The "ger" districts' crowded residential clusters and smoggy grey air are a far cry from the sprawling grasslands that Jamiynsurengiin Olzod, a 35-year-old seamstress, once called home.

But like many of the suburban slum inhabitants, she gave up the traditional nomadic lifestyle of Mongolia's 900,000-strong herder population to move to Ulan Bator, harbouring dreams of richer opportunities in the urban centre.

"It's very hard, but life in the countryside is even harder," Olzod said as she lay in bed in the yurt she shares with her three children.

She moved in the hopes of getting an education, but Mongolia's rural-to-urban migration is also linked to the "dzud", a unique weather phenomenon characterised by long droughts and severe winters with temperatures as low as -50 degrees Celsius (-58 degrees Fahrenheit).

More than 40,000 livestock perished from the cold during this winter's dzud, which analysts believe is occurring with greater frequency owing to climate change.

The result is an increasingly urban society: nearly two-thirds of the population lived in the countryside in 1960, now less than one-third does.

Around half Mongolia's population lives in the capital, with the majority residing in 'ger' (yurt) districts, unplanned communities linked by bumpy dirt roads, disconnected from the central electricity grid and lacking proper sewage systems

Around half the country's population of three million lives in the capital, with the majority residing in "ger" (Mongolian for "yurt") districts, unplanned communities linked by bumpy dirt roads, disconnected from the central electricity grid and lacking proper sewage systems.

Populist businessman Khaltmaa Battulga -- who grew up in a ger district himself -- promised to eradicate poverty when he was sworn in as president on Monday, inheriting a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout to revive the flagging economy.

The World Bank estimates that at least 60 percent of those residing in ger districts are unemployed.

The rapid growth of these settlements prompted the city's mayor to pass a decree at the start of 2017 restricting migration for a year and halting the expansion of power lines.