Moldova
Encyclopedia
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova (Moldovan
/ reˈpublika molˈdova) is a landlocked
state
in Eastern Europe
, located between Romania
to the West and Ukraine
to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union
. A strip of Moldova's internationally recognized territory on the east bank of the river Dniester
has been under the de facto
control of the breakaway government of Transnistria
since 1990.
The nation is a parliamentary republic
with a president
as head of state
and a prime minister as head of government
. Moldova is a member state of the United Nations
, Council of Europe
, WTO
, OSCE, GUAM
, CIS
, BSEC
and other international organizations. Moldova currently aspires to join the European Union
, and has implemented the first three-year Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy
(ENP).
; the valley of this river was a political center when the Principality of Moldavia
was founded
in 1359. The origin of the name of the river is not clear. There is an account (a legend) of prince Dragoş
naming the river after hunting an aurochs
: after the chase, his exhausted hound Molda drowned in the river. According to Dimitrie Cantemir
and Grigore Ureche
, the dog's name was given to the river and extended to the Principality.
era Moldova's territory was the center of the large Cucuteni-Trypillian culture that stretched east beyond the Dniester River in Ukraine, and west up to and beyond the Carpathian Mountains
in Romania. The inhabitants of this civilization, which lasted roughly from 5500 to 2750 BC, practiced agriculture, raised livestock, hunted, and made intricately designed pottery. This society built very large settlements, some of which numbered up to 15,000 inhabitants.
In Antiquity
Moldova's territory was inhabited by Dacian
tribes. Between the I and VII centuries AD, the south was intermittently under the Roman
, then Byzantine Empire
s. Due to its strategic location on a route between Asia and Europe, the territory of modern Moldova was invaded many times in late antiquity and early Middle Ages
, including by Goths
, Huns
, Avars
, Bulgarians
, Magyars, Pechenegs, Cumans
, Mongols
and Tatars.
The Principality of Moldavia
, established in 1359, was bounded by the Carpathian mountains
in the west, Dniester river in the east, and Danube
and Black Sea
in the south. Its territory comprised the present-day territory of the Republic of Moldova, the eastern eight of the 41 counties of Romania
, and the Chernivtsi oblast
and Budjak
region of Ukraine. Like the present-day republic and Romania's north-eastern region, it was known to the locals as Moldova. Moldavia was invaded repeatedly by Crimean Tatars
and, since the 15th century, by the Turks. In 1538, the principality became a tributary
to the Ottoman Empire
, but it retained internal and partial external autonomy.
and despite numerous protests by Moldavian nobles on behalf of their autonomous status, the Ottoman Empire
(of which Moldavia was a vassal
) ceded to the Russian Empire
the eastern half of the territory of the Principality of Moldavia along with Khotyn
and old Bessarabia (modern Budjak
).
The new Russian province was called "Oblast of Moldavia and Bessarabia", and initially enjoyed a large degree of autonomy. After 1828 this autonomy was progressively restricted and in 1871 the Oblast was transformed into the Bessarabia Governorate
, in a process of state-imposed assimilation
, "Russification
". As part of this process, the Tsarist administration in Bessarabia gradually removed the Romanian language
from official and religious use. The western part of Moldavia (which is a part of present-day Romania) remained an autonomous principality, and in 1859, united with Wallachia
to form the Kingdom of Romania
.
The Treaty of Paris (1856)
returned three counties of Bessarabia — Cahul
, Bolgrad and Ismail — to Moldavia, but in the Treaty of Berlin (1878), the Kingdom of Romania agreed to return them to the Russian Empire. Over the 19th century, the Russian authorities encouraged colonization of the south of the region by Ukrainians
, Lipovans
, Cossacks, Bulgarians
, Germans, Gagauzes
, and allowed the settlement of more Jews
, to replace the large Nogai
Tatar
population expelled in the 1770s and 1780s, during Russo-Turkish Wars; the Moldovan proportion of the population decreased from around 86% in 1816 to around 52% in 1905.
formed in 1917; within bigger units several "Moldavian Soldiers' Committees" were formed. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, a Bessarabian parliament, Sfatul Ţării
, was elected in October–November 1917
and opened on . The Sfatul Ţării proclaimed the Moldavian Democratic Republic
within a federal Russian state, and formed a government
.
Bessarabia proclaimed independence from Russia on and requested the assistance of the French army present in Romania (general Henri Berthelot
) and of the Romanian army, which had occupied the region in early January. On , the Sfatul Ţării decided with 86 votes for, 3 against and 36 abstaining, to unite with the Kingdom of Romania
. The union was conditional upon fulfillment of the agrarian reform, autonomy, and respect for universal human rights. A part of the interim Parliament agreed to drop these conditions after Bukovina
and Transylvania
also joined the Kingdom of Romania, although historians note that they lacked the quorum
to do so.
This union was recognized by the principal Allied Powers
in the 1920 Treaty of Paris
, which however was not ratified by all of its signatories. Some major powers, such as the United States and the newly communist Russia, did not recognize Romanian rule over Bessarabia, the latter considering it an occupation of Russian territory.
In May 1919, the Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic
was proclaimed as a government in exile. After the failure of the Tatarbunary Uprising
in 1924, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR) was formed.
In August 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
and its secret additional protocol were signed, by which Nazi Germany
recognized Bessarabia as being within the Soviet sphere of influence, which led the latter to actively revive its claim to the region. On June 28, 1940, the Soviet Union, with the acknowledgement of Nazi Germany, issued an ultimatum to Romania requesting the cession of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, with which Romania complied the following day. Soon after, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian SSR) was established, comprising about 70% of Bessarabia, and 50% of the now-disbanded Moldavian ASSR.
As part of the 1941 Axis invasion of the Soviet Union
, Romania seized the territories of Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and Transnistria
. Romanian forces, working with the Germans, deported or exterminated about 300,000 Jews, including 147,000 from Bessarabia and Bukovina (of the latter, approximately 90,000 perished). The Soviet Army re-captured the region in February–August 1944, and re-established the Moldavian SSR. Between the end of the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive in August 1944 and the end of the war in May 1945, 256,800 inhabitants of the Moldavian SSR were drafted into the Soviet Army. 40,592 of them perished.
, to Siberia
, and northern Kazakhstan
occurred regularly, with the largest ones on 12–13 June 1941, and 5–6 July 1949, accounting from MSSR alone for 18,392 and 35,796 deportees respectively. Other forms of Soviet persecution of the population included 32,433 political arrests, followed by Gulag
or (in 8,360 cases) execution.
In 1946, as a result of a severe drought and excessive delivery quota obligations and requisitions imposed by the Soviet government, the southwestern part of the USSR suffered from a major famine. In 1946–1947, at least 216,000 deaths and about 350,000 cases of dystrophy were accounted by historians in the Moldavian SSR alone. Similar events occurred in 1930s in the Moldavian ASSR. In 1944–53, there were several anti-Soviet resistance groups in Moldova; however the NKVD
and later MGB
managed to eventually arrest, execute or deport their members.
In the postwar period, the Soviet government arranged migration of workforce (mostly Russians, Belarusians
, and Ukrainians
), into the new Soviet republic, especially into urbanized areas, partly to compensate for the demographic loss caused by the war and the emigration of 1940 and 1944. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Moldavian SSR received substantial allocations from the budget of the USSR to develop industrial and scientific facilities and housing. In 1971, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a decision "About the measures for further development of the city of Kishinev
" (modern Chişinău), that allotted more than one billion Soviet ruble
s from the USSR budget for building projects, subsequent decisions also directed substantial funding and brought qualified specialists from other parts of the USSR to develop Moldova's industry.
The Soviet government conducted a campaign to promote a Moldovan ethnic identity distinct from that of the Romanians, based on a theory developed during the existence of the Moldavian ASSR
. Official Soviet policy asserted that the language spoken by Moldovans was distinct from the Romanian language
(see Moldovenism
). To distinguish the two, during the Soviet period, Moldovan
was written in the Cyrillic alphabet, in contrast with Romanian, which since 1860 had been written in the Latin alphabet
.
After the death of Stalin, political persecutions changed in character from mass to individual. All independent organizations were severely reprimanded, with the National Patriotic Front
leaders being sentenced in 1972 to long prison terms. The Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova
is assessing the activity of the communist totalitarian regime.
In the 1980s, political conditions created by the glasnost
and perestroika
, a Democratic Movement of Moldova was formed, which in 1989 became known as the nationalist Popular Front of Moldova
(FPM). Along with several other Soviet republics, from 1988 onwards, Moldova started to move towards independence
. On August 27, 1989, the FPM organized a mass demonstration in Chişinău
that became known as the Grand National Assembly. The assembly pressured the authorities of the Moldavian SSR to adopt a language law on August 31, 1989 that proclaimed the Moldovan language
written in the Latin script to be the state language of the MSSR. Its identity with the Romanian language
was also established.
for the local parliament were held in February and March 1990. Mircea Snegur
was elected as Speaker of the Parliament
, and Mircea Druc
as Prime Minister
. On June 23, 1990, the Parliament adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty of the "Soviet Socialist Republic Moldova", which, among other things, stipulated the supremacy of Moldovan laws over those of the Soviet Union. After the failure of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, on August 27, 1991, Moldova declared its independence, Romania
being the first state to recognize its independence.
On December 21 of the same year Moldova, along with most of the other Soviet republics, signed the constitutive act that formed the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS). Moldova received official recognition on December 25. On December 26, 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Declaring itself a neutral state, it did not join the military branch of the CIS. Three months later, on March 2, 1992, the country gained formal recognition as an independent state at the United Nations. In 1994, Moldova became a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace
program and also a member of the Council of Europe
on June 29, 1995.
In the region east of the Dniester
river, Transnistria
, which includes a large proportion of predominantly russophone
East Slavs
of Ukrainian
(28%) and Russian (26%) descent (altogether 54% as of 1989), while Moldovans
(40%) have been the largest ethnic group, and where the headquarters and many units of the Soviet 14th Guards Army were stationed, an independent Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
was proclaimed on August 16, 1990, with its capital in Tiraspol
. The motives behind this move were fear of the rise of nationalism in Moldova and the country's expected reunification with Romania upon secession from the USSR. In the winter of 1991–1992 clashes occurred between Transnistrian forces, supported by elements of the 14th Army
, and the Moldovan police. Between March 2 and July 26, 1992, the conflict escalated into a military engagement
.
