Number of Moldovans up by 5.9 percent compared with 1989

The share of Ukrainians in Moldova’s population has dropped by 2.9 percent in 15 years, of Russians declined by 3.9 percent, of Bulgarians by 0.1 percent, and of other nationalities by 1.7 percent. At the same time, the number of Moldovans has grown by 5.9 percent compared with 1989, of Gagauzians by 0.3 percent, of Romanians by 2.1 percent. These data are part of the totals of the October 2004 population census. According to a communication of the National Bureau for Statistics, the census revealed the fact that the majority population represent 75.8 percent of the total of population, Ukrainians – 8.4 percent, Russians – 5.9 percent, Gagauzians – 4.4 percent, Romanians – 2.2 percent, Bulgarians -1.9 percent, and other nationalities – 1.0 percent of the total of population. The nationality for 0.4 percent of population was not registered. Moldovans, Gagauzians, Bulgarians live mainly in villages, while Russians, Romanians and Ukrainians in cities. As much as 78.4 percent of Moldovans said that Moldovan is their native language, 18.8 percent said Romanian, 2.5 percent said Russian, and 0.3 percent said other languages. Moldovans who speak Russian represent 5.0 percent of the total. Although most of Ukrainians, Gagauzians and Bulgarians said that the language of their nationality is their native language, every 2nd Ukrainian, every 3rd Bulgarian and every 4th Gagauzian speak Russian. Further, 58.8 percent speak Moldovan, 16.4 percent speak Romanian, 16.0 percent speak Russian, 3.8 percent speak Ukrainian, 3.1 percent speak Gagauz, and 1.1 percent speak Bulgarian. As much as 0.4 percent of population speak other languages and another 0.4 percent did not say what language they speak. Even more, 78.8 percent of country’s population said that the language of their nationality is their native language, while 20.8 percent indicated another language. The census indicated that Moldovans citizens count for 3,371,082 persons or 99.6 percent of the total of population. As many as 6,486 persons (0.2 percent) held the citizenship of another state while 5,374 people did not hold any citizenship when the census took place. Further, 12,705 persons said that they hold dual citizenship while 390 persons did not indicate their citizenship. The stable population of Moldova (except for the eastern districts and the Bender municipality) registered at the October 5-12, 2004 census count for 3,383,332 residents.