In Moldova, over 150,000 children live separate from their parents who work abroad. According to European statistics, the phenomenon of children speared from parents in Moldova reached one of the highest levels in the countries of Europe, after Romania. The data are contained in the Social Monitor “Quality of children’s lives – an impact factor in the sustainable development of Moldova”, made by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul”, IPN reports.

Over the last few years, at least one member of every fifth family with children has been working abroad. More than 2/3 of these families are from rural areas. Every fifth migrant aged between 20 and 49 is the parent of at least one child of preschool age.

The impact of the absence of one or both of the parents following labor migration on children who remained at home is felt by the rise in the number of children aged between 10 and 19 who drink alcohol. In 2012, 6% of the children who remained without parental care drank alcohol two times a week, while in 2003 this figure stood at 3%. However, 1/3 of the teens consider that school non-attendance is due to the absence of parental control as a result of labor migration. The number of children involved in the commission of offenses has also increased, by 200 on average in the last three years.

The number of children monitored by tutelage bodies increased by over 54% since 1996, to 3,483 in 2012. The monitored children mainly are aged between 11 and 15 (30.3%), are from rural areas (72%) and are boys (52%).