Mongolia is a country in East Asia. Its capital city is Ulaanbaatar. It became an independent country in 1921. Population of this country in 2003 was 2,594,000 with a population density ie number of inhabitants (per square km) 2. Its surface area is 1,566,500 sq kms and currency is tugrik. This country is formally known as The Mongolian People's Republic and was formerly known as Outer Mongolia. According to some definitions it lies in Central Asia, but number of such people agreeing with this definition is very low. It is bounded by Russian Federation to the north and China to the south, east and west. It may be mentioned here that the Inner Mongolia is in Chinese territory. Mongolia is one of the world's oldest countries. Much of the Gobi desert falls within Mongolia.