Description

GEO1_MN identifies the household's province (aimag) within Mongolia in all sample years. Provinces are the first level administrative units of the country. GEO1_MN is spatially harmonized to account for political boundary changes across census years. Some detail is lost in harmonization; see the comparability discussion. A GIS map (in shapefile format), corresponding to GEO1_MN can be downloaded from the GIS Boundary files page in the IPUMS International web site.

The full set of geography variables for Mongolia can be found in the IPUMS International Geography variables list. For cross-national geographic analysis on the first and second major administrative level refer to GEOLEV1, and GEOLEV2. More information on IPUMS-International geography can be found here.

Comparability — General

Where boundaries changed over time, units were harmonized to create units with boundaries that remain stable over time. Where officially-defined provinces have populations under 20,000, they have been regionalized (combined) with neighboring provinces.

Boundary changes and confidentiality issues:

• Govisumber split from Dornogovi in 1996.

• Erdenet underwent a change in administrative status. Erdenet was once treated as a province and is now a city serving as the capital of Orkhon. As a result, Erdenet changed its name to Orkhon. However, we have also found documentation stating that Erdenet and Orkhon were two distinct and separate provinces in 1989 and 2000. For the purpose of harmonization, we abide by the first scenario and treat Erdenet and Orkhon as the same province that underwent a name change.

Universe

Availability

• Mongolia: 1989, 2000