Uvs Province

Parts of the steppe in this province are protected as the World Heritage Site Ubsunur Hollow. In the north the province borders the Russian Federation for 640 kilometres or 400 miles, whilst in the east 340 kilometres or 210 miles of border lies between Uvs and Zavkhan province. In the south and west it borders for 200 kilometres or 120 miles each of Khovd and Bayan-Ölgii provinces for. The province occupies 4.45 percent of the national territory, totalling 69,585 square kilometres or 26,867 square miles. Of the total area of the province, sixty percent belongs to the mountainous climatic zone, and forty percent to the Gobi semi-desert.

Mongols and their proto-peoples have lived in the province since antiquity. Currently, 42.3% of population is Dörbet, 34.2% is Bayid and 13.6% is Khalkha. Also there are a number of Tuvans, Khotons and Kazakhs living in this province.

At the close of 2014, there were 20,719 households residing in this province of whom 7,476 lived in the provincial center Ulaangom, 4,105 lived in sum centers and 9,138 lived in the countryside as herding families.[1]

After the revolution in 1921 in Mongolia, on November 21, 1925 the government founded the Chandmani Uulyn Aimag (Чандмань уулын аймаг, Jewel Mountain Province). This province included the whole western part of the country, i.e. today’s Uvs, Khovd and Bayan-Ölgii aimags. In 1931 Chandmani Uulyn aimag was split up into the Khovd and Dörvöd aimags. Dörvöd aimag (Дөрвөд аймаг) was renamed to Uvs aimag in 1933.

Uvs province is divided into 19 sums, lower administrative division units.

Sums of Uvs

^1 Ulaangom is the Uvs province center.

Source: National Statistical Office of Mongolia[2]