As the world's most sparsely populated nation with full sovereignty, Mongolia is not the sort of place one would associate with air pollution. However, its rapidly growing capital, Ulaanbaatar, has been ranked as the planet's second most polluted city. Data collected by the Mongolian Government in December, 2016, put concentrations of fine particulate matter at an astounding 1985 μg/m³—more than 40 times the WHO recommended daily average concentration. Until recently, not many outside of Mongolia knew about the pollution crisis in the capital city, most of which was built in the mid-20th century when Mongolia was under heavy Soviet influence.

中文翻译：

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蒙古国首都充满极端的空气污染

作为拥有完全主权的世界上人口最稀少的国家，蒙古并不是那种会与空气污染联系在一起的地方。但是，其快速发展的首都乌兰巴托已被列为全球第二大污染最严重的城市。蒙古政府于2016年12月收集的数据显示，细颗粒物的浓度达到惊人的1985μg/ m ³，是世界卫生组织建议的每日平均浓度的40倍以上。直到最近，蒙古以外的人还很少知道首都的污染危机，这主要是在20世纪中叶，当时蒙古受到苏联的严重影响。