Mongolia: Road to Capitalism

For most people Mongolia is synonymous with the vast steppe, galloping horses and nomadic felt tents. Reality is less idyllic. In the least populated country of the world, about half of the 2.6 million inhabitants live on the countryside. It's a hard life, where cattle-breeding is the most important, and often the only, source of income.

More and more shepherds give up their nomadic way of life as their stock were thinned out for various reason. In search for another job, they head to the city, where they often lead a marginal existence in poverty. The clusters of tents that grow on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar have nothing to do with shepherd romanticism, but simply remind of slums. In a short period of time, the population of the capital doubled to more than one million people. Alcoholism, prostitution and street children are relatively new phenomenon that emerged after the fall of communism.