents regarding the protection of children's rights. A law on the protection of children's rights was passed in 1996. In the current decade, educational programmes have been implemented which have had substantial effects and improvements for educational services and protection of children's right to education. School age children cover 21 per cent of Mongolia's population.

There are many organisations for children, including Mongolian Scout Union, Mongolian Youth Union, "One World-Adolescents" and Red Cross of Youth, International Children's Camp "Nairamdal" as well as other local organisations. The Children's Book Palace is inaugurated in Ulaanbaatar in May, 2003. The Scout Association of Mongolia is the biggest youth NGO in the country. At the present there are 9000 scout members and more than 56,000 young people have gone through the scout ranks. Over the last eight years about 10000.

Mongolian youths have participated in several international scout activities, such as international camps, Jamborees, Youth Forums, exchange programs and scout gatherings in 22 different countries. Beginning in 2002, a National Programme to Improve Development and Protection of Children is being implemented, which runs until 2002-2010 in three stages.

Youth

About 40 per cent of Mongolia's population is between 16-35. In forthcoming 25-30 years, Mongolia is expected to be in the top 15 countries with the highest percentage of young people in its population. 98.2 per cent of total youth are literate, 33.5 per cent are in primary education, 48.6 per cent in secondary school education, and 16.8 per cent in vocational and tertiary. Every year 50,000-60,000 youths transfer to the labour market. Over 15,000 youths, who just graduated from the secondary school, are registered in the labour markets.

According to the Ministry for Education, Culture and Science, 35 per cent of youth aged 18-22 attend the tertiary education and a total of 56,906 students study at state-owned and private universities, institutes and colleges. 34,706 or 60.9 per cent of those are female students and the rest, 22,200 or 39.1 per cent, are male. 12,177 students study in vocational or technical schools. Mongolian young adults commonly marry between 20-24 .

Housing and Community Service in Mongolia

Wednesday, 04 January 2006 06:04 Mongoliana

The urbanization process intensified from the 1960s in Mongolia and today, 57 per cent of the population or 1.345.000 citizens, live in Ulaanbaatar and 43 per cent live in rural areas. 49.1 per cent of the population lives in 265.500 apartments, covering 6878 thousand square meters. 50.5 per cent of population lives in ger districts. The square per capita living in apartment is 6.7 quadrate meters in Ulaanbaatar and 56 quadrate meters in rural areas, which are lower than the international standard by twice. 81.6 per cent of households with apartments live in private houses and 16.6 per cent live in state-owned apartments. 67.3 per cent of the total Mongolian households, comprising 94.5 per cent of Ulaanbaatar households and 34.3 per cent of rural households, have been linked to the energy source, 44.4 per cent of total households live in an apartment with centralized heating.

54.8 per cent of Ulaanbaatar citizens live in apartments with centralized heating, while 2.5 per cent of rural citizens live in apartments with centralized heating. 39.8 per cent of the total households live in apartments with cold and hot water. As of the population and housing census in 2000, about 18.000 households live in apartments sharing with others as they have no apartments. Every year about 10.000 couples got married, which increases the number of households without apartments. Therefore, it is a necessary to build apartments covering over 800.000 square meters in order to provide for households without apartments. It requires investment worth 150-220 billion tugrigs. In 2003, the 2000 apartments was commissioned and number of the commissioned apartments was increased by almost 7 times compared with the previous year. In the same year, number of pumps and transport means for distribution of the water supply were increased by 85 and 17.003, and reached 883 and 232.037 respectively.

The Asian Development Bank- funded Loan Project for housing, now being implemented, supports the building of stable housing structures in Mongolia. The project is implemented by Golomt Bank and it has been authorized to issue loans worth 31 million tugrugs in the first stage of the project. The Citizens' Representatives Meeting of Ulaanbaatar launched 2003 as the "Year of Investment and Construction". Construction worth 94 billion togrogs will be carried out throughout the city during the year with a focus on building apartments. The Kyokushuzan a development foundation built 1000 apartments and Tsast Impex company is building the "New Morning" apartment complex. In additional, 1400 flats will be built in the Moscow district. A model residential district in the Rail Road area is built by the joint Mongolian-Chinese Bogda Holding company. Three apartment blocks to house 1,088 families will be finished soon in the area. At present 83,650 state owned apartments and 500 apartments owned by some organisations were privatised free of charge. Also there was decided to privatise over 8,500 apartments owned by the Ulaanbaatar railway.