On January 2, 1992, Moldova introduced a market economy
, liberalizing prices, which resulted in rapid inflation. From 1992 to 2001, the young country suffered a serious economic crisis, leaving most of the population below the poverty line. In 1993, a national currency, the Moldovan leu
, was introduced to replace the temporary cupon
. The economy of Moldova
began to change in 2001; and until 2008 the country saw a steady annual growth of between 5% and 10%. The early 2000s also saw a considerable growth of emigration of Moldovans looking for work (mostly illegally) in Russia (especially the Moscow region), Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and other countries; remittances from Moldovans abroad account for almost 38% of Moldova's GDP, the second-highest percentage in the world.
In the 1994 parliamentary elections
, the Democratic Agrarian Party gained a majority of the seats, setting a turning point in Moldovan politics. With the nationalist Popular Front now in a parliamentary minority, new measures aiming to moderate the ethnic tensions in the country could be adopted. Plans for a union with Romania were abandoned, and the new Constitution
gave autonomy to the breakaway Transnistria and Gagauzia
. On December 23, 1994, the Parliament of Moldova adopted a "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia", and in 1995 the latter was constituted.
After winning the 1996 presidential elections
, on January 15, 1997, Petru Lucinschi
, the former First Secretary of the Moldavian Communist Party
in 1989–91, became the country's second president
(1997–2001), succeeding Mircea Snegur (1991–1996). In 2000, the Constitution
was amended, transforming Moldova into a parliamentary republic
, with the president being chosen through indirect election
rather than direct popular vote.
Winning 49.9% of the vote
, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (reinstituted in 1993 after being outlawed in 1991), gained 71 of the 101 MPs, and on April 4, 2001, elected Vladimir Voronin
as the country's third president (re-elected in 2005). The country became the first post-Soviet state where a non-reformed Communist Party returned to power. New governments were formed by Vasile Tarlev
(April 19, 2001 – March 31, 2008), and Zinaida Greceanîi
(March 31, 2008 – September 14, 2009). In 2001–2003 relations between Moldova and Russia
improved, but then temporarily deteriorated in 2003–2006, in the wake of the failure of the Kozak memorandum
, culminating in the 2006 wine exports crisis
. The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova managed to stay in power for eight years, mainly due to the appeal to the ethnic minorities, the support from the West during the presidential elections from April 4, 2005, the reliance on the Soviet notion of the Moldovan identity, the attempts to build a state based only on the Moldovan identity, and most important due to the control over a significant portion of the Moldovan media. The fragmentation of the liberal (aka the democrats) and the frequent manipulations of the electoral laws helped consolidate its power. The decline of the party started in 2009 after Marian Lupu joined the Democratic Party and thus attracted many of the Moldovans supporting the Communists.
In the April 2009 parliamentary elections, the Communist Party won 49.48% of the votes, followed by the Liberal Party
with 13.14% of the votes, the Liberal Democratic Party
with 12.43%, and the Alliance "Moldova Noastră"
with 9.77%. The controversial results of this election sparked civil unrest
In August 2009, four Moldovan parties – Liberal Democratic Party, Liberal Party, Democratic Party
, and Our Moldova Alliance – agreed to create a governing coalition
that pushed the Communist party into opposition. On August 28, 2009, this coalition chose a new parliament speaker
(Mihai Ghimpu
) in a vote that was boycotted by Communist legislators. Vladimir Voronin
, who had been President of Moldova
since 2001, eventually resigned on September 11, 2009, but the Parliament failed to elect a new president. The acting president Mihai Ghimpu instituted the Commission for constitutional reform in Moldova
to adopt a new version of the Constitution of Moldova
. After the constitutional referendum
aimed to approve the reform failed in September 2010, the parliament was dissolved again and a new parliamentary election
was scheduled for 28 November 2010. On December 30, 2010, Marian Lupu was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament. In accordance with the Constitution, he will be serving as the Acting President of Republic of Moldova.
parliamentary
representative
democratic republic
. The 1994 Constitution of Moldova
sets the framework for the government of the country. A parliamentary majority of at least two thirds is required to amend the Constitution of Moldova
, which cannot be revised in time of war or national emergency. Amendments to the Constitution affecting the state's sovereignty, independence, or unity can only be made after a majority of voters support the proposal in a referendum. Furthermore, no revision can be made to limit the fundamental rights of people enumerated in the Constitution.
The country's central legislative body is the unicameral Moldovan Parliament (), which has 101 seats, and whose members are elected by popular vote on party lists
every four years.
The head of state is the President of Moldova
, who is elected by the Moldovan Parliament, requiring the support of three fifths of the deputies (at least 61 votes). The president of Moldova has been elected by the parliament since 2001, a change designed to decrease executive authority in favor of the legislature. The president appoints a prime minister who functions as the head of government
, and who in turn assembles a cabinet
, both subject to parliamentary approval.
The 1994 constitution also establishes an independent
Constitutional Court
, composed of six judges (two appointed by the President, two by Parliament, and two by the Supreme Council of Magistrature
), serving six-year terms, during which they are irremovable and not subordinate to any power. The Court is invested with the power of judicial review
over all acts of the parliament, over presidential decrees, and over international treaties, signed by the country.
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After achieving independence from the Soviet Union, Moldova established relations with other European countries. A course for European Union integration and neutrality define the country's foreign policy guidelines. In 1995 the country was admitted to the Council of Europe
. In addition to its participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace
program, Moldova is also a member state of the United Nations, the OSCE, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council
, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund
, the World Bank
, the Francophonie and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
.
In 2005, Moldova and the EU established an action plan that sought to improve the collaboration between the two neighboring structures. At the end of 2005 EUBAM, the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine
, was established at the joint request of the presidents of Moldova and Ukraine. EUBAM assists the Moldovan and Ukrainian governments in approximating their border and customs procedures to EU standards, and offers support in both countries' fight against cross-border crime. www.eubam.org
After the War of Transnistria
, Moldova sought a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Transnistria
region by working with Romania, Ukraine, and Russia, calling for international mediation, and cooperating with the OSCE and UN fact-finding and observer missions. The foreign minister of Moldova
, Andrei Stratan
, repeatedly stated that the Russian troops stationed in the breakaway region are there against the will of the Moldovan Government and called on them to leave "completely and unconditionally."
In September 2010, the European Parliament
approved a grant of €90 million to Moldova. The money will supplement $570 million in International Monetary Fund
loans, World Bank
and other bilateral support already granted to Moldova. In April 2010, Romania offered to Moldova development aid worth of €100 million while the number of scholarships for Moldovan students will double to 5,000 According to a lending agreement signed in February 2010, Poland will provide US$15 million and will support Moldova in its European integration efforts.
and Air and Air Defense Forces. Moldova has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union. On October 30, 1992, Moldova ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
, which establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment and provides for the destruction of weapons in excess of those limits. The country acceded to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in October 1994 in Washington, D.C. It does not have nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. Moldova joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's Partnership for Peace
on March 16, 1994.
Moldova is committed to a number of international and regional control of arms regulations such as the UN Firearms Protocol, Stability Pact Regional Implementation Plan, the UN Programme of Action (PoA) and the OSCE Documents on Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition.
), three municipalities and two autonomous regions (Gagauzia
and Transnistria
). The final status of Transnistria is disputed
, as the central government does not control that territory. The cities of Comrat
and Tiraspol
, the administrative seats of the two autonomous territories also have municipality status.
Moldova has 65 cities (towns), including the five with municipality status, and 917 communes. Some other 699 villages are too small to have a separate administration, and are administratively part of either cities (40 of them) or communes (659). This makes for a total of 1,681 localities of Moldova, all but two of which are inhabited.
Moldova lies between latitudes 45° and 49° N
, and mostly between meridians 26°
and 30° E
(a small area lies east of 30°).
The largest part of the nation lies between two rivers, the Dniester
and the Prut
. The western border of Moldova is formed by the Prut river, which joins the Danube
before flowing into the Black Sea
. Moldova has access to the Danube for only about 480 m (1,575 ft), and Giurgiuleşti
is the only Moldovan port on the Danube. In the east, the Dniester is the main river, flowing through the country from north to south, receiving the waters of Răut
, Bâc
, Ichel, Botna. Ialpug flows into one of the Danube limans
, while Cogâlnic into the Black Sea
chain of limans.
The country is landlocked, even though it is very close to the Black Sea. While most of the country is hilly, elevations never exceed 430 m (1,411 ft) — the highest point being the Bălăneşti Hill
. Moldova's hills are part of the Moldavian Plateau, which geologically originate from the Carpathian Mountains
. Its subdivisions in Moldova include Dniester Hills (Northern Moldavian Hills and Dniester Ridge), Moldavian Plain (Middle Prut Valley and Bălţi Steppe
), and Central Moldavian Plateau (Ciuluc-Soloneţ Hills, Corneşti Hills (Codri Massive; "Codri" meaning "forests"), Lower Dniester Hills, Lower Prut Valley, and Tigheci Hills). In the south, the country has a small flatland, the Bugeac Plain. The territory of Moldova east of the river Dniester is split between parts of the Podolian Plateau, and parts of the Eurasian Steppe
.
The country's main cities are the capital Chişinău, in the center of the country, Tiraspol (in the eastern region of Transnistria), Bălţi (in the north) and Bender (in the south-east). Comrat
is the administrative center of Gagauzia
.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the relative weight of service sector in economy of Moldova started to grow and began to dominate the GDP (now about 75%), as a result of decrease in industry
and agriculture
. The main economical indicators contracted dramatically.
, Moldova has been described by the European Parliament
as the poorest country in Europe in terms of GDP.
, coal
, and natural gas
, largely from Russia. Moldova is a partner country of the EU INOGATE
energy programme, which has four key topics: enhancing energy security
, convergence
of member state energy market
s on the basis of EU internal energy market principles, supporting sustainable energy
development, and attracting investment for energy projects of common and regional interest.
