According to a recent study by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the pre-school education system is also recording a decline in the number of pupils. At the end of 2025, 122.9 thousand children attended early education institutions – 4.3 thousand fewer than the previous year. On average, there were 70 children for every 100 places in kindergartens.
In Moldova, 60% of pupils are city dwellers
There were 334.6 thousand pupils in primary and general secondary education, the majority of them – 57.3% – living in urban areas. Special attention is paid to inclusion: about 14 thousand children with special educational needs and disabilities received education. Of these, 95.8 per cent were educated in general education schools and only 4.2 per cent in specialized institutions.
Extracurricular education includes 117 music, art and art schools, where 24,400 children studied. Another 32,900 children attended clubs in 51 children’s creative centers. Eight centers of technical creativity trained 5.3 thousand children, and centers of young tourism and young naturalist trained 1.5 thousand children each.
There are over 17,000 vulnerable children in the country.
Social services continue to work with vulnerable children. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, by the end of 2025, about 17.4 thousand children at risk were registered. More than half of them – 55.4% – belong to the age group from 7 to 15 years old. Among these children, 458 have disabilities.
Respiratory diseases remain the most common diseases among minors. In 2025, 199.6 thousand such cases were registered, accounting for 65.3% of the total child morbidity. In addition, 27.7 thousand cases of injuries and poisonings, as well as 20.8 thousand infectious and parasitic diseases were recorded.
Statistics also show the persistence of serious risks to children’s health. The number of new cases of malignant neoplasms reached 16.5 per 100 thousand children, and the rate of active tuberculosis amounted to 17.2 cases per 100 thousand children.
Almost 2% of crimes are committed by children
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 428 crimes committed by or with the participation of minors were registered in 2025. This represents 1.9% of the total number of registered crimes. The most common offenses remained theft, which accounted for 58.6% of all cases, hooliganism – 9.6%, and vehicle theft – 6.3%.
A total of 580 minors committed crimes during the year. The number of children convicted by courts of first instance amounted to 278.
It should be noted that the NBS statistical review “Situation of Children in RM” was published on the occasion of the Children’s Day and reflects the key demographic, social, educational and medical indicators characterizing the situation of children in Moldova by the end of 2025.