Health sector in Mongolia

Wednesday, 04 January 2006 05:57 Mongoliana

Modern health services in Mongolia have been developed since 1921. From 1940s the health infrastructure has expanded rapidly thoroughly country under the influence of the Soviet Union and modelled on a strong central planning process. This includes such features as the use of feldshers as paramedical personnel among scattered populations, along with a high degree of specialisation of physicians, with no category of general or family practitioner. More recently, renewed interest has also emerged in traditional medicine based on a revival of Buddhist beliefs and practices, fresh emphasis on all traditions as they represent Mongolia identity.

The population health status was dramatically improved in Mongolia through 20th century. Within this period of time infant mortality had decreased by 16 times, while maternal mortality had experienced almost a 100-fold decline, and such communicable diseases as louse-born epidemic typhus, genital lymphgranulomatosis, smallpox and poliomyelitis were eradicated, predetermining an almost four-fold increase in population number, and improvement in population health. Although such profound changes have been associated with a number of socio-economic factors, they have been unbreakably bound to the contemporary science-based health sector development in Mongolia, while the first hospital was established only in 1924 with 3 health workers and 15 beds.

Before the 1990s the health system was state owned, and centrally run with financing from general government revenues. Health care was free of charge at the point of delivery. The system was very much reliant on curative services, very resource intensive, based upon high bed numbers and large numbers of medical personnel. Despite many achievements, including improved equity and access to health care and control of communicable diseases, there were weaknesses, including low efficiency and a lack of sensitivity to consumers' rights. The acute economic distress associated with the transition after 1990 severely affected the health sector. The system experienced a major loss of resources which led to some inevitable deterioration of health services.

However, the Mongolian government has not reduced its policy commitment to the equitable provision of services and it has re-assessed its strategies in the light of experiences of transition. Therefore, the health sector ownership and financing has been diversified, a health insurance scheme and a policy shift towards greater emphasis on primary health care has been introduced in the early 1990s. In accordance with the recent amendment in the Health Insurance Law, the Scheme covers some outpatient services and hospital services, however the insured make co-payments from 5-15 per cent depending on the level of hospitals.

The family group practice (FGP) model was introduced in 1998 by the Health Sector Development Program with the support of ADB to provide primary health services free of charge to the population. Family doctors were reorganised into private group practices, with guarantees of income through risk-adjusted capitation payments from the government. In 2003 the FGPs covered 56 per cent of the Mongolian population, and were employing about 940 family doctors. The National Public Health Policy was adopted in 2001, establishing a long-term framework for public health. The health status of the people in Mongolia is relatively better than that of an average low-income country. There have been improvements in child mortality in spite of the difficulties of transition.

Infant mortality fell from 49.03 to 31.1 per thousand live births between 2000 and 2003. Maternal mortality has been relatively stable at about 161 per 100,000 live births over the last decade and it reached the lowest rate of 109 in 2003. Mongolia historically has a strong commitment to immunization which is evident from the high coverage rates (over 90 per cent for tuberculosis, DPT, measles, hepatitis B, and polio). The country is undergoing an epidemiological transition characterised by a decline in communicable diseases and a rise in non-communicable diseases in total mortality. The leading causes of mortality from 1995 up to the present are diseases of the circulatory system, cancer, accident and injuries.

Despite successful efforts, the health sector is facing problems related to the deepened marginalisation of some of the population, internal migration and the number of homeless people as well as poor living conditions which are causing the increase of poverty-related diseases such as TB and STDs. In addition, there are problems of unequal health status and access to health services between the rural and urban populations, and between different income groups. The health sector comprises of 17 specialised hospitals and centres, 4 regional diagnostic and treatment centres, 12 district and 21 aimag general hospitals, 323 soum hospitals, 18 feldsher posts, 233 family group practices, and 536 private hospitals and 57 drug supply companies/pharmacies.

A large portion of the health budget is still spent on curative services. There are weaknesses in hospital services: inefficiency, patient dissatisfaction, outdated treatment protocols and equipment. Since January 2003 the government started to implement the Public Sector Management and Finance Act, a new phase of health system organisation and financing with output-based funding. The successful implementation of the new regulations is an immediate challenge to increase cost-effectiveness and greater responsibility of health organisations in the country. Investment in the medical sector increased and 33 hospitals were built in 2002-2003 on the state budget.

