Mongolia’s capital city, Ulan Bator, is a dangerously polluted city but the main cause is not industry but coal ovens in the Mongolian tents that house the majority of the population.
In recent years, Ulan Bator doubled its population of 1.2 million although Mongolia is still world’s least-densely populated country with only three million inhabitants with the territory size three times that of France.
Tens of thousands of nomads who came from the steppes seeking work set up their traditional houses called yurts in the suburbs.
Pollution in Ulan Bator is seasonal. In winter, the temperature drops to minus 30 and pollution in some parts of the city goes up to 2,000 micrograms.
In Mongolia the pollution problem is escalated through poverty. Lower-class residents often use old tires and various waste instead of coal boxes which produces toxic smoke.