, removed export controls, and liberalized interest rates. The government entered into agreements with the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund
to promote growth.
Recent trends indicate that the Communist government intends to reverse some of these policies, and recollectivise land while placing more restrictions on private business. The economy returned to positive growth, of 2.1% in 2000 and 6.1% in 2001. Growth remained strong in 2007 (6%), in part because of the reforms and because of starting from a small base. The economy remains vulnerable to higher fuel prices, poor agricultural weather, and the skepticism of foreign investors.
Following the regional financial crisis in 1998, Moldova has made significant progress towards achieving and retaining macroeconomic and financial stabilization. It has, furthermore, implemented many structural and institutional reforms that are indispensable for the efficient functioning of a market economy. These efforts have helped maintain macroeconomic and financial stability under difficult external circumstances, enabled the resumption of economic growth and contributed to establishing an environment conducive to the economy's further growth and development in the medium term.
Despite these efforts and recent resumption of economic growth, Moldova ranks low in terms of commonly used living standards and human development indicators in comparison with other transition economies. Although the economy experienced a constant economic growth after 2000: with 2.1%, 6.1%, 7.8% and 6.3% between 2000 and 2003 (with a forecast of 8% in 2004), one can observe that these latest developments hardly reach the level of 1994, with almost 40% of the GDP
registered in 1990. Thus, during the last decade little has been done to reduce the country's vulnerability. After a severe economic decline, social and economic challenges, energy uprooted dependencies, Moldova continues to occupy one of the last places among European countries in income per capita.
In 2005 (according to the Human Development Report
), the registered GDP per capita was US $ 2,100 PPP
, which was 4.5 times lower than the world average at the time (US $ 9,543). Moreover, GDP per capita was under the average of its statistical region (US $ 9,527 PPP). In 2005, about 20.8% of the population were under the absolute poverty line and registered an income lower than US $ 2.15 (PPP) per day. Moldova is classified as medium in human development and is at the 111th spot in the list of 177 countries. The value of the Human Development Index
(0.708) is below the world average. Moldova remains the poorest country in Europe in terms of official (i.e., excluding the black and grey economy) per capita which currently stands at $1,808.729
The GDP in 2007 constituted $4.104 billion. That constituted a growth of 3% from 2006.
Moldova is known for its wines. For many years viticulture
and winemaking
in Moldova were the general occupation of the population. Evidence of this is present in historical memorials and documents, folklore, and the Moldovan spoken language.
The country has a well established wine
industry. It has a vineyard area of 147000 hectares (363,244.6 acre), of which 102500 ha (253,282.8 acre) are used for commercial production. Most of the country's wine production is made for export. Many families have their own recipes and strands of grape
s that have been passed down through the generations.
Moldova consumes the highest amount of alcohol per capita in the world.
and temperate
continental climate
(with warm summers and mild winters) have made the country one of the most productive agricultural regions since ancient times, and a major supplier of agricultural products in southeastern Europe. In agriculture, the economic reform started with the land cadastre reform.
and its history
. Wine
tours are offered to tourists across the country. Vineyards/cellars include Cricova, Purcari
, Ciumai, Romanesti
, Cojuşna
, Milestii Mici
.
The main means of transportation in Moldova are railroads 1138 km (707.1 mi) and a highway system (12730 km (7,910 mi) overall, including 10937 km (6,796 mi) of paved surfaces). The sole international air gateway of Moldova is the Chişinău International Airport
. The Giurgiuleşti
terminal on the Danube
is compatible with small seagoing vessels. Shipping on the lower Prut
and Nistru rivers plays only a modest role in the country's transportation system.
In September 2009, Moldova was the first country in the world to launch high-definition voice services (HD voice) for mobile phones, and the first country in Europe to launch 14,4 Mbit/s mobile broadband at a national scale, with over 40% population coverage.
there are around 1,295,000 Internet users in Moldova with overall Internet penetration of 35.9%.
(areas controlled by the central government), and the 2004 Census in Transnistria
(areas controlled by the breakaway authorities, including Transnistria
, Bender/Tighina
, and four neighboring communes):
1There is an ongoing controversy
over:
states that the national language of the Republic of Moldova is Moldovan
, and its writing is based on the Latin alphabet
. The 1991 Declaration of Independence
names the official language Romanian
. The 1989 State Language Law speaks of a Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity.
There is a political controversy over the name of the main ethnicity of the Republic of Moldova. During 2003–2009, the Communist government adopted a national political conception which states that one of the priorities of the national politics of the Republic of Moldova is the insurance of the existence of the Moldovan language
. Scholars agree that Moldovan and Romanian are the same language, with the glottonym
"Moldovan" used in certain political contexts.
Russian is provided with the status of a "language of interethnic communication" (alongside the official language), and in practice remains widely used on all levels of the society and the state. The above-mentioned national political conception also states that Russian-Moldovan bilingualism is characteristic for Moldova.
As of the 2004 census
, the country has significant Russian (6%) and Ukrainian (8.4%) populations. 50% of ethnic Ukrainians, 27% of Gagauz
, 35% of Bulgarians, and 54% of smaller ethnic groups speak Russian as first language. In total, there are 541,000 people (or 16% of the population) in Moldova who use Russian as first language, including 130,000 ethnic Moldovans. By contrast, only 47,000 members of ethnic minorities use Romanian as first language.
Gagauz
and Ukrainian
have significant regional speaker populations and are granted official status together with Russian in Gagauzia
and Transnistria
respectively.
From 1996 the Republic, also being Romance-speaking
, is a full member of Francophonia. Therefore the French language occupies the principal place among the foreign languages. In 2009/10 it was told taught to 52% of schoolchildren as L1
and 7% as L2
. It is followed by English having 48% and 6% respectively, and German, which was taught to 3% altogether.
, who make up 93.3% of Moldova's population, were not required to declare the particular of the two main churches they belong to. The Moldovan Orthodox Church
, autonomous and subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church
, and the Orthodox Church of Bessarabia, autonomous and subordinated to the Romanian Orthodox Church
, both claim to be the national church of the country. 2% of the population is Protestant, 1.2% belongs to other religions, 0.9% is non-religious, 0.4% is atheist, and 2.2% did not answer the religion question at the census.
, with a total of 126,100 students, including 104,300 in the state institutions, and 21,700 in the private ones. The number of students per 10,000 inhabitants in Moldova has been constantly growing since the collapse of the Soviet Union, reaching 217 in 2000–2001, and 351 in 2005–2006.
The National Library of Moldova
was founded in 1832. The Moldova State University
and the Academy of Sciences of Moldova
, the main scientific organizations of Moldova, were established in 1946.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the country has seen a decrease in spending on health care and, as a result, the tuberculosis incidence rate in the country has grown. Because of this, Moldova is struggling with one of the highest incidence rates of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the world.
and economy. The Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service has estimated that 600,000 to one million Moldovan citizens (almost 25% of the population) are working abroad, most illegally.
Located geographically at the crossroads of Latin, Slavic and other cultures, Moldova has enriched its own culture adopting and maintaining some of the traditions of its neighbors and of other influence sources.
The country's cultural heritage was marked by numerous churches and monasteries built by the Moldavian ruler Stephen the Great in the 15th century, by the works of the later renaissance Metropolitans Varlaam
and Dosoftei
, and those of scholars such as Grigore Ureche
, Miron Costin
, Nicolae Milescu
, Dimitrie Cantemir
, Ion Neculce
. In the 19th century, Moldavians from the territories of the medieval Principality of Moldavia, then split between Austria, Russia, and an Ottoman-vassal Moldavia
(after 1859, Romania), made a significant contribution to the formation of the modern Romanian culture
. Among these were many Bessarabians, such as Alexandru Donici
, Alexandru Hâjdeu
, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
, Constantin Stamati
, Constantin Stamati-Ciurea
, Costache Negruzzi, Alecu Russo
, Constantin Stere
.
Mihai Eminescu
, a late Romantic
poet, and Ion Creangă
, a writer, are the most influential Romanian language
artists, considered national writers both in Romania and Moldova.
The largest ethnic group is a speaker of Romanian
and share the Romanian culture. Their culture has been also influenced (through Eastern Orthodoxy) by the Byzantine
culture.
The country has also important minority ethnic communities. Gagauz
, 4.4% of the population, are Christian
Turkic
people. Greeks
, Armenians
, Poles
, Jews
, Ukrainians
, although not numerous, were present since as early as 17th century, and had left cultural marks. The 19th century saw the arrival of many more Ukrainians and Jews from Podolia
and Galicia, as well as new communities, such as Lipovans
, Bulgarians
and Bessarabian Germans.
In the second part of the 20th century, Moldova saw a massive Soviet immigration, which brought with it many elements of Soviet culture.
Moldovan culture was also influenced by historic minority ethnic communities, and in turn has had an influence on the culture of these groups, such as Bessarabian Germans and Bessarabian Jews
.
, opened in Chişinău. Television in Moldova was introduced in April 1958
, within the framework of Soviet television. Through cable, Moldovan viewers can receive a large number of Russian channels
, a few Romanian channels
, and several Russian language
versions of international channels in addition to several local channels. One Russian and two local channels are aired.
Moldovan cuisine is similar to neighboring Romania's, and has been influenced by elements of Russian
, Turkish
, and Ukrainian
cuisine. Main dishes include beef
, pork
, potato
es, cabbage
, and a variety of cereal
s. Popular alcoholic beverages are divin
(Moldovan brandy
) and local wines.
Total recorded adult alcohol consumption is approximately evenly split between spirits, beer and wine; and the average annual adult per capita consumption, in terms of pure alcohol, in 2003–2005, was 18.2 litres, the highest in the world.
and Eugen Doga
.
In the field of popular music, Moldova has produced the band O-Zone
, who came to prominence in 2003, with their hit song Dragostea Din Tei
. Moldova has been participating in the Eurovision Song Contest
since 2005. Another popular band from Moldova is ska rock
band Zdob şi Zdub
that represented the country in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 6th. They also again represented Moldova in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 12th. Dan Bălan
, another popular artist, released the album Chica Bomb in 2010.
