The Republic of Moldova’s population with ordinary residence has continuously decreased since 2014. The decrease is due to the reduction of the rural population that declined by about 230,000 people. The urban population in the period has been generally stable, the decline totaling only about 35,000 persons. The statistical data were made public in a conference entitled “Public presentation of results of estimates of population with ordinary residence by areas”, IPN reports.
According to the results, the population declined by over 260,000 persons. The evolution of the population by districts is nonuniform. 41% of the country’s population is concentrated in only five territorial-administrative units, namely the municipality of Chisinau, ATU Gagauzia, the municipality of Bălți, the districts of Ungheni and Cahul. Five districts have the lowest number of people. Together they account for 5% of the country’s propulsion. These are Dondușeni, Taraclia, Șoldănești, Dubăsari and Basarabeasca. Also, it was determined that internal migration and natural growth fully offset the losses as a result of negative international migration in the municipality of Chisinau.
The main components of the increase and decline in the population are natural growth (difference between number of births and of deaths), internal net migration (difference between number of arrivals and number of departures in a geographical unit) and international migration (difference between number of emigrants and migrants who enter or leave the country).
Natalia Bargan, head of the National Bureau of Statistics’ Population Statistics and Migration Division, said the data on internal migration need to be improved given that many persons actually have another place of ordinary residence. The absence of residence for children aged between 0 and 15 is a challenge in the estimation of internal and international migration”.
“The increase in population, its structure at particular periods of time, especially by territorial-administrative units, are of critical importance for assessing the available human capital of the country so as to decide the intervention directions of the regional and local development policies. The desegregation of data about the population with ordinary residence by sex, age and place of residence is opportune and relevant for designing a wide range of policies on demographic, social, economic and environmental problems. To ensure the reliability of calculations and to compare data at European and international levels, the estimates were made by using the ordinary residence according to international standards, including the EU standards,” said Oleg Cara, director general of the National Bureau of Statistics.
According to him, the population and migration statistics are one of the most important areas of official statistics. The aligning of national statistics with the European standards is valuable in the context of the recent obtaining by the Republic of Moldova of the EU candidate status.
“In November this year, the planet’s population will reach 8 billion... At international level, including in Moldova, the population has declined the last decade owing to the combined effects of smaller fertility, larger mortality, especially among men, the high level of migration, especially among young people of reproductive age. This creates a unique demographic environment in the region... For some of us, the given situation is worrisome, while for others it is an opportunity to come up with new policies,” said Nigina Abaszada, UNFPA Moldova Resident Representative.
The event to present the results of estimates of population with ordinary residence by areas was timed to coincide with World Population Day that is celebrated on July 11.
