Mongolia's open database of resource wealth

Glossary

The economic, financial, social and governance terms used on this site: what each one is, how it is measured, what it shows and what it does not.

Anywhere on the site, press a word with a dotted underline, or a “?” button, to read what it means.

The economy

Dutch disease

When a resource boom makes a country's other industries less competitive.

What it is: A boom brings in foreign currency, which strengthens the national currency and pushes up wages and prices. Farming, manufacturing and tourism then find it harder to sell abroad, and the economy leans even more on the resource. The name comes from the Netherlands after its gas discoveries in the 1960s.
How it is measured: During booms, watch the real exchange rate, the share of manufacturing and agriculture in GDP and exports, and wage growth outside mining.
What it shows: Why a boom can leave a country less diversified.
What it does not show: That the boom was not worth having. Saving part of the income abroad, as Norway does, softens the effect.
Example: When coal exports surge, the tögrög can strengthen, making Mongolian cashmere and meat dearer abroad.

GDP per person(GDP per capita)

GDP divided by the number of people.

What it is: A rough average of how much economic output there is for each resident.
How it is measured: GDP ÷ population. Compared in US dollars at market exchange rates (nominal) or adjusted for price differences (PPP).
What it shows: Whether a country is broadly rich or poor, and how that changes over time.
What it does not show: What a typical person actually earns. The average can rise while most people see no change, if the gain goes to a few people, to foreign owners, or comes from digging up resources that will not come back.
Example: Mongolia's GDP per person was about US$7,060 in 2025 (IMF), but this number says nothing about how much of it reached households.

Gross domestic product(GDP)

The value of everything produced inside a country in a year.

What it is: GDP adds up the market value of all goods and services produced within a country's borders in one year, no matter who owns the company that produced them.
How it is measured: Usually: consumption + investment + government spending + exports − imports. National statistics offices calculate it; the IMF and World Bank publish comparable figures in US dollars.
What it shows: The size of an economy and how fast it is growing.
What it does not show: Who receives the income. A mine owned by foreigners adds to GDP in full even when its profits leave the country. GDP also ignores inequality, unpaid work and the using up of resources that will not come back.
Example: Oyu Tolgoi's copper counts in full in Mongolia's GDP, but 66% of the mine's profits belong to Rio Tinto.

Gross national income(GNI)

The income that belongs to a country's residents, wherever it is earned.

What it is: GNI starts from GDP, adds the income residents earn abroad, and subtracts the income paid to foreigners: profits sent home by foreign owners, interest paid to foreign lenders, and wages of foreign workers.
How it is measured: GNI = GDP + income received from abroad − income paid abroad. Per person: GNI ÷ population.
What it shows: How much of what is produced actually stays as income for the country. A big gap below GDP means a lot of money flows out.
What it does not show: How that income is shared among people inside the country.
Example: In 2025 Mongolia's GNI was about 89% of its GDP (World Bank): roughly US$2.8 billion, or 11% of output, left the country as net income paid abroad. A country whose fund owns assets abroad can have GNI above GDP.

Purchasing power parity(PPP)

An adjustment so that incomes are compared by what they can actually buy.

What it is: A dollar buys more in Ulaanbaatar than in Oslo. PPP converts incomes using price levels instead of market exchange rates, so comparisons reflect real buying power.
How it is measured: The International Comparison Program prices a common basket of goods and services in each country; the ratio of prices gives the PPP rate. Figures are expressed in 'international dollars' of a base year, such as 2021 PPP $.
What it shows: Living standards more fairly than market exchange rates, especially between rich and poor countries.
What it does not show: Exact prices for any one person or city. The basket is an average and is revised every few years.
Example: The UN income figures on the 'Your share' page are in 2021 PPP dollars. That is why Mongolia's income per person there (US$14,787) is higher than its GDP per person at market rates.

Resource curse

The pattern where resource-rich countries grow slower or are governed worse than expected.