Also worth mentioning is the band SunStroke Project
, which along with Olia Tira
represented the country in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest with their hit song, Run Away
. Their performance gained international notoriety as an internet meme
due to the pelvic thrusting and dancing of Sergey Stepanov, the band saxophonist. He has been fittingly dubbed "Epic Sax Guy."
and Independence Day
, but remain open on all other holidays.
) is the national sport in Moldova. Football is the most popular sport in Moldova.
Rugby union
is popular as well. Registered players have doubled and almost 10,000 spectators turn up at every European Nations Cup
match.
Moldovan language
Moldovan is one of the names of the Romanian language as spoken in the Republic of Moldova, where it is official. The spoken language of Moldova is closer to the dialects of Romanian spoken in northeastern Romania, and the two countries share the same literary standard...
/ reˈpublika molˈdova) is a landlocked
Landlocked
A landlocked country is a country entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are 48 landlocked countries in the world, including partially recognized states...
state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, located between Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
to the West and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
. A strip of Moldova's internationally recognized territory on the east bank of the river Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
has been under the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
control of the breakaway government of Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
since 1990.
The nation is a parliamentary republic
Parliamentary republic
A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a type of republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government - meaning a system with no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. There are a number of variations of...
with a president
President of Moldova
The President of the Republic of Moldova is the head of state of Moldova.-Description of the post:According to the Article 77 of the Constitution of Moldova , the President of Moldova is the head of the State and represents the State and is the guarantor of national sovereignty, independence, of...
as head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
and a prime minister as head of government
Head of government
Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled prime minister, chief minister, premier, etc...
. Moldova is a member state of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
, WTO
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
, OSCE, GUAM
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, CIS
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
, BSEC
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
On 25 June 1992, the Heads of State and Government of eleven countries signed in Istanbul the Summit Declaration and the Bosporus Statement giving birth to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation ...
and other international organizations. Moldova currently aspires to join the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, and has implemented the first three-year Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy
European Neighbourhood Policy
The European Neighbourhood Policy is a foreign relations instrument of the European Union which seeks to tie those countries to the east and south of the EU into the EU...
(ENP).
Etymology
The name "Moldova" is derived from the Moldova RiverMoldova River
The Moldova River is a river in Romania, in the historical region of Moldavia. The river rises from the Obcina Feredeu Mountains of Bukovina in Suceava County and joins the Siret River near the city of Roman in Neamţ County....
; the valley of this river was a political center when the Principality of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
was founded
Foundation of Moldavia
The foundation of Moldavia is linked by medieval chronicles to Dragoş, a Romanian nobleman from Maramureş . But Dragoş took possession of the province, in the 1350s, in the name of King Louis I of Hungary...
in 1359. The origin of the name of the river is not clear. There is an account (a legend) of prince Dragoş
Dragos
Dragonș, also Dragoş Vodă or Dragoş of Bedeu, was a Romanian voivode in Maramureş who has traditionally been considered as the first ruler or prince of Moldavia...
naming the river after hunting an aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....
: after the chase, his exhausted hound Molda drowned in the river. According to Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir was twice Prince of Moldavia . He was also a prolific man of letters – philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer....
and Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche was a Moldavian chronicler who wrote on Moldavian history in his Letopiseţul Ţării Moldovei , covering the period from 1359 to 1594....
, the dog's name was given to the river and extended to the Principality.
Prehistory
During the Neolithic stone ageNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
era Moldova's territory was the center of the large Cucuteni-Trypillian culture that stretched east beyond the Dniester River in Ukraine, and west up to and beyond the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
in Romania. The inhabitants of this civilization, which lasted roughly from 5500 to 2750 BC, practiced agriculture, raised livestock, hunted, and made intricately designed pottery. This society built very large settlements, some of which numbered up to 15,000 inhabitants.
Antiquity and Middle Ages
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
Moldova's territory was inhabited by Dacian
Dacians
The Dacians were an Indo-European people, very close or part of the Thracians. Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia...
tribes. Between the I and VII centuries AD, the south was intermittently under the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, then Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
s. Due to its strategic location on a route between Asia and Europe, the territory of modern Moldova was invaded many times in late antiquity and early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
, including by Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
, Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
, Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
, Magyars, Pechenegs, Cumans
Cumans
The Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
, Mongols
Mongol invasion of Europe
The resumption of the Mongol invasion of Europe, during which the Mongols attacked medieval Rus' principalities and the powers of Poland and Hungary, was marked by the Mongol invasion of Rus starting in 21 December 1237...
and Tatars.
The Principality of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, established in 1359, was bounded by the Carpathian mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
in the west, Dniester river in the east, and Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
and Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
in the south. Its territory comprised the present-day territory of the Republic of Moldova, the eastern eight of the 41 counties of Romania
Counties of Romania
The 41 judeţe and the municipality of Bucharest comprise the official administrative divisions of Romania. They also represent the European Union' s NUTS-3 geocode statistical subdivision scheme of Romania.-Overview:...
, and the Chernivtsi oblast
Chernivtsi Oblast
Chernivtsi Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine, bordering on Romania and Moldova. It has a large variety of landforms: the Carpathian Mountains and picturesque hills at the foot of the mountains gradually change to a broad partly forested plain situated between the Dniester and Prut rivers....
and Budjak
Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this multiethnic region was the southern part of Bessarabia...
region of Ukraine. Like the present-day republic and Romania's north-eastern region, it was known to the locals as Moldova. Moldavia was invaded repeatedly by Crimean Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
and, since the 15th century, by the Turks. In 1538, the principality became a tributary
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, but it retained internal and partial external autonomy.
Russian Empire
In accordance with the Treaty of Bucharest of 1812Treaty of Bucharest, 1812
The Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, was signed on 28 May 1812, in Bucharest, at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812....
and despite numerous protests by Moldavian nobles on behalf of their autonomous status, the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(of which Moldavia was a vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
) ceded to the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
the eastern half of the territory of the Principality of Moldavia along with Khotyn
Khotyn
Khotyn is a city in Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, and is the administrative center of Khotyn Raion within the oblast, and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, it has a population of 11,124...
and old Bessarabia (modern Budjak
Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this multiethnic region was the southern part of Bessarabia...
).
The new Russian province was called "Oblast of Moldavia and Bessarabia", and initially enjoyed a large degree of autonomy. After 1828 this autonomy was progressively restricted and in 1871 the Oblast was transformed into the Bessarabia Governorate
Bessarabia Governorate
Bessarabia was an oblast and later a guberniya in the Russian Empire. It was the eastern part of the Principality of Moldavia annexed by Russia by the Treaty of Bucharest following the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812...
, in a process of state-imposed assimilation
Forced assimilation
Forced assimilation is a process of forced cultural assimilation of religious or ethnic minority groups, into an established and generally larger community...
, "Russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
". As part of this process, the Tsarist administration in Bessarabia gradually removed the Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
from official and religious use. The western part of Moldavia (which is a part of present-day Romania) remained an autonomous principality, and in 1859, united with Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
to form the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
.
The Treaty of Paris (1856)
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
returned three counties of Bessarabia — Cahul
Cahul County
Cahul County was a county of Bessarabia. In the Middle Ages, its territory belonged to the Fălciu County, but after the annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian Empire in 1812 it became a county by itself.- History :...
, Bolgrad and Ismail — to Moldavia, but in the Treaty of Berlin (1878), the Kingdom of Romania agreed to return them to the Russian Empire. Over the 19th century, the Russian authorities encouraged colonization of the south of the region by Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, Lipovans
Lipovans
Lipovans or Lippovans are the Old Believers, mostly of Russian ethnic origin, who settled in the Moldavian Principality, in Dobruja and Eastern Muntenia...
, Cossacks, Bulgarians
Bessarabian Bulgarians
The Bessarabian Bulgarians are a Bulgarian minority group of the historical region of Bessarabia, inhabiting parts of present-day Ukraine and Moldova.- Location and number :-Modern Ukraine:...
, Germans, Gagauzes
Gagauz people
The Gagauz people are Turkic speaking group living mostly in southern Moldova , southwestern Ukraine , south-eastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria. Unlike most other Turkic speaking people, the Gagauz are predominantly Orthodox Christians...
, and allowed the settlement of more Jews
Bessarabian Jews
-Early history:Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their main activity in Moldavia was commerce, but they could not compete with Greeks and Armenians, who had the knowledge of the Levantine commerce and relationships...
, to replace the large Nogai
Nogais
The Nogai people are a Turkic ethnic group in Southern Russia: northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and the Astrakhan Oblast; undefined number live in Chechnya...
Tatar
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
population expelled in the 1770s and 1780s, during Russo-Turkish Wars; the Moldovan proportion of the population decreased from around 86% in 1816 to around 52% in 1905.
Greater Romania
World War I brought in a rise in political and cultural (ethnic) awareness among the inhabitants of the region, as 300,000 Bessarabians were drafted into the Russian ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
formed in 1917; within bigger units several "Moldavian Soldiers' Committees" were formed. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, a Bessarabian parliament, Sfatul Ţării
Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Țării was, in 1917-1918, the National Assembly of the Governorate of Bessarabia of the disintegrating Russian Empire, which proclaimed the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic in December 1917, and then union with Romania in April 1918.-Russian participation in World War I:In August...
, was elected in October–November 1917
Sfatul Ţării election, 1917
A parliamentary election for the Moldovan Parliament , took place in Moldova in November 1917.-Context:On , the Soldiers' council proclaimed the autonomy of Bessarabia, and summoned for the election of a representative body , called Sfatul Ţării.- Results :Of the 150 Diet members of Sfatul Ţării,...
and opened on . The Sfatul Ţării proclaimed the Moldavian Democratic Republic
Moldavian Democratic Republic
The Moldavian Democratic Republic , a.k.a. Moldavian Republic, was the state proclaimed on by Sfatul Ţării of Bessarabia, elected in October-November 1917 in the wake of the February Revolution and disintegration of the political power in the Russian Empire.Sfatul Ţării was its legislative body,...
within a federal Russian state, and formed a government
Pantelimon Erhan Cabinet
Pantelimon Erhan Cabinet was the Cabinet of Moldova .It was the first cabinet of the Moldavian Democratic Republic.- Membership of the Cabinet :...
