UN report indicates Moldova has become Europe’s most rural country

Moldova became the most rural European country. This fact is indicated in the report “State of World Population – Urban Growth”, published by the United Nations Population Fund. According to the report, the rate of the urban population in Moldova decreased from 47.4% in 1989 to 39% in 2004. The report shows that in 2008, for the first time in history, urban population will represent more than half of the world population, reaching 3.3 billion people, and only in Chisinau the urbanisation process is completely the opposite. Ghenadie Ivascenco, director executive of the “Habitat-Moldova” Centre, told Wednesday a press conference that the demographic trends are alarming for Moldova: in the last 15 years the population of Orhei and Soroca cities decreased by one third, Ungheni and Cahul – by almost one quarter, and of Balti City – by about 20%. The main reason for the urban population decrease in Moldova is the massive migration of the Moldovans abroad. At the same time, in the last 15 years the number of cities in Moldova grew from 21 to 65, after all the town-like localities were declared cities. According to Ivascenco, the small and average-sized towns are constantly subject to a rustication process and are constantly turned into rural localities. Moldova is losing its regional centres of development. With very few exceptions, no small or average-sized towns in Moldova have the necessary conditions to attract foreign investors. Those towns don’t have the necessary human resources, logistics, services and infrastructure, Ivascenco mentioned. According to Mihai Roscovan, the coordinator of Chisinau General Urban Plan, the capital is one of the largest urbanised areas in the region. On a national plan, Chisinau has the best situation compared to the rest of the country. Most of the economic, financial and institutional potential is concentrated in Chisinau, which makes the entire country excessively depending on the capital. The country is also depending on the benefits generated by the contrast between the centre and the outskirts, deepened by the development of the market relations and by a reduced control from the state. At the same time, the problems inside the city are getting more serious. Some of these problems are the limited technical infrastructure, territorial disparities, the low-quality public utilities, the ineffective economical reorganisation, the degradation of the cultural patrimony, the inefficiency of the administrative management, environment problems and so on. According to the authors of the General Urban Plan, the development perspective indicated in Chisinau Development Strategy estimates that by 2025 Chisinau will become a modern capital city, connected to the international communication network and integrated into the European economic and cultural sector. It is also expected that Chisinau will become a multi-functional hub, connecting the East of Europe with the West.