The National Statistical Office of Mongolia (NSO) has been conducting the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) since 1966. It merged the HIES and the Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) in July, 2007 under the title of Household Socio-Economic Survey (HSES), and has been conducting this HSES survey since then. The HSES selects a total of 11,232 households in Mongolia on a sampling basis annually, collects and studies indicators with respect to age, race, education, employment of household members as well as indicators related to household income and consumption expenditure. 

The NSO has been actively cooperating with the World Bank towards strengthening the capacity of the statistical staff, improving the methodology used to estimate living standards and poverty of the population, defining the methodology that can realistically demonstrate changes in the livelihood of the Mongolian population, and jointly estimating their outcomes. 

Under this framework, we are jointly announcing poverty estimates that are benchmarked against one base year, which provides an opportunity to assess changes in people’s livelihood.  This estimation is not only an improvement in methodology but also provides a common understanding of poverty numbers in Mongolia.

Currently, the NSO is estimating poverty indicators at the national, regional, and location level and is working towards the goal of estimating aimag level poverty indicators starting from 2014 by increasing the sample size of the HSES in order to create useful and accessible information and data for the statistical users. Estimation of poverty indicators in aimag, capital city, regional and national levels will be important information and a contribution to evaluate the country’s development plan and the implications of the policy and programs implemented by the state.