.
Bessarabia proclaimed independence from Russia on and requested the assistance of the French army present in Romania (general Henri Berthelot
Henri Mathias Berthelot
Henri Mathias Berthelot was a French general during World War I. He served as chief of staff under Joseph Joffre, the French commander-in-chief.-Biography:...
) and of the Romanian army, which had occupied the region in early January. On , the Sfatul Ţării decided with 86 votes for, 3 against and 36 abstaining, to unite with the Kingdom of Romania
Union of Bessarabia with Romania
On , the Sfatul Ţării, or National Council, of Bessarabia proclaimed union with the Kingdom of Romania.-Governorate of Bessarabia:The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empires provided for Russian annexation of the eastern half of the territory of the Principality...
. The union was conditional upon fulfillment of the agrarian reform, autonomy, and respect for universal human rights. A part of the interim Parliament agreed to drop these conditions after Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
and Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
also joined the Kingdom of Romania, although historians note that they lacked the quorum
Quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group...
to do so.
This union was recognized by the principal Allied Powers
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
in the 1920 Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1920)
The 1920 Treaty of Paris was an act signed by Romania and the principal Allied Powers of the time whose purpose was the recognition of Romanian sovereignty over Bessarabia...
, which however was not ratified by all of its signatories. Some major powers, such as the United States and the newly communist Russia, did not recognize Romanian rule over Bessarabia, the latter considering it an occupation of Russian territory.
In May 1919, the Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic or Bessarabian SSR was a government formed by Bolsheviks as part of their plans to establish control over Bessarabia, which was united with Romania in the course of events after the Russian Revolution of 1917...
was proclaimed as a government in exile. After the failure of the Tatarbunary Uprising
Tatarbunary Uprising
The Tatarbunary Uprising was a Bolshevik-inspired peasant revolt that took place on 15–18 September 1924, in and around the town of Tatarbunary in Budjak , then part of Greater Romania, now part of Odessa Oblast, Ukraine...
in 1924, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR) was formed.
In August 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
and its secret additional protocol were signed, by which Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
recognized Bessarabia as being within the Soviet sphere of influence, which led the latter to actively revive its claim to the region. On June 28, 1940, the Soviet Union, with the acknowledgement of Nazi Germany, issued an ultimatum to Romania requesting the cession of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, with which Romania complied the following day. Soon after, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian SSR) was established, comprising about 70% of Bessarabia, and 50% of the now-disbanded Moldavian ASSR.
As part of the 1941 Axis invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, Romania seized the territories of Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and Transnistria
Transnistria (World War II)
Transnistria Governorate was a Romanian administered territory, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa, and occupied from 19 August 1941 to 29 January 1944...
. Romanian forces, working with the Germans, deported or exterminated about 300,000 Jews, including 147,000 from Bessarabia and Bukovina (of the latter, approximately 90,000 perished). The Soviet Army re-captured the region in February–August 1944, and re-established the Moldavian SSR. Between the end of the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive in August 1944 and the end of the war in May 1945, 256,800 inhabitants of the Moldavian SSR were drafted into the Soviet Army. 40,592 of them perished.
Soviet era
During the Stalinist period (1940–1941, 1944–1953), deportations of locals to the northern UralsUral Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
, to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, and northern Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
occurred regularly, with the largest ones on 12–13 June 1941, and 5–6 July 1949, accounting from MSSR alone for 18,392 and 35,796 deportees respectively. Other forms of Soviet persecution of the population included 32,433 political arrests, followed by Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
or (in 8,360 cases) execution.
In 1946, as a result of a severe drought and excessive delivery quota obligations and requisitions imposed by the Soviet government, the southwestern part of the USSR suffered from a major famine. In 1946–1947, at least 216,000 deaths and about 350,000 cases of dystrophy were accounted by historians in the Moldavian SSR alone. Similar events occurred in 1930s in the Moldavian ASSR. In 1944–53, there were several anti-Soviet resistance groups in Moldova; however the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and later MGB
Ministry for State Security (USSR)
The Ministry of State Security was the name of Soviet secret police from 1946 to 1953.-Origins of the MGB:The MGB was just one of many incarnations of the Soviet State Security apparatus. Since the revolution, the Bolsheviks relied on a strong political police or security force to support and...
managed to eventually arrest, execute or deport their members.
In the postwar period, the Soviet government arranged migration of workforce (mostly Russians, Belarusians
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
, and Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
), into the new Soviet republic, especially into urbanized areas, partly to compensate for the demographic loss caused by the war and the emigration of 1940 and 1944. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Moldavian SSR received substantial allocations from the budget of the USSR to develop industrial and scientific facilities and housing. In 1971, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a decision "About the measures for further development of the city of Kishinev
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
" (modern Chişinău), that allotted more than one billion Soviet ruble
Soviet ruble
The Soviet ruble or rouble was the currency of the Soviet Union. One ruble is divided into 100 kopeks, ....
s from the USSR budget for building projects, subsequent decisions also directed substantial funding and brought qualified specialists from other parts of the USSR to develop Moldova's industry.
The Soviet government conducted a campaign to promote a Moldovan ethnic identity distinct from that of the Romanians, based on a theory developed during the existence of the Moldavian ASSR
Moldavian ASSR
The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , shortened to Moldavian ASSR or, less frequently, Moldovan ASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR between 12 October 1924 and 2 August 1940, encompassing modern Transnistria The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic...
. Official Soviet policy asserted that the language spoken by Moldovans was distinct from the Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
(see Moldovenism
Moldovenism
Moldovenism is a political term used to refer to the support and promotion of the Moldovan identity and Moldovan culture.Some of its supporters ascribe this identity to the medieval Principality of Moldavia...
). To distinguish the two, during the Soviet period, Moldovan
Moldovan language
Moldovan is one of the names of the Romanian language as spoken in the Republic of Moldova, where it is official. The spoken language of Moldova is closer to the dialects of Romanian spoken in northeastern Romania, and the two countries share the same literary standard...
was written in the Cyrillic alphabet, in contrast with Romanian, which since 1860 had been written in the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
.
After the death of Stalin, political persecutions changed in character from mass to individual. All independent organizations were severely reprimanded, with the National Patriotic Front
National Patriotic Front
The National Patriotic Front was a clandestine political party in the Moldovan SSR.- Activity :Between 1969 and 1971, the National Patriotic Front of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was established by several young intellectuals in Chişinău, totalling over 100 members, vowing to fight for the...
leaders being sentenced in 1972 to long prison terms. The Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova
Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova
The Commission for the Study and Evaluation of the Communist Totalitarian Regime of the Republic of Moldova is a commission instituted in Moldova by acting President Mihai Ghimpu to investigate the Communist regime and provide a comprehensive report allowing for the condemnation of Communism as...
is assessing the activity of the communist totalitarian regime.
In the 1980s, political conditions created by the glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
and perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
, a Democratic Movement of Moldova was formed, which in 1989 became known as the nationalist Popular Front of Moldova
Popular Front of Moldova
The Popular Front of Moldova was a political movement in the Moldavian SSR, one of the 15 union republics of the former Soviet Union, and in the newly-independent Republic of Moldova. Formally, the Front existed from 1989 to 1992...
(FPM). Along with several other Soviet republics, from 1988 onwards, Moldova started to move towards independence
Independence of Moldova
The Independence of Moldova was officially recognized on March 2, 1992, when Moldova gained membership of the United Nations. The nation had declared its independence from the Soviet Union on August 27, 1991, and was a co-founder of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States...
. On August 27, 1989, the FPM organized a mass demonstration in Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
that became known as the Grand National Assembly. The assembly pressured the authorities of the Moldavian SSR to adopt a language law on August 31, 1989 that proclaimed the Moldovan language
Moldovan language
Moldovan is one of the names of the Romanian language as spoken in the Republic of Moldova, where it is official. The spoken language of Moldova is closer to the dialects of Romanian spoken in northeastern Romania, and the two countries share the same literary standard...
written in the Latin script to be the state language of the MSSR. Its identity with the Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
was also established.
Independence
The first democratic electionsMoldovan parliamentary election, 1990
A parliamentary election took place in Moldova in February-March 1990.- Results :Elections to the Moldovan Supreme Soviet were held in February-March 1990; while the Communist Party of Moldova was the only one registered for this contest, opposition candidates were allowed to run as individuals....
for the local parliament were held in February and March 1990. Mircea Snegur
Mircea Snegur
Mircea Ion Snegur was the first President of Moldova 1990-1996. Before that he was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet 1989-1990 and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 27 April to 3 September 1990...
was elected as Speaker of the Parliament
Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament
-Moldovan Democratic Republic:-Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic:-Moldavian SSR:The Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR were:-Speakers of Moldovan Parliament:...
, and Mircea Druc
Mircea Druc
Mircea Druc is a Moldovan and Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Moldova between 26 May 1990 and 22 May 1991....
as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Moldova
The Prime Minister of Moldova is Moldova's head of government. The prime minister is formally appointed by the President and exercises executive power along with the cabinet subject to parliamentary support.-Moldavian Democratic Republic :...
. On June 23, 1990, the Parliament adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty of the "Soviet Socialist Republic Moldova", which, among other things, stipulated the supremacy of Moldovan laws over those of the Soviet Union. After the failure of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, on August 27, 1991, Moldova declared its independence, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
being the first state to recognize its independence.
On December 21 of the same year Moldova, along with most of the other Soviet republics, signed the constitutive act that formed the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
(CIS). Moldova received official recognition on December 25. On December 26, 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Declaring itself a neutral state, it did not join the military branch of the CIS. Three months later, on March 2, 1992, the country gained formal recognition as an independent state at the United Nations. In 1994, Moldova became a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 22 States are members...
program and also a member of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
on June 29, 1995.
In the region east of the Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
river, Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
, which includes a large proportion of predominantly russophone
Russophone
A Russophone is literally a speaker of the Russian language either natively or by preference. At the same time the term is used in a more specialized meaning to describe the category of people whose cultural background is associated with Russian language regardless of ethnic and territorial...
