Moldova’s population has fallen by 13.6% in the last 10 years to 2.4 million. At the same time, the percentage of those living in cities has risen to 46.4%, and almost 30% live in Chisinau, the final results of the 2024 Population and Housing Census, presented by the National Bureau of Statistics at a press conference, IPN reports.
Presenting the data, Aurelia Spataru, Deputy Director General of the NBS, noted that in the last ten years, all districts and Balti municipality have registered a decrease in population. In 28 districts, the population has decreased by more than 20%. The largest decreases were in Ocnita (-29.5%), Leova (-29.2%), Briceni (-28.7%) and Cantemir (-28.5%), while the only increase was in Chisinau – by 16.8%.
The municipality of Chisinau concentrates almost 30% of the country’s population, with over 720 thousand inhabitants, followed by the Center and North regions. Balti is the second largest municipality with about 95 thousand inhabitants. The least populated are the South region and UTA Gagauzia. Most districts have one or two cities, while Chisinau has seven cities.
46.4% of the country’s population lives in urban areas and 53.6% in rural areas, with Moldova remaining one of the most rural in Europe. Women account for 52.8% of the population and men 47.2%. The highest proportions of women are in Balti municipality (54.8%) and the lowest in Leova (50.4%) and Cantemir (50.5%).
The population in collective living quarters is 22.8 thousand people, mostly men, and 77.4% live in urban areas. The highest concentration is in Chisinau municipality, with 45% of the total, followed by the Center and North regions.
According to NBS director Oleg Cara, the results of the census will be disseminated in several stages, planned by the end of this year, for most of the data. The director of the NBS is confident that these data will be utilized to the extent of their informational importance by the authorities, economic agents, universities or LPAs.
Andrei Strah, Deputy Secretary General of the Government, assured that the census data is important to develop informed public policies that respond to citizens’ needs.
The 2024 census was conducted between April 8 and July 7 in 35 out of 37 administrative-territorial units, covering 1 525 localities out of 1 682, with approximately 2 448 000 persons enumerated. In 157 localities, located in regions not under the control of the Moldovan authorities, the census could not be conducted.