What it is: Large resource income can weaken institutions, feed corruption, crowd out other industries and make budgets swing with commodity prices. It is a tendency, not a law: Norway, Botswana and Chile show it can be avoided.
How it is measured: Researchers compare growth, conflict, democracy and corruption across countries against how dependent they are on resources.
What it shows: The risks that come with resource wealth, and why rules for managing it matter.
What it does not show: That resources are bad. Outcomes depend on institutions and choices.
Example: Mongolia's budget rises and falls with coal and copper prices. A fund that saves windfalls is one standard protection.

Resource rent

The profit from a natural resource above its costs and a normal return.

What it is: When copper sells for far more than it costs to dig up, including a fair return on the investment, the surplus is the rent. It exists because nature made the deposit, not because of anyone's effort, which is why many countries treat it as belonging to the public.
How it is measured: Rent = (world price − cost of extraction, including a normal return on capital) × quantity. The World Bank estimates total natural resource rents as a share of GDP.
What it shows: How much of an economy comes from nature rather than from work and capital, and so how much is available to share.
What it does not show: Who captures the rent. It can go to the state, to citizens, to companies, or abroad.
Example: In 2019 natural resource rents were about 16% of Mongolia's GDP, against 7% in Norway and 43% in Kuwait (World Bank).

People's lives

Gini coefficient(Gini)

A number from 0 to 100 measuring how unequally income or consumption is shared.

What it is: 0 means everyone has the same; 100 means one person has everything. Most countries fall between 25 and 60.
How it is measured: Line people up from poorest to richest and plot the share of total income held by each growing share of people (the Lorenz curve). The Gini is the gap between that curve and a line of perfect equality, as a share of the whole area. In Mongolia it is calculated from household surveys of consumption.
What it shows: Overall inequality in one number that can be compared across countries and years.
What it does not show: Where the inequality sits (top, middle or bottom), wealth as opposed to income, or the level of income: a poor country can be very equal.
Example: Mongolia's Gini is 31.4, more equal than Chile (43.0) or Botswana (53.3) (UNDP, latest year 2010–2023).

Human Development Index(HDI)

A UN score from 0 to 1 combining health, education and income.

What it is: The HDI was created so that countries are judged by people's lives, not only by output. It averages three things: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
How it is measured: Three parts: life expectancy at birth; mean and expected years of schooling; GNI per person (PPP, on a log scale). Each is scaled from 0 to 1, and the HDI is their geometric mean. Published yearly by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
What it shows: Whether wealth is turning into longer lives and more education.
What it does not show: Inequality inside the country, safety, freedom, or the environment.
Example: Mongolia scored 0.747 in 2023, above Botswana (0.731) and below Chile (0.878) (UNDP).

Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index(IHDI)

The HDI after discounting for how unequally health, education and income are shared.

What it is: If everyone had the same life expectancy, schooling and income, the IHDI would equal the HDI. The more unequal a country, the further the IHDI falls below it. The gap, called the 'loss', is the cost of inequality.
How it is measured: Each part of the HDI is discounted by its inequality (using the Atkinson measure), then combined. Loss (%) = (HDI − IHDI) ÷ HDI.
What it shows: How much of a country's development the average person actually enjoys.
What it does not show: Inequality between regions or groups specifically. It is missing where survey data is not available, including several Gulf states.
Example: Mongolia loses 13.4% of its HDI to inequality: less than Chile (17.7%) or Botswana (30.4%), more than Norway (6.3%) (UNDP, 2023).

Life expectancy at birth

How many years a newborn would live if today's death rates stayed the same.

What it is: It sums up the health of a whole population in one number. It is not a forecast for any one person.
How it is measured: Take this year's death rates at every age and calculate how long a baby born now would live on average if those rates never changed. Published by the UN Population Division and national statistics offices.
What it shows: Health care, nutrition, safety and living conditions taken together.
What it does not show: The quality of life in those years, or differences between groups. In Mongolia, women live much longer than men.
Example: A child born in Mongolia can expect 71.7 years; in Norway 83.3 and in Saudi Arabia 78.7 (UNDP, 2023).

