Demographics of Moldova

Urban–rural distribution of population

By district (2004 census)

Vital statistics

After WW II, total area

Moldova under central government control

• Source: National Bureau of Statistics

• Starting with 2014, the sharp changes in the statistics are because of the new calculation methods and according with the latest census, and include only data of resident people that lived in the country predominantly during the last 12 months, regardless of temporary absences.

Regions	TFR
Central Development Region	1.90
Southern Development Region	1.76
Northern Development Region	1.71
'''Moldova Structure of the population Age group Male Female Total % Total 1 352 099 1 452 702 2 804 801 100 0–4 88 311 83 681 171 992 6.13 5–9 82 455 78 229 160 684 5.73 10–14 77 275 72 752 150 027 5.35 15–19 93 727 89 965 183 692 6.55 20–24 118 376 112 777 231 153 8.24 25–29 129 771 121 694 251 465 8.97 30–34 109 201 105 669 214 870 7.66 35–39 95 575 95 220 190 795 6.80 40–44 87 451 89 455 176 906 6.31 45–49 84 288 89 276 173 564 6.19 50–54 98 512 110 162 208 674 7.44 55–59 93 612 110 213 203 825 7.27 60–64 79 681 102 009 181 690 6.48 65–69 39 652 55 755 95 407 3.40 70–74 32 645 52 625 85 270 3.04 75–79 22 757 42 339 65 096 2.32 80–84 12 543 25 437 37 980 1.35 85–89 4 801 11 701 16 502 0.59 90–94 1 148 3 129 4 277 0.15 95–99 158 416 574 0.02 100+ 160 198 358 0.01 Age group Male Female Total Percent 0–14 248 041 234 662 482 703 17.21 15–64 990 194 1 026 440 2 016 634 71.90 65+ 113 864 191 600 305 464 10.89 Age group Male Female Total % Total 1 247 309 1 367 890 2 615 199 100 0–4 78 991 73 900 152 891 5.85 5–9 86 335 81 443 167 777 6.42 10–14 80 298 76 162 156 459 5.98 15–19 70 362 66 581 136 943 5.24 20–24 67 961 64 991 132 952 5.08 25–29 86 318 86 189 172 505 6.60 30–34 105 175 104 312 209 486 8.01 35–39 102 957 102 774 205 730 7.87 40–44 87 693 89 962 177 654 6.79 45–49 83 770 87 522 171 291 6.55 50–54 78 838 84 168 163 005 6.23 55–59 82 822 95 630 178 450 6.82 60–64 87 913 110 597 198 508 7.59 65–69 66 170 94 832 161 002 6.16 70–74 44 974 72 212 117 186 4.48 75–79 18 045 34 127 52 171 1.99 80–84 12 325 27 466 39 788 1.52 85+ 6 380 15 045 21 425 0.82 Age group Male Female Total Percent 0–14 245 624 231 505 477 129 18.24 15–64 853 791 892 703 1 746 494 66.78 65+ 147 894 243 682 391 576 14.97 Average population Live births Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate Crude death rate Natural change 1997 657,000 5,703 8,181 −2,478 8.7 12.5 −3.8 1998 665,000 5,373 7,769 −2,396 8.1 11.7 −3.6 1999 660,000 5,010 7,589 −2,579 7.6 11.5 −3.9 2000 651,000 5,010 7,770 −2,760 7.7 11.9 −4.2 2001 642,000 4,505 7,759 −3,254 7.0 12.1 −5.1 2002 633,000 4,630 8,118 −3,488 7.3 12.8 −5.5 2003 623,000 4,440 8,192 −3,752 7.1 13.1 −6.0 2004 554,000 4,840 8,031 −3,191 8.7 14.5 −5.8 2005 547,000 4,664 8,186 −3,522 8.5 15.0 −7.5 2006 540,000 4,868 8,306 3,438 9.0 15.4 −6.4 2007 533,000 4,893 8,132 −3,239 9.2 15.2 −6.1 2008 527,000 5,290 7,967 −2,677 10.0 15.1 −5.1 2009 522,000 5,189 7,454 −2,265 9.9 14.3 −4.3 2010 518,000 5,189 7,709 −2,520 10.0 14.9 −4.9 2011 513,000 4,999 7,289 −2,290 9.7 14.2 −4.5 2012 509,000 5,173 7,280 −2,107 10.2 14.3 −4.1 2013 505,000 4,806 6,867 −2,061 9.5 13.6 −4.1 2014 500,000 4,994 7,313 −2,319 10.0 14.6 −4.6 2015 474,000 4,959 7,094 −2,135 10.5 15.0 −4.5 2016 470,000 4,676 6,758 −2,082 9.9 14.4 −4.5 2017 469,000 4,500 6,684 −2,184 9.6 14.3 −4.7 2018 465,000 4,086 6,727 −2,641 8.8 14.5 −5.7 2019 465,000 3,646 6,810 −3,164 7.8 14.6 −6.8 2020 465,000 3,463 7,258 −3,795 7.4 15.6 −8.1 2021 465,000 3,144 8,980 −5,836 6.8 19.3 −12.5 2022 459,000 2,820 6,483 −3,663 6.1 14.1 −8.0 2023 455,000 2,588 6,152 −3,564 5.7 13.5 −7.8 2024 451,644 2,279 5,797 −3,518 5.0 12.8 −7.8 Period Live births Deaths Natural increase January – December 2023 2,588 6,152 −3,564 January – December 2024 2,279 5,797 −3,518 Difference −309 −355 46 Year CBR TFR CBR TFR CBR TFR 2005 12,0 1,7 12,5 1,5 11,7 1,8 Ethnic groups and census numbers Of the total population that declared its ethnicity, in the 2024 Moldovan census, 