Agricultural economy & structure

Value added in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting rose from MNT 1.14 trillion in 2010 to MNT 8.04 trillion in 2025 at current prices (preliminary)¹. Its share of GDP reached 14.0% in 2015, stood near 13% in 2020–2022 and fell to 9.8% in 2023 and 7.3% in 2024, before recovering to 8.9% in 2025². In dollars, value added was US$2.27 billion in 2025, against US$1.73 billion in 2024³. The togrog depreciated from 1,970 to 2,440 per US dollar between 2015 and 2017 on an annual average basis, and dollar value added declined in those years⁴³.

Growth follows the weather. Agricultural value added grew by 10–21% a year in 2012–2015 as the herd expanded, then declined slightly in 2017 and fell in 2021, 2023 and 2024. The 2024 decline of 28.7% followed the loss of 9.4 million adult animals, and output recovered by 33.2% in 2025¹⁵. GDP grew by 5.1% in 2024 and 6.8% in 2025¹. In the first half of 2026 agriculture grew by 11.6% and GDP by 10.4%, according to the revised quarterly accounts⁶. NSO published a revised, chain-linked national accounts series for 2019–2025 in September 2026 that puts agriculture at 6.9% of GDP in 2025. This profile uses the fixed-base series to keep a consistent series from 2010⁷.

Livestock accounts for most of gross output. Of MNT 10.34 trillion of gross agricultural output in 2025, livestock produced MNT 8.41 trillion and crops MNT 1.93 trillion⁸⁹. The crop share was highest in 2024, at 29.1%, when livestock output fell after the dzud and the crop harvest was good (own calculation)⁸⁹.

Herding is a household activity. At the end of 2025, 248,000 households owned livestock, and for 195,500 of them herding was the main livelihood¹⁵¹⁶. The number of herder households has risen from 145,300 in 2013, while the number of herders, 313,199 in 2025, is close to the 326,565 counted in 2010¹⁶¹⁷. The Khangai region in the centre-west, with Khuvsgul, Uvurkhangai and Arkhangai aimags, accounts for 41.3% of herders (own calculation)¹⁷.

Employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing was 315,100 in 2025, 23.2% of the total, against 33.5% in 2010¹¹. The ILO's modelled estimate, published by the World Bank, gives 27.0% for 2025¹⁸. The rural population has been close to one million since 2017, while the urban population grew to 2.56 million, so the rural share fell to 28.8% in 2025¹³. Poverty is higher in rural areas. The 2022 household survey found 35.6% of the rural population below the national poverty line, against 23.0% in towns and 27.1% nationally¹⁹.

Agricultural land covers 134.1 million ha on the land balance used since 2023, of which 129.3 million ha is pasture, 1.95 million ha hayfields and 1.26 million ha cropland²². Only 25,200 ha of cropland was irrigated in 2025²². FAO counts 87,900 ha equipped for irrigation and 59,500 ha actually irrigated in 2024²³. The national land-fund table, still on the earlier classification, gives 107.4 million ha of agricultural land²⁴.

Pasture remains state property. The Law on Land excludes pasture from ownership and allocates it to groups of herder households under use contracts. Cropland is possessed under licences of 15 to 60 years, which can be pledged only between Mongolian parties²⁵. Herder households pay no land fee for pasture and hayland²⁶. Since 2021 soum councils may levy a livestock head tax of up to MNT 2,000 per animal, set with regard to pasture carrying capacity²⁷. No separate pasture law was found on legalinfo.mn in October 2026.