East Slavs
East Slavs
The East Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking East Slavic languages. Formerly the main population of the medieval state of Kievan Rus, by the seventeenth century they evolved into the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian peoples.-Sources:...
of Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
(28%) and Russian (26%) descent (altogether 54% as of 1989), while Moldovans
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...
(40%) have been the largest ethnic group, and where the headquarters and many units of the Soviet 14th Guards Army were stationed, an independent Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was created on the eastern periphery of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990 by pro-Soviet separatists who hoped to remain within the Soviet Union when it became clear that the MSSR would achieve independence from the USSR...
was proclaimed on August 16, 1990, with its capital in Tiraspol
Tiraspol
Tiraspol is the second largest city in Moldova and is the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic . The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River...
. The motives behind this move were fear of the rise of nationalism in Moldova and the country's expected reunification with Romania upon secession from the USSR. In the winter of 1991–1992 clashes occurred between Transnistrian forces, supported by elements of the 14th Army
14th Army involvement in Transnistria
The involvement of the Soviet 14th Guards Army in the War of Transnistria was extensive and contributed to the outcome, which left the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic with de facto independence from the Republic of Moldova.-Background:...
, and the Moldovan police. Between March 2 and July 26, 1992, the conflict escalated into a military engagement
War of Transnistria
The War of Transnistria was a limited conflict that broke out in November 1990 at Dubăsari between pro-Transnistria forces, including the Transnistrian Republican Guard, militia and Cossack units, and supported by elements of the Russian 14th army, and pro-Moldovan forces, including Moldovan...
.
On January 2, 1992, Moldova introduced a market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
, liberalizing prices, which resulted in rapid inflation. From 1992 to 2001, the young country suffered a serious economic crisis, leaving most of the population below the poverty line. In 1993, a national currency, the Moldovan leu
Moldovan leu
The leu is the currency of Moldova. Like the Romanian leu, the Moldovan leu is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency originates in Romania and means "lion".-History:...
, was introduced to replace the temporary cupon
Moldovan cupon
The cupon was the temporary currency of Moldova between 1992 and 1993. It replaced the Soviet ruble at par and was replaced by the leu at a rate of 1 leu = 1000 cupon. Notes issued included 50, 200, 1000, and 5000 cupon. No coins were issued....
. The economy of Moldova
Economy of Moldova
Moldova is the second smallest of the former Soviet republics and the most densely populated. Industry accounts for only 20% of its labor force, while agriculture's share is more than one-third. It remains the poorest country in Europe. It is landlocked, bounded by Ukraine on the east and Romania...
began to change in 2001; and until 2008 the country saw a steady annual growth of between 5% and 10%. The early 2000s also saw a considerable growth of emigration of Moldovans looking for work (mostly illegally) in Russia (especially the Moscow region), Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and other countries; remittances from Moldovans abroad account for almost 38% of Moldova's GDP, the second-highest percentage in the world.
In the 1994 parliamentary elections
Moldovan parliamentary election, 1994
An early parliamentary election took place in Moldova on February 27, 1994.- Background :Beginning with 1994, the Parliament functions on a permanent basis, with the quality of parliamentarian being incompatible with any other remunerated office, except for teaching and scientific activities...
, the Democratic Agrarian Party gained a majority of the seats, setting a turning point in Moldovan politics. With the nationalist Popular Front now in a parliamentary minority, new measures aiming to moderate the ethnic tensions in the country could be adopted. Plans for a union with Romania were abandoned, and the new Constitution
Constitution of Moldova (1994)
The Republic of Moldova Constitution of 1994 is the country's supreme law of the country since August 27, 1994.- History :It was adopted on July 29, 1994 by the Moldovan Parliament and published in Monitorul Oficial al R. Moldova, N1, July 18, 1994....
gave autonomy to the breakaway Transnistria and Gagauzia
Gagauzia
Gagauzia , formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia , is an autonomous region of...
. On December 23, 1994, the Parliament of Moldova adopted a "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia", and in 1995 the latter was constituted.
After winning the 1996 presidential elections
Moldovan presidential election, 1996
The first round of 1996 Moldovan presidential elections was held in Moldova on 17 November and a run-off round between Petru Lucinschi and Mircea Snegur was held on 1 December 1996.- Results :-References:...
, on January 15, 1997, Petru Lucinschi
Petru Lucinschi
Petru Chiril Lucinschi was Moldova's second President .- Biography :Petru Chiril Lucinschi was born on January 27, 1940 in Rădulenii Vechi village, Soroca County, Romania...
, the former First Secretary of the Moldavian Communist Party
Communist Party of Moldova
The Communist Party of Moldova was one of the fourteen republic-level parties that formed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Indeed, the PCM was the republic-level chapter of the CPSU in the Moldavian SSR from 1940 to 1991...
in 1989–91, became the country's second president
President of Moldova
The President of the Republic of Moldova is the head of state of Moldova.-Description of the post:According to the Article 77 of the Constitution of Moldova , the President of Moldova is the head of the State and represents the State and is the guarantor of national sovereignty, independence, of...
(1997–2001), succeeding Mircea Snegur (1991–1996). In 2000, the Constitution
Constitution of Moldova (1994)
The Republic of Moldova Constitution of 1994 is the country's supreme law of the country since August 27, 1994.- History :It was adopted on July 29, 1994 by the Moldovan Parliament and published in Monitorul Oficial al R. Moldova, N1, July 18, 1994....
was amended, transforming Moldova into a parliamentary republic
Parliamentary republic
A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a type of republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government - meaning a system with no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. There are a number of variations of...
, with the president being chosen through indirect election
Indirect election
Indirect election is a process in which voters in an election don't actually choose between candidates for an office but rather elect persons who will then make the choice. It is one of the oldest form of elections and is still used today for many upper houses and presidents...
rather than direct popular vote.
Winning 49.9% of the vote
Moldovan parliamentary election, 2001
Moldovan early parliamentary elections took place on February 25, 2001. Turnout was 67.52 percent.-Election outcome:The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova won the election. Vladimir Voronin was elected president shortly thereafter by the newly elected parliament-Sources:*...
, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (reinstituted in 1993 after being outlawed in 1991), gained 71 of the 101 MPs, and on April 4, 2001, elected Vladimir Voronin
Vladimir Voronin
Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...
as the country's third president (re-elected in 2005). The country became the first post-Soviet state where a non-reformed Communist Party returned to power. New governments were formed by Vasile Tarlev
Vasile Tarlev
Vasile Petru Tarlev is a Moldovan politician, and was Prime Minister of Moldova from 2001 until 2008.- Biography :He studied engineering and became a member of assorted economic councils...
(April 19, 2001 – March 31, 2008), and Zinaida Greceanîi
Zinaida Greceanîi
Zinaida Greceanîi is a Moldovan politician. She is a member of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova and was the Prime Minister of Moldova between 31 March 2008 and 14 September 2009...
(March 31, 2008 – September 14, 2009). In 2001–2003 relations between Moldova and Russia
Moldova–Russia relations
Moldova-Russia relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation.- History :Following its victory in the Russo-Turkish War 1806–1812, the Russian empire annexed Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire...
improved, but then temporarily deteriorated in 2003–2006, in the wake of the failure of the Kozak memorandum
Kozak memorandum
The Kozak Memorandum, officially Russian Draft Memorandum on the Basic Principles of the State Structure of a United State in Moldova, was a 2003 proposal aimed at a final settlement of relations between Moldova and Transnistria...
, culminating in the 2006 wine exports crisis
2006 Russian ban of Moldovan and Georgian wines
The 2006 Russian import ban of Moldovan and Georgian wines began in late March 2006 and created a diplomatic conflict between the Republic of Moldova and Georgia on the one hand and Russia on the other...
. The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova managed to stay in power for eight years, mainly due to the appeal to the ethnic minorities, the support from the West during the presidential elections from April 4, 2005, the reliance on the Soviet notion of the Moldovan identity, the attempts to build a state based only on the Moldovan identity, and most important due to the control over a significant portion of the Moldovan media. The fragmentation of the liberal (aka the democrats) and the frequent manipulations of the electoral laws helped consolidate its power. The decline of the party started in 2009 after Marian Lupu joined the Democratic Party and thus attracted many of the Moldovans supporting the Communists.
In the April 2009 parliamentary elections, the Communist Party won 49.48% of the votes, followed by the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (Moldova)
The Liberal Party is a conservative-liberal political party in Moldova.The president of the party is Mihai Ghimpu. His nephew Dorin Chirtoacă is its vice-president.-History:...
with 13.14% of the votes, the Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova
The Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova is a political party in the Republic of Moldova. The Party's Founding Congress was held on December 8, 2007 and Vlad Filat was elected as president....
with 12.43%, and the Alliance "Moldova Noastră"
Party Alliance Our Moldova
The Party Alliance Our Moldova was a social liberal political party in Moldova led by Serafim Urechean, former mayor of Chişinău. It merged into the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova in 2011.-History:...
with 9.77%. The controversial results of this election sparked civil unrest
2009 Moldova civil unrest
The 2009 civil unrest in Moldova began on April 7, 2009, in major cities of Moldova before the results of the 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election were announced...
In August 2009, four Moldovan parties – Liberal Democratic Party, Liberal Party, Democratic Party
Democratic Party of Moldova
The Democratic Party of Moldova is a social-democratic political party in Moldova.-Overview:In the legislative elections of 6 March 2005, the party was part of the Electoral Bloc Democratic Moldova , that won 28.4 % of the popular vote and 34 out of 101 seats. Inside the Bloc the party won 8 seats...
, and Our Moldova Alliance – agreed to create a governing coalition
Alliance for European Integration
The Alliance for European Integration is the ruling coalition in Moldova since the July 2009 election.-Overall context :After April 2009 election and the civil unrest, the climate in Moldova became very polarised. The parliament failed to elect a new president. For this reason, the parliament was...
that pushed the Communist party into opposition. On August 28, 2009, this coalition chose a new parliament speaker
Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament
-Moldovan Democratic Republic:-Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic:-Moldavian SSR:The Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR were:-Speakers of Moldovan Parliament:...
