Demographics

Moldova occupies a unique place in European economic geography – and not a place to be proud of. The country is both peripheral to Western Europe and a donor of human capital to countries that are themselves peripheral. This is not a rhetorical exaggeration – it is a structural diagnosis that follows from a body of theoretical and empirical work on regional development, institutions and spatial economics. This article is an attempt to synthesize these works in relation to the Moldovan reality – without illusions, but also without hopelessness.

According to the census-2024, of the 2,409,200 permanent residents of the country, 1,119,000 people chose to live in urban areas (46.4%) and 1,290,200 people chose to live in rural areas (53.6%).

According to forecasts, by 2040, every fourth Moldovan citizen will be over 65 years old. And only a third of families planning to have a child in the next three years were able to realize this plan. Moldova’s demographic and economic sustainability was discussed during the public dialog “Invisible Human Capital Accelerators for Demographic Sustainability”.

An urban agglomeration approaching one million inhabitants is clearly taking shape in Chisinau, including the municipality and the districts of Straseni, Ialoveni, Anenii Noi and Criuleni, Logos Press reported.

Moldova ranks 113th out of 200 countries and territories in the world in terms of the number of births per 1,000 inhabitants, Logos Press reported.