Poverty line of 1 USD per person per day is a starvation line in Mongolia, and the majority live under this line

Abstract

In the open market economy, Mongolia became similar with any other developing country in Africa, Latin America and Asia, but became a country which produces and provides primary goods of agriculture, and mining and quarrying, mainly to China. In the open market economy, poverty level of 1 USD or 1 USD per person per day prevails in developing countries. This paper studies household livelihood and per capita household income in settled place in Mongolia in 2003, and found out that, among others, people in Mongolia live under the generalized poverty (as is any other developing country in Africa, Latin America and Asia  which have been implementing IMF policy packages since 1970s and 1980s) and poverty level of 1 USD per person per day is a starvation line in Mongolia (Starvation means reduction in food intake, and it is different from hunger (Sen 1981). The poverty level of 1USD per person per day is harsh for Mongolians who need more goods than people in tropical countries just to survive, warm clothes and warm shelter. In conclusion, this paper argues that in order to move out of the generalized poverty and generalized starvation, it is essential for government of Mongolia to refuse from IMF ‘conditionality’ (Which design the development model called ‘open market economy’, the model which is associated with the generalized poverty and generalized starvation), and move to different development model, like ‘outward oriented’ economy or export-led economy, like in South Korea and in some other countries in East Asia and the Pacific