In 2018, the poverty gap was estimated at 7.2 percent, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from 2016. Poverty severity has decreased to 2.7 percent from 2.9 percent in 2016. During the period between 2016 and 2018, the poverty rate declined by 4.1 percentage points in rural areas but increased by 0.1 percentage points in urban areas. While the poverty rate remains high in rural areas, with two-thirds of the total population of Mongolia living in urban cities, poverty has become more concentrated in urban areas. The percentage of the poor population in urban areas has increased from 62.1 percent to 63.5 percent in 2018. Also, more than 40 percent of the poor lived in Ulaanbaatar in 2018.

As of 2016, 29.6 percent of Mongolian citizens were living below the poverty line, indicating that one in three people or roughly one million people live in poverty. The rate, which was 21.6 percent in 2014, increased by 8 percent in 2016, showing 275,000 povertystruck people over this period.

The poverty line that indicates the amount of money required to provide the basic needs was MNT 146,000. In 2014, those who have moved above the line were back in poverty due to the negative impacts of the economy and society. The economy grew by 20 percent between 2012 and 2014, while the economy grew by 3.6 percent in 2015 and 2016. As a result of 2016, the GDP growth slowed by 1 percent. At the time, the deficit reached MNT 3.6 trillion due to the collapse of commodity markets in the world.