76.7% declared themselves Moldovans, 8% Romanians, 5.1% Ukrainians, 4.0% Gagauz, 3.4% Russian, 1.6% Bulgarian, 0.4% Roma/Gypsy and 0.5% declared themselves of other ethnicities. Of the total urban population that declared its first ethnicity in 2024, 70.5% declared themselves Moldovan, 9.7% Romanian, 6.1% Ukrainian, 5.9% Russian, 4.1% Gagauz, 2.1% Bulgarian, 0.6% Roma/Gypsy and 1% other ethnicities. Moreover, 5.7% of the total population declared Romanian as their second ethnicity, 1.4% declared Moldovan, 0.4%, Russian, 0.2% Ukrainian and 0.1% Bulgarian. Out of the 2,804,801 people covered by the 2014 Moldovan census, 2,754,719 gave an answer as to their ethnic affiliation. Among them, 2,068,068 or 73.7% declared themselves Moldovans and 192,800 or 6.9% Romanians. Some organisations such as the Liberal party of Moldova have criticised the census results, claiming Romanians comprise 85% of the population and that census officials have pressured respondents to declare themselves Moldovans instead of Romanians and have purposefully failed to cover urban respondents who are more likely to declared themselves Romanians as opposed to Moldovans. At the same time, 181,035 declared themselves Ukrainians, 111,726 Russians, 126,010 Gagauz and 51,867 Bulgarians. The proportion of Ukrainians and Russians in the area controlled by Chișinău has fallen from 8,4% to 6,5% and 5,9% to 4,0% respectively between 2004 and 2014. Meanwhile, the percentage of Gagauz has risen slightly from 4,4% in 2004 to 4,5% in 2014. The proportion of Ukrainians and Russians in the previous 2004 census also decreased considerably in comparison to the last Soviet census in 1989: from 13.8% to 11.2% and from 13.0% to 9.4% respectively out of the combined population including Transnistria. This is mostly due to emigration. Ukrainians mostly live in the east and the north, while Russians mostly live in urban areas: 27% of all Russians live in Chișinău, 18% live in Tiraspol, 11% in Bender and 6% in Bălți. Most of the Gagauz live in the south of Moldova in the autonomous region of Gagauzia. Government controlled-area Declared country of birth for the current inhabitants of the part of Moldova under the central government control, according to the 2004 census: Population by district, according to the 2004 census: Population Moldovans1 Ukrainians Russians Gagauzians Bulgarians Romanians1 Jews Poles Gypsies others Chișinău 712,218 481,626 1There is an ongoing controversy over whether Moldovans are a subset of Romanians, or a distinct ethnic group. At the 2004 Moldovan Census, citizens could declare only one nationality. Consequently, one could not declare oneself both Moldovan and Romanian. Separatist-controlled areas 2015 census According to the last census in Transnistria, the population of the region was 475,373, a 14.47% decrease from the figure recorded at the 2004 census. By ethnic composition, the population of Transnistria was distributed as follows: Russians: 29.1% Moldovans: 28.6% Ukrainians: 22.9% Bulgarians: 2.4% Gagauz: 1.1% Belarusians: 0.5% Transnistrians: 0.2% Others: 1.4% Around 14% did not declare any ethnicity. For the first time, the population had the option to identify as "Transnistrian". In 2020, in Transnistria, 34.2% of the kindergarten students were ethnic Moldovans, while 28% were ethnic Ukrainians. Languages Romanian is the official language of Moldova. However, many speakers use the term Moldovan to describe the language they speak, even though its literary standard is virtually identical to Romanian. Officially since 1990, it is written in the Latin alphabet. Native language Census statistics excludes the break-away region of Transnistria. Of the total population that declared its mother tongue in the 2024 Moldovan census, 49.2% declared Moldovan and 31.3% declared Romanian, with both adding up to 80.5%. The share of the population that declared Romanian as its mother tongue increased by 8.1% compared to the 2014 census, and the share that declared Moldovan decreased by 7.8%. Among other languages declared as mother tongues, Russian stood out with 11.1% of the population, followed by Gagauz with 3.8%, Ukrainian with 2.9%, Bulgarian with 1.2%, Romani/Gypsy with 0.3% and other languages with 0.2%. First language in daily use (2014 and 2024 censuses) According to the 2014 census, 2,720,377 answered to the question on "language usually used for communication". 