Human Development Fund (HDF) Universal Cash Dividend
Mongolia's Human Development Fund (HDF), legally established in 2008/2009 and capitalized with mining revenue (including pre-paid Oyu Tolgoi and Tavan Tolgoi royalties), began paying a universal, unconditional monthly cash dividend of MNT 21,000 (about USD 16-17 at contemporary exchange rates) to every citizen in 2010, replacing an earlier annual MNT 120,000 child-only payment. The dividend was funded by mineral revenue and was intended to let all citizens share directly in the mining boom, alongside one-off top-ups such as a MNT 1 million payment to the elderly in 2012. Because disbursements were driven by election promises rather than actual mineral income, the fund ran large deficits, and after the 2012 elections the universal adult payment was discontinued and the system reverted to a child-only cash transfer (the Child Money Program). The HDF's remaining debt (about MNT 1.071 trillion) was later transferred to Mongolia's sovereign Future Heritage Fund, established in 2016 to end resource-to-cash spending in favor of savings.
Resource dividend, Mining revenue, National-scale, Universal, Discontinued, Partial UBI experiment
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- Government of Mongolia (Ministry of Finance)
- City
- Ulaanbaatar
- Country
- Mongolia
Contact
- Website
- https://mof.gov.mn/en/
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Inactive
- Number of recipients
- 2,800,000
- Funding type
- Government
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Total Amount
- 500
- Avg. Per Month
- 16.67
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- How long the program lasts
- 30 months
- Distribution Type
- Bank deposit / direct transfer to citizen bank accounts
- Benefit details
From 2010-2012 every Mongolian citizen received a monthly cash dividend of MNT 21,000 (~USD 16-17 at the time) from the Human Development Fund, funded by mining/mineral revenue including pre-paid royalties from the Oyu Tolgoi and Tavan Tolgoi mines. This replaced a prior annual MNT 120,000 per-person payment. In 2012, elderly recipients also received a one-off MNT 1,000,000 payment. Payments were disbursed via bank accounts. The universal adult payment ended after the 2012 parliamentary elections when the government reverted to targeted, child-only cash transfers due to fund deficits exceeding actual mineral revenue.
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
Universal, unconditional eligibility for all Mongolian citizens regardless of age, income, or employment status; no means test or application was required. The program was funded and administered as a citizen dividend from state-owned mineral wealth, conceptually similar to Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend.
Citizenship
- Citizenship / immigration status
- Citizen
Geography
- Countries covered
- Mongolia
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Application Process
- How to apply
No formal application was required; the dividend was automatically disbursed to all registered Mongolian citizens via bank accounts as a universal entitlement, not a program applicants opted into.
- Selection process
Universal - every Mongolian citizen was automatically eligible and received the payment; there was no selection or screening process.
