The revision of Moldova’s population figures that showed there were 2,681,735 persons with habitual residence in the country at the start of this year should determine the policies that need to be implemented in this regard, program analyst at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Moldova Eduard Mihalaș was quoted by IPN as saying in the talk show “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1.
“The revised population data actually show the demographic situation in the country and what policies should be implemented in this regard. For example, according to the new data, we have one of the highest fertility rates in Europe and have an ageing population or an emigrating class of young people. Namely these data help us to decide what policies are necessary and how we can implement them,” stated Eduard Mihalaș.
National Bureau of Statistics director Vitalie Valcov said no instruments for measuring the demographic phenomena in Moldova existed until now. The new population counting methodology was worked out with the assistance of a foreign expert. This includes a new definition “habitual residence” that shows the number of persons in a locality, in the country or abroad during the past 12 months. “We processed absolutely all the data about border crossings. It is a huge volume of information concerning about 165 million crossings during the last five years (...) Aster processing this large volume of information, we determined migration according to this new definition of “habitual residence”,” he stated.
Olga Gagauz, director of the Demographic Research Center, noted that migration is a known problem in Moldova. Since the start of the 2000s, when this phenomenon began to intensify, there had been no instruments for measuring migration flows. “We all knew that migration exists and its level is very high. We have relatives, acquaintances who have stayed abroad for a long period of time. Now we have this information about the number of people who habitually reside in Moldova,” said Olga Gagauz, adding the migration flows depend on the economic situation in Moldova and in the host countries and on the migration policies of these.
As of the beginning of this year, 2,681,735 people were habitually residing in Moldova, 52.4% of whom were women, according to a census update presented by the National Bureau of Statistics. The census update was conducted with the support of the United Nations Population Fund and the Swiss Cooperation Office.