Mean years of schooling

The average number of years adults aged 25 and over have spent in education.

What it is: It measures the education already built up among adults: the stock of skills a country has today.
How it is measured: From censuses and surveys: the average years of completed education among people aged 25 and older.
What it shows: How well a country has educated its workforce over past decades.
What it does not show: Quality: a year of school does not teach the same everywhere. It also changes slowly, so it reflects past policy more than current policy.
Example: Mongolian adults have 9.4 years of schooling on average, against 13.1 in Norway and 7.6 in Kuwait (UNDP, 2023).

Poverty rate

The share of people living below a set poverty line.

What it is: A poverty line is the minimum income or consumption needed for basic needs. The poverty rate is the share of people below it.
How it is measured: Each country sets its national line from the cost of a basic basket of food and other needs; in Mongolia the National Statistics Office measures it with the Household Socio-Economic Survey. International lines, such as US$3 a day in 2021 PPP, allow comparison between countries.
What it shows: How many people lack the basics.
What it does not show: How far below the line people are, or how many are just above it. National lines differ, so national rates cannot be compared directly between countries.
Example: 27.1% of Mongolians lived below the national poverty line in 2022 (BTI 2026).

Companies and money

Dividend

The part of a company's profit paid out to its shareholders.

What it is: When a company makes a profit, its board can decide to pay part of it to the owners, in proportion to the shares each holds.
How it is measured: Dividend per share = total dividend ÷ number of shares. Your dividend = dividend per share × your shares, minus tax (10% for individuals in Mongolia).
What it shows: How much cash the owners actually receive.
What it does not show: The company's full value, or the taxes it already paid. A company can be profitable and still pay no dividend, for example while it repays loans.
Example: Holders of 1,072 Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi shares received MNT 350,008 before tax for 2024. Oyu Tolgoi has paid the state no dividend in 17 years.

Free carried interest

A stake in a project that the state receives without paying for it.

What it is: Instead of borrowing to buy its share, the state is 'carried': the company pays all the costs and the state still receives its share of dividends. Many countries use it alongside taxes.
How it is measured: Written into the law or the contract as a fixed percentage. The investor takes the cost into account when deciding to invest.
What it shows: A way for the state to own a share without taking on debt.
What it does not show: Control. Carried stakes are often small and come with limited voting rights.
Example: Tanzania's 2017 mining law requires a free carried stake of at least 16% for the state in mining projects.

Net profit

What is left of revenue after all costs, interest and taxes.

What it is: The bottom line. Net profit belongs to the shareholders; the company can pay it out as dividends or keep it to invest.
How it is measured: Revenue − operating costs − depreciation − interest − income tax = net profit.
What it shows: Whether a company earned money for its owners in a given year.
What it does not show: The taxes and royalties already paid to the state, which come out before profit. Profit can also be lowered on paper through high internal costs or interest paid to related companies.
Example: Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi's net profit fell from MNT 4.5 trillion in 2024 to about MNT 1.1 trillion in 2025 as coal prices dropped.

Royalty

A payment to the state for the right to extract a resource, usually a share of the value sold.

What it is: Minerals belong to the people, so a miner pays for every tonne it takes out. Royalties are paid whether or not the company makes a profit, which makes them a reliable source of state income.
How it is measured: Royalty = sales value × royalty rate. Mongolia charges a base rate of 5% on most minerals, plus an extra rate when prices are high.
What it shows: The state's guaranteed cut of every tonne sold.
What it does not show: Whether the deal as a whole is fair. Profit taxes and dividends matter too.
Example: The Savings Fund receives special royalties from private mining companies, as well as state dividends.

Sales revenue

All the money a company takes in from selling its products, before any costs.

