Mongolian Community in Birmingham

Where they come from

Mongolia is a vast, thinly populated country between Russia and China, famous for its grasslands, the Gobi Desert and the empire of Genghis Khan. Many Mongolians still live as herders, moving with the seasons. Mongolians in Britain include students, professionals and families who have come to study and work.

The community in numbers

The 2021 Census does not publish a separate Birmingham figure for the Mongolian community, which is counted within the census's figures for other East Asian groups. By any measure it is one of the city's smaller communities, which makes the ties between its members all the closer.

Working for Birmingham

Mongolian residents in Birmingham study and work in fields such as business, engineering, healthcare, mining and finance, and many bring language skills in Mongolian, Russian and Chinese. Students at the city's universities often return home with skills that help Mongolia's fast-growing economy.

Every community that has settled in Birmingham has helped to shape it. Newcomers have filled gaps in the workforce, opened shops and restaurants, and raised children who have gone on to become the city's doctors, teachers, engineers and entrepreneurs. The Mongolian community is part of that tradition of hard work and ambition, and of the city's own motto: Forward.

Culture and community life

Naadam, the summer festival of wrestling, horse racing and archery, and Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year, are the highlights of the Mongolian year. Buuz dumplings and milk tea are family favourites, and throat singing and the horse-head fiddle are part of a musical tradition admired worldwide.

In a city where scores of languages are spoken, the Mongolian community adds another voice to the conversation. Its members, old and new, are helping to make Birmingham the confident, outward-looking city it wants to be.