Social Policies of Socialist Mongolia

Under socialism, Mongolia has made noticeable progress in terms of the health and education of its population. From the beginning, investments in human capital through education became a key priority in socialist programmes. According to the official statistics, the literacy rate was 2 per cent in 1918 (NSO, 2012). This should be viewed with caution, as many who could read might have been registered as illiterate to avoid the clerical duties of the Manchu administration

(Sanders, 1987).

Prior to the revolution, thelamaistmonasteries served as an important institution for the edu- cation of the population, teaching Buddhist philosophy, astronomy, Tibetan medicine, and lan- guage, even though the Mongolian language was not one of the main subjects taught. According to Shagdar (2000), cited in Erdenesuren (2019, p.340), by the end of the nineteenth century, ap- proximately 25–30 per cent or roughly 18–20 thousand school-age children were studying at over 700 large monasteries and 1000 datsans. Additionally, a number of ‘ger schools’ were operated by local officials and nobles, albeit on a smaller scale¹⁸. Despite this, it can be said that education and literacy were exceptions rather than the norm in Mongolia in the early twen- tieth century. The same can be said of the health and well-being of the population. It has been estimated that around this time, one out of two children died before their first birthday (Neupert

& Goldstein, 1994). According to the UN data, the average life expectancy was 39.6 in 1950.

However, NSO reported 63 in 1962 (NSO, 1971).

Education

Mass education of the population was an important policy for the state. In the 1940s and 1950s, together with the health and sports sectors, the education, science, and culture sectors accounted for 15–27 per cent of the total investment (Figure 2.1). Table 2.11 illustrates the shares of the state budget allocated to social and cultural programmes. The expenditure on social services has been rising consistently throughout the socialist period, reaching over 40 per cent in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mongolia spent a larger share of capital investment on the non-material production sector than other socialist countries (Figure 2.8). The investment was particularly high during the 1960s, following the government’s policy to boost population growth, coupled with women entering

18 By 1911, there were 55 schools with 360 students, that is 0.3 per cent of population (Erdenesuren, 2019, p.340).

Year Average annual share (%)

1924-1929 10.5

1930-1939 15.7

1940-1949 21.5

1950-1959 30.9

1960-1969 34.5

1970-1979 41.5

1980-1989 40.2

Table 2.11: State budget on social and cultural programs, 1924-1989

Source: NSO statistical yearbooks.

the labour force, largely taking up jobs in the service sector. Recall how employment in the non-material sector was the highest in Mongolia.

Throughout the socialist period, education was under the government’s total control, includ- ing teaching, accrediting, and curriculum programming, as well as determining the number of students allowed to enter certain disciplines (Krueger, 1961). With the establishment of the education system and the training of the workforce, the educational attainment of workers grad- ually improved (see Table 2.12). In the early years of industrialisation, in the 1930s, on-the-job training was emphasised, with Soviet specialists training the workers. With the establishment of universities and technical schools in Mongolia, as well as professional training in the Soviet Union, the quality of educational attainment of workers and employees improved considerably.

Despite this increase, the heads of plants and specialists remained mostly from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries in Eastern Europe. By the early 1980s, over 100 thousand Soviet specialists had been stationed in Mongolia. In 1985, one-third of all Soviet specialists working abroad were in Mongolia (Narantuya, 2013). On a comparative note, in terms of the share of workers with higher and specialised education, Mongolia fares well with 34 per cent in 1988, while it was 25.3 per cent for Bulgaria and 30.9 per cent for Poland (CMEA, 1989).

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1980 1985 20

30 40 50

%oftotal

BUL CZE GDR HUN

MON POL ROM USSR

Figure 2.8: Share of investment in non-material production sector, selected CMEA countries, 1950-1985

Source: CMEA (1971, 1989)

Furthermore, Mongolian state socialism had centralised labour and industrial policies that were closely tied to education and population policies. For example, the state-controlled educa- tion system determined the number of places available for a particular course of study. Univer- sity and technical and vocational institution graduates were assigned to employment for two to three years, and there were several instruments to reduce turnover and offer incentives.

In 1940, Mongolia had 952 teachers, and a decade later, the number reached 3100 (NPC, 1949b, 1951). Since then, it increased rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s, reaching almost 14 thousand teachers in general education institutions, 1.3 thousand at technical and vocational institutions, and another 1.1 thousand at universities and higher education institutions by 1980.

Health

Healthcare is another sector that has seen sizable growth during socialism. Although in abso- lute terms, the number of workers in this sector stayed well below that in the education sector, it rose from 2 thousand in 1940 to 49.2 thousand in 1990. Health sector employment grew annu- ally, with an average of 3.9 per cent in the 1960s, 4.5 per cent in the 1970s, and 4.1 per cent in

1940 1950 1956 1970 1990 number % number % number % number % number %

Higher - - 1.1 1.8 3.4 3.2 17.7 8.9 73.9 15.4

Special secondary 0.7 2.0 4.7 7.5 7.8 7.4 26.4 13.2 90.1 18.8

Complete secondary - - 2.3 3.7 4.2 4.0 - - - -

Incomplete secondary 0.9 2.7 0.7 10.7 15.1 14.4 - - - -

Primary 2.1 6.4 3.6 5.7 62.4 59.5 - - - -

Table 2.12: Education attainment of workers

Source: 1940-1956 are retrieved from (Myagmar, 1975, p.38), 1970-1990 from NSO (1991)

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990

Teachers 952 3112 4200 13400 16300 23700

Institutions 338 438 490 813 954 928

Students (’000) 25.8 73.4 131.0 276.0 458.4 516.2

Table 2.13: Number of teachers, institutions and students at all levels, 1940-1990

Source: National Planning Commission (NPC) and NSO (1949b, 1951; 1991)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1984 1984/1950

Bulgaria 9.2 17.0 22.2 30.0 33.8 3.7

Czechoslovakia 10.1 17.5 23.1 32.4 35.3 3.5

GDR 11.1 12.1 20.3 26.1 29.0 2.6

Hungary 10.3 15.3 22.0 28.1 31.2 3.0

Mongolia 2.0 9.7 17.9 21.9 23.4 11.7

Poland 4.6 12.7 19.3 22.5 23.8 5.2

Romania 9.5 13.5 14.7 17.9 20.4 2.1

USSR 14.6 20.0 27.4 37.5 41.2 2.8

Table 2.14: The number of doctors, including dentists, per 10,000 population, 1950-1984

Source: CMEA (1985)

the 1980s.

Table 2.14 presents the number of doctors per 10,000 population between 1950 and 1984, and the ratio of increase between the periods. In 1950, Mongolia had 2 doctors per 10,000 individuals, but the number increased more than 10 times to reach 23.4 by 1984, while the rest of the countries saw growth of around three times on average. This again illustrates the unusual expansion of Mongolia’s social services sector.