Ulaanbaatar, in Mongolia, is the coldest national capital in the world.
Why it is true
It sits about 1,350 metres above sea level, far from the sea and exposed to Siberian air. The average yearly temperature is around 0 °C and the January average falls below -20 °C. More than a third of Mongolians live there.
Source: World Meteorological Organization
Would you rather be asked first?
This is the reading side of the site, so the answer is in the sentence above — that is the whole point of it. Test yourself works the other way round: the question comes on its own, and the fact and the explanation only appear once you have answered.
Related facts
Mongolia has the lowest population density in the world.
The Sahara Desert was once green and had giant lakes about 10,000 years ago.
Iceland is one of the few countries in the world where there are no native ants.
Bhutan absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits, and its Constitution requires 60% of the country to stay forested.