(Mihai Ghimpu
Mihai Ghimpu
Mihai Ghimpu Mihai Ghimpu Mihai Ghimpu (born 19 November 1951, Coloniţa, Moldova, is a Moldovan politician. He was Speaker of Parliament from 28 August 2009 to 30 December 2010 and Acting President from 11 September 2009 until 28 December 2010.-Family:...
) in a vote that was boycotted by Communist legislators. Vladimir Voronin
Vladimir Voronin
Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...
, who had been President of Moldova
President of Moldova
The President of the Republic of Moldova is the head of state of Moldova.-Description of the post:According to the Article 77 of the Constitution of Moldova , the President of Moldova is the head of the State and represents the State and is the guarantor of national sovereignty, independence, of...
since 2001, eventually resigned on September 11, 2009, but the Parliament failed to elect a new president. The acting president Mihai Ghimpu instituted the Commission for constitutional reform in Moldova
Commission for constitutional reform in Moldova
The Commission for constitutional reform is a commission instituted in Moldova by acting President Mihai Ghimpu to adopt a new version of the Constitution of Moldova .The commission for constitutional reform was set up under presidential decree The Commission for constitutional reform is a...
to adopt a new version of the Constitution of Moldova
Constitution of Moldova (1994)
The Republic of Moldova Constitution of 1994 is the country's supreme law of the country since August 27, 1994.- History :It was adopted on July 29, 1994 by the Moldovan Parliament and published in Monitorul Oficial al R. Moldova, N1, July 18, 1994....
. After the constitutional referendum
Moldovan constitutional referendum, 2010
The Moldovan referendum of 2010 was a nationwide referendum in Moldova held on 5 September on whether or not the country should amend the Constitution of Moldova to return to direct popular election of the president instead of 3/5 of total number of seats parliament vote as it is now...
aimed to approve the reform failed in September 2010, the parliament was dissolved again and a new parliamentary election
Moldovan parliamentary election, 2010
A parliamentary election was held in Moldova on 28 November 2010 after indirect presidential elections failed for the second time in late 2009.-Pre-election developments:...
was scheduled for 28 November 2010. On December 30, 2010, Marian Lupu was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament. In accordance with the Constitution, he will be serving as the Acting President of Republic of Moldova.
Government and politics
Moldova is a unitaryUnitary state
A unitary state is a state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions exercise only powers that their central government chooses to delegate...
parliamentary
Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....
representative
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...
democratic republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
. The 1994 Constitution of Moldova
Constitution of Moldova (1994)
The Republic of Moldova Constitution of 1994 is the country's supreme law of the country since August 27, 1994.- History :It was adopted on July 29, 1994 by the Moldovan Parliament and published in Monitorul Oficial al R. Moldova, N1, July 18, 1994....
sets the framework for the government of the country. A parliamentary majority of at least two thirds is required to amend the Constitution of Moldova
Constitution of Moldova
The Constitution of the Republic of Moldova is that country's supreme law.The current Constitution of Moldova was adopted on July 29, 1994 and published in Monitorul Oficial al R. Moldova, N1, July 18, 1994.- Constitutions of Moldova :...
, which cannot be revised in time of war or national emergency. Amendments to the Constitution affecting the state's sovereignty, independence, or unity can only be made after a majority of voters support the proposal in a referendum. Furthermore, no revision can be made to limit the fundamental rights of people enumerated in the Constitution.
The country's central legislative body is the unicameral Moldovan Parliament (), which has 101 seats, and whose members are elected by popular vote on party lists
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
every four years.
The head of state is the President of Moldova
President of Moldova
The President of the Republic of Moldova is the head of state of Moldova.-Description of the post:According to the Article 77 of the Constitution of Moldova , the President of Moldova is the head of the State and represents the State and is the guarantor of national sovereignty, independence, of...
, who is elected by the Moldovan Parliament, requiring the support of three fifths of the deputies (at least 61 votes). The president of Moldova has been elected by the parliament since 2001, a change designed to decrease executive authority in favor of the legislature. The president appoints a prime minister who functions as the head of government
Head of government
Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled prime minister, chief minister, premier, etc...
, and who in turn assembles a cabinet
Cabinet of Moldova
The role of Cabinet of Moldova is "to carry out the domestic and foreign policy of the State and to apply general control over the work of public administration," according to Constitution of Moldova .-The structure of the cabinet:...
, both subject to parliamentary approval.
The 1994 constitution also establishes an independent
Judicial independence
Judicial Independence is the idea that the judiciary needs to be kept away from the other branches of government...
Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court of Moldova
The Constitutional Court of Moldova represent the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in the Republic of Moldova, autonomous and independent from the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
, composed of six judges (two appointed by the President, two by Parliament, and two by the Supreme Council of Magistrature
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
), serving six-year terms, during which they are irremovable and not subordinate to any power. The Court is invested with the power of judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
over all acts of the parliament, over presidential decrees, and over international treaties, signed by the country.
Foreign relations
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
. In addition to its participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 22 States are members...
program, Moldova is also a member state of the United Nations, the OSCE, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council
North Atlantic Cooperation Council
The North Atlantic Cooperation Council was a NATO organisation founded in December 1991 and was the precursor to the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. It initially brought together NATO and nine central and eastern European nations in a consultative forum...
, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
, the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, the Francophonie and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Founded in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Its mission was to support the formerly communist countries in the process of establishing their...
.
In 2005, Moldova and the EU established an action plan that sought to improve the collaboration between the two neighboring structures. At the end of 2005 EUBAM, the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine
European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine
The European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine is a European Union structure, created to control the traffic on borders between Moldova and Ukraine....
, was established at the joint request of the presidents of Moldova and Ukraine. EUBAM assists the Moldovan and Ukrainian governments in approximating their border and customs procedures to EU standards, and offers support in both countries' fight against cross-border crime. www.eubam.org
After the War of Transnistria
War of Transnistria
The War of Transnistria was a limited conflict that broke out in November 1990 at Dubăsari between pro-Transnistria forces, including the Transnistrian Republican Guard, militia and Cossack units, and supported by elements of the Russian 14th army, and pro-Moldovan forces, including Moldovan...
, Moldova sought a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
region by working with Romania, Ukraine, and Russia, calling for international mediation, and cooperating with the OSCE and UN fact-finding and observer missions. The foreign minister of Moldova
Foreign Minister of Moldova
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration is the head of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova and a member of the Government of Moldova.- History of the office :...
, Andrei Stratan
Andrei Stratan
Andrei Stratan is a Moldovan politician.He was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration in Vasile Tarlev Cabinet and Zinaida Greceanîi Cabinet.-References:...
, repeatedly stated that the Russian troops stationed in the breakaway region are there against the will of the Moldovan Government and called on them to leave "completely and unconditionally."
In September 2010, the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
approved a grant of €90 million to Moldova. The money will supplement $570 million in International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
loans, World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
and other bilateral support already granted to Moldova. In April 2010, Romania offered to Moldova development aid worth of €100 million while the number of scholarships for Moldovan students will double to 5,000 According to a lending agreement signed in February 2010, Poland will provide US$15 million and will support Moldova in its European integration efforts.
Military
The Moldovan armed forces consist of the Ground ForcesMoldovan Ground Forces
The Moldovan Ground Forces is the land armed forces branch of the Moldovan Armed Forces.At the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan army consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion...
and Air and Air Defense Forces. Moldova has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union. On October 30, 1992, Moldova ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was negotiated and concluded during the last years of the Cold War and established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe and mandated the destruction of excess weaponry...
, which establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment and provides for the destruction of weapons in excess of those limits. The country acceded to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in October 1994 in Washington, D.C. It does not have nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. Moldova joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 22 States are members...
on March 16, 1994.
Moldova is committed to a number of international and regional control of arms regulations such as the UN Firearms Protocol, Stability Pact Regional Implementation Plan, the UN Programme of Action (PoA) and the OSCE Documents on Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition.
Administrative divisions
Moldova is divided into thirty-two districts (raioane, singular raionRaion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
), three municipalities and two autonomous regions (Gagauzia
Gagauzia
Gagauzia , formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia , is an autonomous region of...
and Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
). The final status of Transnistria is disputed
Disputed status of Transnistria
The political status of Transnistria, an unrecognized state on the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Moldova, has been disputed since the Transnistrian declaration of independence on September 2, 1990. This declaration established a Soviet Socialist Republic separate from...
, as the central government does not control that territory. The cities of Comrat
Comrat
Comrat is a city in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located at , in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2004, Comrat's population was 23,429, of which the vast majority are Gagauzians.The name is of Turkic and Nogai origin...
and Tiraspol
Tiraspol
Tiraspol is the second largest city in Moldova and is the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic . The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River...
, the administrative seats of the two autonomous territories also have municipality status.
 |
|
|---|---|
| Municipalities | Autonomous regions |
| Chişinău Chisinau Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc... Bălţi Balti Balti can refer to:* Balti language, a language spoken in Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir* Balti people, Muslims of Ladakhi/Tibetan origin from Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir... Bender Bender, Moldova Bender or Bendery, also known as Tighina is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Transnistria Republic since 1992... |
Gagauzia Gagauzia Gagauzia , formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia , is an autonomous region of... Transnistria Transnistria Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine... |
| Districts | |
|
|
Moldova has 65 cities (towns), including the five with municipality status, and 917 communes. Some other 699 villages are too small to have a separate administration, and are administratively part of either cities (40 of them) or communes (659). This makes for a total of 1,681 localities of Moldova, all but two of which are inhabited.
Geography
49th parallel north
The 49th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 49 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....
, and mostly between meridians 26°
26th meridian east
The meridian 26° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Europe, Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....
and 30° E
30th meridian east
The meridian 30° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Europe, Turkey, Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....
(a small area lies east of 30°).
The largest part of the nation lies between two rivers, the Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
and the Prut
Prut
The Prut is a long river in Eastern Europe. In part of its course it forms the border between Romania and Moldova.-Overview:...
