Khovd Province


Khovd is one of the 21 aimags of Mongolia, located in the west of the country. Its capital is also named Khovd.
The Khovd province is approximately 1,580 km from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital. It takes its name from the Khovd River, which is located in this province.

Population

Khovd is distinguished by its multi-cultural population. It is home to more than 17 nationalities and ethnicities. Each of these groups has its own distinct traditional dwelling and settlement pattern, dress and other cultural distinctions, literary, artistic, and musical traditions.
Ethnic
group
Mongolian
name
1979%1989%2000%
KhalkhaХалх17,34327.7220,39726.6423,83227.45
ZakhchinЗахчин14,46423.1217,22822.5021,64524.93
KazakhКазак9,42515.0612,81416.7410,00511.52
TorguudТоргууд5,5668.906,7038.766,9958.06
OlotsӨөлд4,8237.715,6227.346,5037.49
Altai UriankhaiУрианхай4,5877.335,4037.066,5927.59
DörvödДөрвөд2,8564.563,6094.715,2426.04
MyangadМянгад2,8554.563,5174.594,2874.94
TuvanТува--2390.317240.83
BayadБаяд1290.212270.303770.43
Chantuu/UyghurЧантуу1830.291870.242580.30
KhoshuudХошууд----1490.17
Other Mongolian citizens930.151760.232030.23
Foreigners2410.394310.56190.02
Total62,565100.0076,553100.0086,831100.00

The Khovd aimag population growth stopped in 1991, then migration out of the aimag compensated the natural increase and confined aimag’s population within the limits of 87 thousand to 92 thousand since.
1956
census
1960
est.
1969
census
1979
census
1981
est.
1989
census
1995
est.
2000
census
2006
census
2010
census
42,30048,00054,00062,60064,50086,83188,49489,32692,39582, 204

Climate

Khovd is notorious for its harsh weather cycles, as temperatures regularly reach as high as during summer and as low as during winter. The climate is dry, as it receives approximately the same average annual precipitation of Phoenix, Arizona.

Rivers

The major rivers are:
The Khovd Airport has two runways, one of which is paved, and gets served by regular flights from and to Ulaanbaatar, Mörön, and Bulgan. And flights are planned to Ürümqi city of Xingjiang.

Economy

The region around the Khovd city is famous in Mongolia for its watermelon crop. There is a sizable hydroelectric dam-building project underway that will theoretically generate enough electricity to power the three most western aimags. The city of Khovd is connected to the Russian power grid and subject to blackouts if it falls behind in its payments. Domestic and international tourism and sports hunting are a sizable industry of Khovd province. The natural environment, fresh and salt water lakes, mountains, valleys, caves, ancient rock paintings and fortresses are other sightseeing attractions.
Animal herding is the main economy of this province.
1950
census
1960
census
1970
census
1980
census
1990
census
2000
census
2005
census
2010
census
2014
census
1,131,7331,691,9341,539,5741,687,7032,070,6221,836,2721,963,7121,639,1002,625,577

Administrative subdivisions

The aimag capital Khovd is geographically located in the Buyant sum, but is administered as independent Jargalant sum. The administrative center of the Khovd Sum is also called Khovd, which is a common source of confusion. The other administrative centers carry the name of the respective Sum as well.
SumMongolianPopulation
1979 census
Population
1991 est.
Population
2007 est.
Population
2010 est.
Major Ethnic.Sum Centre
Population
Area
Density
Distance
from Khovd
city
AltaiАлтай 2,1412,7123,2342 849Zahchin76713,1440.25310
Bulgan Булган7,0529,1699,6348 262Torguud3,1718,1041.19335
BuyantБуянт 3,3614,3863,5332 673Halh/Tuva1,5683,7590.9619
ChandmaniЧандмань 2,3112,9633,1552 469Halh6896,0160.52160
DarviДарви 2,4022,7752,5962 362Halh5795,6040.47204
Dörgön Дөргөн1,7152,5553,0152 266Dorvod6594,1280.73106
DuutДуут 1,6752,1892,0941 287Urianhai5022,1460.9876
ErdenebürenЭрдэнэбүрэн 2,2583,2103,3721 995Oold6962,7721.2260
Jargalant*Жаргалант 17,62026,87729,20729 012Halh/Mixed28,601*70417.240
KhovdХовд 3,9274,8504,5892 722Halh7192,8301.6327
MankhanМанхан 3,2734,3524,5263 480Zahchin1,2584,3301.0580
MönkhkhairkhanМөнххайрхан 1,8112,3372,5541 955Urianhai/Zahchin7442,5541.06155
MöstМөст 3,2394,0923,5772 939Zahchin8093,9270.91180
MyangadМянгад 2,9404,5523,6622 615Myangad7133,2581.1235
TsetsegЦэцэг 2,1892,6452,5312 423Halh5703,4910.72216
ÜyenchҮенч 2,5753,9134,7604 024Zahchin1,4527,4760.64305
ZeregЗэрэг 2,3883,0923,0782 727Zahchin7962,5241.23130

* - The aimag capital Khovd