// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Ger district say? "Yurt" having a good time!

A ger district on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar

A ger district in Govi-Altai Province

A ger district or ger area (Mongolian: гэр хороолол, romanized: ger khoroolol) is a type of low-density residential area found in cities and other settlements in Mongolia. Ger districts generally consist of privately occupied plots known as khashaas, which are commonly enclosed by wooden fences. A plot may contain a traditional portable dwelling known as a ger, a detached house, or a combination of residential and auxiliary buildings.

Ger districts are found in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's secondary cities and many soum and provincial centres. Although named after the ger, many residents live in permanent wooden, brick or concrete houses constructed on their plots. As of 2024, ger districts accommodated approximately half of Mongolia's urban population.

Living conditions in many ger districts have improved through investment in roads, water and sewerage systems, urban subcentres, home insulation and more efficient heating. Since the early 2010s, programmes have also promoted lower-emission stoves, electric heating, geothermal systems and energy-efficient housing as alternatives to traditional coal-burning stoves.

Urban form and development

Ger districts have long formed part of Mongolian settlements, but those surrounding Ulaanbaatar expanded rapidly following the country's political and economic transition during the 1990s. Their growth was associated with rural-to-urban migration, population growth, housing costs and policies allowing eligible residents to obtain residential land.

Ger districts provided many rural migrants and low- and middle-income households with access to land and home ownership. Residents have gradually replaced or supplemented gers with permanent houses, workshops, garages and small businesses.

However, much of the expansion occurred before the construction of roads, utilities and public facilities. Large individual plots, low population density and irregular street layouts can make conventional water, sewerage and district-heating infrastructure comparatively expensive to construct and operate.

Conditions differ considerably between districts. Older ger areas close to established urban centres generally have better roads, electricity, public transport and access to services. Newer peripheral districts may be farther from employment, schools, healthcare facilities and public transport routes.

Housing and infrastructure

Many ger districts are not fully connected to central water, sewerage or district-heating networks. Residents in unconnected areas commonly obtain drinking water from public water kiosks or wells. Household sanitation frequently consists of outdoor pit latrines, while public bathhouses and washing facilities are available in some neighbourhoods.

Electricity connections are common in established ger areas, but access to paved roads, drainage, street lighting, regular waste collection and other municipal services varies according to location. Flooding and soil contamination can be concerns in areas where drainage is inadequate and pit latrines are located close to homes or water sources.

Substantial infrastructure investment has taken place in parts of Ulaanbaatar's ger districts. The Asian Development Bank-supported Ulaanbaatar Urban Services and Ger Areas Development Investment Program has developed urban subcentres with water and sewerage networks, roads, heating infrastructure, schools, kindergartens, business facilities and public spaces.

The programme is intended to improve connections between ger districts and the city centre while creating local centres of employment, commerce and public services. Upgrading subcentres can allow residents to reach services without travelling to central Ulaanbaatar for every activity.

Heating transition and environmental improvements

Because most ger districts developed outside the central district-heating network, households traditionally relied on individual coal-burning stoves and small boilers for cooking and winter heating. Emissions from household heating became a major source of winter air pollution in Ulaanbaatar.

Significant efforts have been made since the early 2010s to reduce household emissions and improve heating efficiency. Between 2013 and 2015, 40,813 households participating in the World Bank-supported Ulaanbaatar Clean Air Project received lower-emission, more efficient stoves, exceeding the project's original target of 36,000 households. A decade later, approximately 60% of those households were still using the improved stoves, while others had moved to more efficient heating alternatives.

The project later expanded beyond stove replacement to include home insulation, electric thermal-storage heaters, electricity-distribution improvements and energy-efficient renovation of public and residential buildings. It also supported the development of Mongolian technical standards for stoves, electric heaters, geothermal heating and housing in ger areas.

By the project's completion, cleaner heating systems had reached approximately 90% of the households targeted by the programme, compared with a target of 80%. In a beneficiary survey, 89.1% of participants reported improvements in heating quality, comfort or cleanliness.

