The Republic of Moldova goes through important demographic processes. The population continues to decline, being now of 2.6 million. Each fifth person is older than 60. About 150,000 people, mostly young, out-migrate annually from Moldova, shows the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) that was made public today, IPN reports.
More than half of the population considers the ideal number of children in a family is at least three. In the own family, they intend to have at most two children. In rural areas, the inclination to have more children is greater than in urban areas. Most of the men and most of the women who intend to have children during the next three years are from the central and southern regions of the country, while the lowest numbers are receded in the municipality of Chisinau. One third of the population of reproductive age said they want a child during the next three years. 11% of the respondents said they experience conception problems.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița in a live stream said the Republic of Moldova, as other countries of the region, witnesses a decline in natality, population aging, reduction in life expectancy and out-migration. The Government aims to create conditions for the women and men to be able to equally achieve their professional and family aspirations. It also intends to create conditions for the diaspora to return home and to contribute to the country’s economic and social development. The Government and Parliament combined forces to work out a common view that will be based on a strategic approach.
The study was carried out as part of UNFPA’s Demographic Resilience Program that is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. Giulia Vallese, UNFPA Acting Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said this is the most comprehensive longitudinal demographic study that was conducted in the Republic of Moldova and it offers the data needed for correctly addressing the demographic change.
Underlining the enormous potential of the study as regards the understating of the factors related to demography, UNFPA Moldova Resident Representative Nigina Abaszada said the same families will be visited two more times, every three years. The survey results are already used to formulate different policy documents, like those concerning balancing of workload and involvement of fathers.
Minister of Labor and Social Protection Marcel Spatari said that Moldova should offer the families a chose as to how many children they want to have. The state should help the families and not only financially, but also with services. The crèche services should be developed. The employers should be encouraged to create playgrounds near the workplace so that the parents can leave the small children there.
The survey covered 10,000 net respondents from over 153 localities who responded operators’ questions about their life. The results will support policy makers, academia and civil society to better understand the dynamic complexity of women and men’s life course and needs, people’s intention to create a family and have children, issues related to work-life balance, desired fertility and infertility along with challenges in building the demographic resilience in the Republic of Moldova.
