Elderly persons will represent one third of Moldova’s population towards 2050

One third of Moldova’s people will be of retirement age towards 2050. The number of elderly persons is on the rise owing to migration and the falling birth rate, shows a study presented by the United Nations Population Fund Moldova on January 26, Info-Prim Neo reports. During the presentation of the study, UNFPA Moldova Deputy Representative Boris Gilca said Moldova’s population is aging at a higher rate than the population of the European Union. “The population today is about 3.5 million, without the Transnistrian region. By 2050, Moldova will have officially 2.5 million people, while by 2130, according to a study by the Vienna Institute of Demography, 1.5 million people. The number of young people will decrease and of elderly people will increase. There will be almost twice more pensioners than working people,” stated Boris Gilca. Attending the event, Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga said the Ministry will submit a series of proposals for developing the social and medial services needed by the elderly, such as provision of homecare and creation of community centers. “The main problems faced by the elderly include the social exclusion, the low level of social welfare and the lack of attention from children. We recommend the local public authorities to plan different activities to involve the elderly persons in community life,” said Valentina Buliga. According to the study, the southern region of the country is the least affected by ageing. The elderly people there represent 19.3% of the population. In the municipality of Chisinau, the percentage is 20.2%. Most of the elderly persons live in northern Moldova – 32.1%. The data were obtained after studying the people older than 50.