Energy-efficiency or clean-heating improvements were completed in 57 buildings, exceeding the project's target of 31. These included insulated schools, kindergartens and apartment buildings, as well as kindergartens equipped with geothermal heating systems.

Households receiving insulation together with electric thermal-storage heaters used an average of approximately 2.08 fewer tonnes of coal per year than comparable households. A separate insulation programme produced an average reduction in coal consumption of approximately 37.9% among participating households.

In May 2019, the government prohibited household use of raw coal in the six central districts of Ulaanbaatar and promoted processed coal briquettes as a replacement. The briquettes produce less smoke and ash than untreated raw coal, although they remain a source of emissions.

Average ambient PM2.5 concentrations during the winter of 2019–2020 were reported to be 51% lower than during the winter of 2016–2017, 46% lower than in 2017–2018 and 40% lower than in 2018–2019. The Asian Development Bank attributed the improvement to the replacement of raw coal with briquettes and to broader air-quality policies and infrastructure reforms. Air pollution nevertheless continued to exceed health-based standards during winter.

Cooking, Heating and Insulation Products

The UNICEF-supported Cooking, Heating and Insulation Products programme, commonly known as CHIP, combines improved insulation, electric cooking and heating, temperature controls and ventilation. It is designed to eliminate routine coal burning inside participating gers while reducing heat loss.

As of May 2025, CHIP had been installed in approximately 4,700 households and 25 ger kindergartens in Ulaanbaatar and 13 provinces. Monitoring reported improvements in thermal comfort, household safety and energy efficiency, together with a reduction in smoke generated inside homes.

Electric heating also removes the need to tend a coal stove throughout the day and night. UNICEF estimated that participating households saved more than 40 minutes of daily work previously spent lighting, refuelling and cleaning coal stoves.

The programme has expanded through cooperation with provincial and municipal governments. In 2025, UNICEF and the Bayangol District administration announced an initiative to provide CHIP insulation and ventilation systems to 360 households in the district's ger areas.

The transition to cleaner heating remains incomplete. Electric systems can be costly for lower-income households, and large-scale electrification requires additional electricity-generation and distribution capacity. Outdoor pollution can also enter insulated gers, limiting the indoor-air-quality benefits of household-level improvements. Current policies therefore combine cleaner heating with insulation, ventilation, infrastructure investment, expansion of district heating and the construction of more energy-efficient housing.

Urban upgrading and housing

National and municipal authorities, international development institutions and community organisations have implemented projects intended to improve ger-district housing while allowing residents to remain in their communities.

A 2024 World Bank study proposed several complementary approaches, including:

• insulating and structurally improving existing homes;
• connecting plots to basic infrastructure;
• constructing energy-efficient detached and duplex houses;
• developing low-rise apartment and mixed-use buildings;
• gradually increasing residential density; and
• expanding access to home-improvement loans and housing finance.

The study argued that gradual upgrading and appropriately designed low-rise housing could improve energy efficiency, infrastructure access and resilience while retaining features valued by residents, including private plots, home ownership and space for household activities or small businesses.

Improvements to existing homes can also be less disruptive than completely clearing districts and relocating their residents. Insulation, safer construction, improved sanitation and infrastructure connections can be introduced progressively as household resources and public investment become available.

Citizen groups

Ger districts contain formal and semi-formal community organisations known as citizen groups. These groups have undertaken activities including maintaining public spaces, organising waste collection, supporting vulnerable households and applying for small grants for neighbourhood projects.

Research conducted in Ulaanbaatar found that many citizen groups were led by women and operated as semi-formal grassroots organisations. They cooperated with local khoroo administrations and demonstrated an ability to organise community-level projects and manage limited resources.

Their effectiveness has sometimes been limited by uncertain legal status, staff turnover within local government and the restricted authority and financial resources available to neighbourhood administrations.

See also

• Architecture of Mongolia
• Ger
• Housing in Mongolia
• Ulaanbaatar
• Urbanization in Mongolia

External links

• Reimagining Mongolia's Ger Districts — World Bank
• Ulaanbaatar Urban Services and Ger Areas Development Investment Program — Asian Development Bank
• Cooking, Heating and Insulation Products programme — UNICEF