What it is: The top line of a company's accounts. Large revenue does not mean large profit.
How it is measured: Quantity sold × price received, added up over the year.
What it shows: The size of a business.
What it does not show: Whether it makes money, or how much reaches the owners, the state or citizens.
Example: Erdenet had record sales revenue of MNT 4.6 trillion in 2025.

Shareholder loan

A loan from one owner to another to pay its share of a project's costs.

What it is: When a state owns part of a mine but does not put in its share of the money, the partner lends it, with interest. The loan and interest are repaid from the state's share of the mine's cash before the state receives any dividend.
How it is measured: Each year interest is added to the balance, and repayments come out of the dividends the state would otherwise receive. High interest or high costs can push dividends decades away.
What it shows: Why a large ownership stake can produce little cash for years.
What it does not show: Royalties and taxes, which are paid regardless.
Example: Mongolia owns 34% of Oyu Tolgoi, but its stake was funded by loans; dividends are now expected around 2037.

State-owned enterprise(SOE)

A company the state owns in full or in majority.

What it is: It lets the state run a business directly and keep its profit, instead of only taxing private firms. Results depend heavily on governance: who appoints the board, how open the accounts are, and whether politics drives decisions.
How it is measured: Measured by the state's share of the company. In Mongolia many are held through the holding company Erdenes Mongol.
What it shows: Where the state is a business owner, not only a regulator.
What it does not show: Whether ordinary citizens benefit. That depends on how the profits are used and reported.
Example: Erdenet is 100% state-owned. Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi is 73.5% held by Erdenes Mongol and 26.4% by citizens.

Resource governance

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative(EITI)

A global standard requiring countries to publish what mining, oil and gas companies pay and what governments receive.

What it is: Companies report what they paid, the government reports what it received, and an independent administrator compares the two. Mongolia was one of the early countries to join.
How it is measured: Annual reports match company payments against government receipts, and disclose contracts, licences and the real owners of companies.
What it shows: Whether the money mining companies pay actually arrives in the budget.
What it does not show: Whether the terms were fair, or whether the money was spent well.
Example: Mongolia's EITI reports are among the main public sources for what each mine pays.

Investment agreement

A contract between the state and an investor that sets the rules for a large project.

What it is: It can fix tax rates, ownership, financing and dispute rules for decades, so the investor knows what to expect. Its terms decide how the value of a deposit is split.
How it is measured: Negotiated by the government; in Mongolia large agreements are meant to be approved by Parliament. Fairness is judged by the state's total share of the value over the life of the project.
What it shows: The rules that decide who gets what from a deposit.
What it does not show: How the rules work out in practice: costs, prices and loan rates can change the real split a lot.
Example: The 2009 Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement aimed for a 53% state benefit; according to the National Security Council, 25–31% was received over 17 years.

Savings Fund

The part of Mongolia's wealth fund that holds an account for every citizen.

What it is: Money from state mining dividends and special royalties is credited to each citizen's personal account. It is meant for housing, education and healthcare, and cannot be used until 2030.
How it is measured: By law it receives 34% of the dividends the state gets from state-owned mining companies, plus special royalties. You can see your balance in E-Mongolia.
What it shows: Each Mongolian's direct, personal share of resource wealth.
What it does not show: The much larger sums that go to the state budget as taxes, which also reach citizens through public services.
Example: The average account held about US$49 in December 2025 (GlobalSWF).

Sovereign wealth fund

A state-owned investment fund, often built from resource income.

What it is: It turns a resource that will run out into financial assets that can last indefinitely. A fund can save for future generations, steady the budget when prices fall, or pay citizens directly.
How it is measured: Size is measured by the assets it manages. Its usefulness is judged by how much it pays into the budget or to citizens each year, and how independent and transparent it is.
What it shows: Whether resource wealth is being saved or spent.
What it does not show: Whether the money reaches people. A fund can grow while citizens see nothing until its rules allow withdrawals.
Example: Norway's fund pays for about 27% of its 2026 budget. Mongolia's Chinggis Khaan Sovereign Wealth Fund holds citizens' Savings Fund accounts.