On January 1, 2012 in Moldova there were 3.5 million people, by 900 fewer on 2011. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Tatiana Isai, specialist at the Demographic Statistics Division of the National Bureau of Statistics, said the decline is due to migration and the natural population growth, i.e. the difference between births and deaths. According to preliminary data, over 1 million people lived in Moldova at the start of the year, almost twice more than in southern Moldova, where 538,900 people lived. ”This discrepancy is because there are more districts in northern Moldova. The population aging and migration from villages to towns also contributed to this,” said Tatiana Isai. In the municipality of Chisinau, there were almost 800,000 people, by over 5,000 more than a year before. The Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia on January 1, 2012 had 160,600 people, down 600 compared with the start of 2011. The data do not cover the population of Transnistria and Bender municipality.