Ethnicity, Language, & Religion of Mongolia
Ethnicity
Nearly every citizen in Mongolia is an ethnic Mongol. However, to be Mongol, as an ethnicity, includes numerous ethnic groups, but this blanket term is often used both politically and ethnically so the actual ethnic divide among the people is somewhat muted. Some people are wholly one ethnicity, such as being Khalkha (again confusing since this is often referred to as a linguistic term), while most people are a combination of numerous Mongol tribes and are more generally defined as being an ethnic Mongol. The origins of the Mongols is debated, but most people believe they are most closely related to the Manchurians, Han Chinese and the Turkic people of today; despite these relations, they are fairly distinct from all of these groups.
Language
Khalkha Mongol is the official language of Mongolia and this is the native language of nearly 90% of the country's population. Mongol is a part of the Mongolian language family, which consists of numerous small languages. Mongol and these other languages are perhaps distantly related to the Turkic languages as well as the Tibetan languages. However, none of these languages are closely related, it related at all.