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 today by the National Bureau of Statistics.
NBS director Vitalie Valcov said there were two main impediments that flawed the accuracy of the 2014 census. First, international migration flows can not be measured exactly because Moldova does not fully control its borders, and second, it’s difficult to count people that hold dual or multiple citizenship. “There are people who leave the country with the passport of one country, then enter the country bank with the passport of another,” said Vitalie Valcov.
Valentina Istrati, head of the NBS Census Division, said that the term of “habitual residence” refers to “people who have lived in the country for at least nine months in the reference years.” She added that the review took the data from the last census and adjusted it to the number of births and deaths in recent years, as well as the undeclared international net migration.
The NBS was able to update the most important demographic indicators by working together with the Government of Moldova, the Public Services Agency and the Border Police.
The census update was conducted with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Swiss Cooperation Office. Rita Columbia, UNFPA Representative to Moldova, said that “the availability of reliable data on Moldova’s population is instrumental in achieving the country's development goals and in fulfilling the rights of all people.”