2,138,964 people or 78.63% of the inhabitants of Moldova have Moldovan/Romanian as first language, of which 1,486,570 declared it Moldovan and 652,394 declared it Romanian. 394,133 people or 14.1% have Russian as language of daily use, 73.802 or 2.6% – Ukrainian, 74.167 or 2.6% – Gagauz, 26,577 or 0.9% – Bulgarian, and 12,734 or 0.5% – another language. By contrast, 46.0% declared their usually spoken language to be Moldovan and 33.2% declared it to be Romanian in 2024. In the 2024 Moldovan census, the percentage of speakers of Russian as their usually spoken language was 15.3%, with other minority languages' share being lower: 2.3% for Gagauz, 2% for Ukrainian, 0.8% for Bulgarian, 0.3% for Romani and 0.2% for other languages. Soviet era data In the Soviet census of 1989 members of most of the ethnic groups in Moldavian SSR claimed the language of their ethnicity as their mother tongue: Moldovans, Ukrainians, Russians, Gagauz, Bulgarians, and Gipsies. The exceptions were Jews, Belarusians, Germans, and Poles. In the Soviet census of 1989, 62% of the total population claimed Moldovan as their native language. Only 4% of the entire population claimed Moldovan as a second language. In 1979, Russian was claimed as a native language by a large proportion of Jews and Belarusians, and by a significant proportion of Ukrainians. Proportions of other ethnicities naming Russian as a native language ranged from 17% of Bulgarians to 3% of Moldovans. Russian was claimed as a second language by a sizeable proportion of all ethnicities: Moldovans, Ukrainians, Gagauz, Jews, Bulgarians, Belarusians, Germans, Roma, and Poles. Religion 2004 census According to the 2004 census, the population of Moldova had the following religious composition : Notes: 75,727 did not answer that question. a Known as Creștini după Evanghelie, Pentecostal group b Traditionally Orthodox Lipovans History In 1940–1941, and 1944–1991, the Soviet government strictly limited the activities of the Orthodox Church and at times sought to exploit it, with the ultimate goal of abolishing it and all religious activity altogether. Most Orthodox churches and monasteries in Moldova were demolished or converted to other uses, such as administrative buildings or warehouses, and clergy were sometimes punished for leading services. Still, many believers continued to practice their faith. People in the independent Moldova have much greater religious freedom than they did in Soviet times. Legislation passed in 1992 guarantees religious freedom, but requires all religious groups to be officially recognized by the government. Orthodox Christians In 1991, Moldova had 853 Orthodox churches and eleven Orthodox monasteries. In 1992 construction or restoration of 221 churches was underway, but clergy remained in short supply. As of 2004, Christian Orthodox constitute the vast majority of the population in all districts of Moldova. In the interwar period, the vast majority of ethnic Moldovans belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church, but today both Romanian and Russian Orthodox Church have jurisdiction in Moldova, with the latter having more parishes. According to the local needs, liturgy is performed in Romanian, Russian, and Turkic. After the revival of religious activity in the last 20 years, a minority of the clergy and the faithful wanted to return to the Bucharest Patriarchate. Because higher-level church authorities were unable to resolve the matter, Moldova now has two episcopates, one for each patriarchate. After the Soviet occupation in 1940, the Metropolis was downgraded to a Bishopric. In late 1992, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia issued a decree upgrading its eparchy of Chișinău