Mongols are a Central-North Asian people living in Mongolia; a large region lying on either side of the Sino-Russian frontier. Although most Mongols live in Mongolia; large numbers live also in China outside Mongolia. Owing to wars and migrations; they are also found in some Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan.

In China; ethnic Mongols live mainly either in the central-north region of China (in Inner Mongolia) or; less commonly; in Xinjiang in the westernmost part of the country. Those belonging to the Buryat branch of the Mongol ethnic group live in what is now the autonomous republic of Buryatia; Russia.

Mongols are bound together by a common culture and language; with groups of related tongues known as Mongolic languages. The contiguous geographic region inhabited by ethnic Mongols is also known as Greater Mongolia.