A complex set of actions was taken to reduce maternal mortality and strengthen child and mother health care. Obstetric equipment increased 4 fold and special rooms for mothers-to-be have started to operate on regular basis. Accreditation of medical workers and medical organisations has also been carried out. The state-run medical institutions were involved in accreditation in 2003 and private medical establishments were covered at the end of 2003. 20.8 per cent or 115 private clinics were accredited. Over 500 million tugrigs have been spent since 2000 to renew medical technology. Rate of infectious disease is reducing. No incidence of bacterial meningitis among children has been registered since 1996.

Social Welfare in Mongolia

Wednesday, 04 January 2006 05:51 Mongoliana

An extensive system of social protection existed in pre-reform Mongolia, characterized by features typical to a centrally planned economy, including price subsidies; generous pension benefits and family allowances; universal free health care and education etc. The structure of social welfare reformed in recent years. On January 1,1995, Laws that reformed the social insurance system came into effect. As outlined in the Social Insurance Law, fund comprising pensions, benefits, compensation for job-related accidents, and unemployment funds were established.

The existing social welfare system in Mongolia is made up of the following elements:

State Social Welfare Agency
Social welfare and service centres in 9 districts of Ulaanbaatar and 21 aimags
Social welfare officers working in 340 soums
State and aimag level nursing homes (the elderly, disabled people and orphans) and sanatoriums for the elderly.

Currently, over 720 personnel are employed at various levels of the social welfare sector in Mongolia. Pension insurance is the largest of the social welfare programs. It provides monthly cash benefits to participating workers who have retired or become disabled and to the survivors of participating workers who have died. Workers must contribute for not less than 20 years to be eligible for full retirement benefits. Normally, men must be 60 years old to receive benefits, whereas women can receive benefits beginning at age 55.

The legislation adopted in 1999 provided for a new way of computing pensions for workers born after 1960. Under this new approach, the amount that each worker contributes for retirement benefits is accumulated with interest in that worker's individual account. To date, 14,000 employers, 545,900 individuals (83,500 of which are volunteers) pay insurance fees. Along with this, 91.4 per cent of the Mongolian population has been involved in health insurance. Insurance fees for 1.4 million of the population are granted by the government, which spends annually 90.3 million tugrigs on pensions and treatment of insurance fee payers.

Prior to the recent reforms, pensions were paid by the state budget of Mongolia. However, the Parliament passed fundamental guidelines on the reforms for pension to be followed until 2021. In this context, measures to introduce the pension insurance' accounts as the first stage of reform for pensions is now undertaken. A social welfare service, a part of social security, has two basic directions; social welfare and care services for social vulnerable groups. There were five laws on the social welfare pensions and care services in Mongolia. Those were renewed, amended and passed by the parliament of Mongolia in 1998 and came into effect of January 1, 1999.

The state social welfare organization has had today's joint structure; State Social Welfare Office, Social Welfare Centres in districts, social welfare and care service centres in aimags and social workers in soums, with a total of 830 employees. In 2003 the social welfare pensions fund increased by 20 percent and social welfare allowances by 15 percent. Form March 1,2004 the allowance for those caring for children increased by 20 percent to 12,420 tugrigs a month . The Government decided to establish, from February 1,2004 onwards, the minimum compensation granted from the social insurance fund to be 32.000 tugrigs per month. 6.164 people will be covered by compensation system in 2004. The value of compensation payments is now 2,9 times higher than in 1999.

Over the past 4 years the Government has increased pensions from the social insurance fund by 44 percent and child benefits by 3 8 per cent. A project Social Welfare Sector Development Program will be implemented for five years. The project will be financed with loan worth at $16 million. $8 million of that is intended to spend for making policy reforms in social welfare sector and another $8 million has been projected for modification of structure and services of social welfare organizations.

The Government intends to make the protection of the poor consistent with the market economy through promoting such employment-generating activities as the establishment of local enterprise promotion centres; the creation of income-generating and employment opportunities for women; development of small-and medium-sized enterprises for processing and marketing of agricultural products; restocking the herds of poor families, who do not have an adequate number of livestock etc., Under existing legislation, the minimal subsistence level of the population should be determined at least once a year. According to information released at the end of April, 2003, the lowest subsistence level was established at 19.500 tugrugs for the western region, at 20.500 tugrugs for eastern, at 29.800 tugrugs for the central regions and at 25.300 tugrugs for Ulaanbaatar.

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