and Moldova to a Metropolis. Greek Catholics Moldova also has a Greek Catholic minority, mainly among ethnic Ukrainians, although the Soviet government declared the Greek Catholic Churches illegal in 1946 and forcibly united them with the Russian Orthodox Church. However, the Greek Catholic Churches had survived underground until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Roman Catholics Half of Moldova's Roman Catholics are in Chișinău, and 1/5 in Bălți. Old Believers In addition, the Old Russian Orthodox Church had fourteen churches and one monastery in Moldova in 1991. Half of Moldova's Old Believers are in Florești district, and 1/5 in Sîngerei district. Judaism Despite the Soviet government's suppression and harassment, Moldova's practicing Jews managed to retain their religious identity. About a dozen Jewish newspapers were started in the early 1990s, and religious leaders opened a synagogue in Chișinău; there were six Jewish communities of worship throughout the country. In addition, Moldova's government created the Department of Jewish Studies at Chișinău State University, mandated the opening of a Jewish high school in Chișinău, and introduced classes in Judaism in high schools in several cities. The government also provides financial support to the Society for Jewish Culture. Protestants There are around 65,000 Protestants of all sects in Moldova today. There are more than 1,000 Baptists in the cities of Chișinău and Bălți, in Cahul, Fălești, Hîncești, Sîngerei, Ștefan Vodă, and Ungheni districts, and in Găgăuzia. There are more than 1,000 Seventh-day Adventists in Cahul, Hîncești and Sîngerei districts, and in Găgăuzia, there are more than 1,000 Pentecostals in Chișinău and in Briceni district. There are more than 1,000 members of Brethren assemblies only in Chișinău. There are more than 1,000 Evangelical Synod-Presbyterians only in Chișinău. Others Other religious denominations in Moldova include: Armenian Apostolic Church Molokans. Islam Immigration Year Immigrants Emigrants Net Migration 2014 98,731 122,955 −24,224 2015 105,834 127,277 −21,443 2016 107,303 153,405 −46,102 2017 107,580 158,259 −50,679 2018 116,739 158,788 −42,049 2019 116,196 153,289 −37,093 2020 65,167 72,372 −7,205 2021 68,356 113,769 −45,413 2022 177,875 241,448 −63,573 2023 97,517 130,084 −32,567 Country 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Ukraine Secondary demographic indices Life expectancy at birth Since 2000, there has been a continuous increase in life expectancy, except for 2005, a year in which there was a high level of general and infant mortality. In 2013, this indicator recorded the maximum value of the given period – 71.85 years, including men – 68.1 and women – 75.5 years. The significant increase in life expectancy was influenced by the decrease in the overall mortality rate to 10.7 deaths per 1000 inhabitants, and the infant death rate, which constituted 9.4 deaths under one year per 1,000 live births. The year 1960 1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 Women: 69,8 72,1 68,8 71,9 69,7 71,2 71,7 73,4 75,5 76,1 Average time: 68,1 69,4 65,6 68,0 65,8 67,6 67,9 69,1 71,5 72,2 Men: 65,6 66,3 62,4 63,9 61,8 63,9 63,8 65,0 67,5 68,1 Infant mortality Children under 1 year old in 1,000 newborns: The Year 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2017 Children 35,0 30,9 19,0 21,2 18,3 12,4 11,7 9,7 9,4 Year Number marriages per 1000 inhabitants Number divorce per 1000 inhabitants 1980 46.083 11,5 11.273 2,8 1985 40.901 9,7 11.176 2,7 1990 40.809 9,4 13.135 3,0 1995 32.775 7,5 14.617 3,4 2000 21.684 6,0 9.707 2,7 2005 27.187 7,6 14.521 4,0 2010 26.483 7,4 11.504 3,2 2011 25.900 7,3 11.120 3,1 2012 24.262 6,8 10.637 3,0 2013 24.449 6,9 10.775 3,0 2014 25.624 7,2 11.130 3,1 2015 24.709 6,9 11.199 3,1 2016 21.992 6,2 10.605 3,0 [file:Плотность населения Молдавии на 2014 г.png|thumb|400px|Density of population per km2, depending on administrative unit] Year Urban population % Rural population % 2014 901.694 34,74 1.694.077 65,26 2024 1.118.967 46,45 1.290.240 53,55