Romanian Foreign Minister doubts results of Moldovan census

The discrepancy between the number of Romanians declared at the Moldovan census of 2004, and that of the requests for regaining Romanian citizenship questions the correctness of the census carried out by Moldovan authorities, declared Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, Romanian Foreign Minister, at the opening of the Conference of Romanian Communities from Europe. Ungureanu considers "incorrect" the fact that the 2004 Moldovan census revealed the number of about 70.000 Romanians, while the number of Moldovan citizens who request, at present, the Romanian citizenship exceeds 400,000. According to the results of the 2004 census, 73,276 Romanians, or about 4.4% from the total number of population, live in the R. of Moldova. Most of those who declared themselves Romanians live in the municipality of Chisinau – about 32,000, followed by Orhei raion – with more than 8,000. The lowest number of Romanians lives in Gagauzia – 38. According to the results of the census, officially, 75.8% of the population are Moldovans, 8.4% Ukrainians, 5.9% Russians.