. The western border of Moldova is formed by the Prut river, which joins the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
before flowing into the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. Moldova has access to the Danube for only about 480 m (1,575 ft), and Giurgiuleşti
Giurgiulesti
Giurgiuleşti is a commune in the Cahul district of Moldova. It is also a border crossing point to Romania, located from Galaţi.- Geography :...
is the only Moldovan port on the Danube. In the east, the Dniester is the main river, flowing through the country from north to south, receiving the waters of Răut
Raut
Răut, also referred to as Reut is a river in Moldova, a right tributary of Dniester. Răut, generally navigable until 18-19th century, is navigable today only by small recreational boats.The towns Bălţi, Orhei and Floreşti are located by the river....
, Bâc
BAC
- Arts and entertainment :* Batman: Arkham City, a 2011 video game* Battersea Arts Centre, London, England, United Kingdom* Benedicta Arts Center, St...
, Ichel, Botna. Ialpug flows into one of the Danube limans
Liman (landform)
Liman is a name for a lake, bay, or estuary formed at the mouth of a river where flow is blocked by a bar of sediments. Liman can be maritime or fluvial .The name is used for such features found along the western and northern coast of the Black Sea, as well as along...
, while Cogâlnic into the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
chain of limans.
The country is landlocked, even though it is very close to the Black Sea. While most of the country is hilly, elevations never exceed 430 m (1,411 ft) — the highest point being the Bălăneşti Hill
Dealul Balanesti
Bălănești Hill is the highest geographical point in Moldova, with an altitude of 430 m . It is located in Bălănești and belongs to Cornești Hills.-External links:*...
. Moldova's hills are part of the Moldavian Plateau, which geologically originate from the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
. Its subdivisions in Moldova include Dniester Hills (Northern Moldavian Hills and Dniester Ridge), Moldavian Plain (Middle Prut Valley and Bălţi Steppe
Balti Steppe
Bălţi Steppe , also Beltsy Steppe is a hilly area with few trees , dominated by agriculturally cultivated land, and occasionally by grasses and shrubs, in the northern part of Moldova...
), and Central Moldavian Plateau (Ciuluc-Soloneţ Hills, Corneşti Hills (Codri Massive; "Codri" meaning "forests"), Lower Dniester Hills, Lower Prut Valley, and Tigheci Hills). In the south, the country has a small flatland, the Bugeac Plain. The territory of Moldova east of the river Dniester is split between parts of the Podolian Plateau, and parts of the Eurasian Steppe
Eurasian Steppe
The Eurasian Steppe is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Biome. It stretches from Hungary to Mongolia...
.
The country's main cities are the capital Chişinău, in the center of the country, Tiraspol (in the eastern region of Transnistria), Bălţi (in the north) and Bender (in the south-east). Comrat
Comrat
Comrat is a city in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located at , in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2004, Comrat's population was 23,429, of which the vast majority are Gagauzians.The name is of Turkic and Nogai origin...
is the administrative center of Gagauzia
Gagauzia
Gagauzia , formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia , is an autonomous region of...
.
Economy
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. The main economical indicators contracted dramatically.
, Moldova has been described by the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
as the poorest country in Europe in terms of GDP.
Energy
Moldova imports all of its supplies of petroleumPetroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
, coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, and natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
, largely from Russia. Moldova is a partner country of the EU INOGATE
INOGATE
INOGATE is an international energy co-operation programme between the European Union , Turkey and countries of the NIS, with the exceptions of the Baltic States and the Russian Federation. Formally it describes itself as supporting "international cooperation between the European Union, the...
energy programme, which has four key topics: enhancing energy security
Energy security
Energy security is a term for an association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven distribution of energy supplies among countries has led...
, convergence
Technological convergence
Technological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks. Convergence can refer to previously separate technologies such as voice , data , and video that now share resources and interact with each other synergistically.The rise of...
of member state energy market
Energy market
Energy markets are those commodities markets that deal specifically with the trade and supply of energy. Energy market may refer to an electricity market, but can also refer to other sources of energy...
s on the basis of EU internal energy market principles, supporting sustainable energy
Sustainable energy
Sustainable energy is the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable energy sources include all renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal...
development, and attracting investment for energy projects of common and regional interest.
Economic reforms
After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, energy shortages contributed to sharp production declines. As part of an ambitious economic liberalization effort, Moldova introduced a convertible currency, liberalized all prices, stopped issuing preferential credits to state enterprises, backed steady land privatizationPrivatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
, removed export controls, and liberalized interest rates. The government entered into agreements with the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
and the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
to promote growth.
Recent trends indicate that the Communist government intends to reverse some of these policies, and recollectivise land while placing more restrictions on private business. The economy returned to positive growth, of 2.1% in 2000 and 6.1% in 2001. Growth remained strong in 2007 (6%), in part because of the reforms and because of starting from a small base. The economy remains vulnerable to higher fuel prices, poor agricultural weather, and the skepticism of foreign investors.
Following the regional financial crisis in 1998, Moldova has made significant progress towards achieving and retaining macroeconomic and financial stabilization. It has, furthermore, implemented many structural and institutional reforms that are indispensable for the efficient functioning of a market economy. These efforts have helped maintain macroeconomic and financial stability under difficult external circumstances, enabled the resumption of economic growth and contributed to establishing an environment conducive to the economy's further growth and development in the medium term.
Despite these efforts and recent resumption of economic growth, Moldova ranks low in terms of commonly used living standards and human development indicators in comparison with other transition economies. Although the economy experienced a constant economic growth after 2000: with 2.1%, 6.1%, 7.8% and 6.3% between 2000 and 2003 (with a forecast of 8% in 2004), one can observe that these latest developments hardly reach the level of 1994, with almost 40% of the GDP
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
registered in 1990. Thus, during the last decade little has been done to reduce the country's vulnerability. After a severe economic decline, social and economic challenges, energy uprooted dependencies, Moldova continues to occupy one of the last places among European countries in income per capita.
In 2005 (according to the Human Development Report
Human Development Report
The Human Development Report is an annual milestone publication by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme .-History:...
), the registered GDP per capita was US $ 2,100 PPP
Purchasing power parity
In economics, purchasing power parity is a condition between countries where an amount of money has the same purchasing power in different countries. The prices of the goods between the countries would only reflect the exchange rates...
, which was 4.5 times lower than the world average at the time (US $ 9,543). Moreover, GDP per capita was under the average of its statistical region (US $ 9,527 PPP). In 2005, about 20.8% of the population were under the absolute poverty line and registered an income lower than US $ 2.15 (PPP) per day. Moldova is classified as medium in human development and is at the 111th spot in the list of 177 countries. The value of the Human Development Index
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries...
(0.708) is below the world average. Moldova remains the poorest country in Europe in terms of official (i.e., excluding the black and grey economy) per capita which currently stands at $1,808.729
The GDP in 2007 constituted $4.104 billion. That constituted a growth of 3% from 2006.
Wine industry
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
and winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
in Moldova were the general occupation of the population. Evidence of this is present in historical memorials and documents, folklore, and the Moldovan spoken language.
The country has a well established wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
industry. It has a vineyard area of 147000 hectares (363,244.6 acre), of which 102500 ha (253,282.8 acre) are used for commercial production. Most of the country's wine production is made for export. Many families have their own recipes and strands of grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s that have been passed down through the generations.
Moldova consumes the highest amount of alcohol per capita in the world.
Agriculture
Moldova's rich soilChernozem
Chernozem , also known as "black land" or "black earth", is a black-coloured soil containing a high percentage of humus 7% to 15%, and high percentages of phosphoric acids, phosphorus and ammonia...
and temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
continental climate
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
(with warm summers and mild winters) have made the country one of the most productive agricultural regions since ancient times, and a major supplier of agricultural products in southeastern Europe. In agriculture, the economic reform started with the land cadastre reform.
Tourism
Tourism focuses on the country's natural landscapesGeography of Moldova
Located in southeastern Europe, Moldova is bordered on the west by Romania and on the north, south, and east by Ukraine. Most of its territory lies between the area's two main rivers, the Dniester and the Prut...
and its history
History of Moldova
The history of Moldova can be traced to the 1350s, when the Principality of Moldavia, the medieval precursor of modern Moldova and Romania, was founded. In 1812, following one of several Russian-Turkish wars, the eastern half of the principality, Bessarabia , was annexed by the Russian Empire...
. Wine
Moldovan wine
With a production of 124,200 tons of wine , Moldova has a well established wine industry. It has a vineyard area of of which are used for commercial production. The remaining are vineyards planted in villages around the houses used to make home-made wine, or "vin de casa"...
tours are offered to tourists across the country. Vineyards/cellars include Cricova, Purcari
Purcari (winery)
Purcari is a Moldovan wine producer from Purcari, located in the Moldovan Nistreana Wine Region.-History:After Bessarabia was joined to Russia, a decree of the land's authorities, issued in 1827, created the first specialized winemaking company in Purcari...
, Ciumai, Romanesti
Romanesti (winery)
Romanesti is one of Moldova's largest Moldovan wine producer from the north of Străşeni, part of the Codru Wine Region of Moldova. This winery is the former wine-making Imperial colony of Romanov dynasty....
, Cojuşna
Cojuşna
Cojuşna is a commune in Străşeni district, Moldova. It is composed of a single village, Cojuşna....
, Milestii Mici
Milestii Mici (winery)
Milestii Mici is a Moldovan wine producer located in the commune of Mileştii Mici.-Cellars:The State Enterprise Quality Wines Industrial Complex "Milestii Mici" was founded in 1969 to store, preserve and mature high-quality wines....
.
Transport
The main means of transportation in Moldova are railroads 1138 km (707.1 mi) and a highway system (12730 km (7,910 mi) overall, including 10937 km (6,796 mi) of paved surfaces). The sole international air gateway of Moldova is the Chişinău International Airport
Chisinau International Airport
Chișinău International Airport is the main international airport in Chișinău, Moldova, located southeast of the centre of Chişinău, the capital city.-History:...
. The Giurgiuleşti
Giurgiulesti
Giurgiuleşti is a commune in the Cahul district of Moldova. It is also a border crossing point to Romania, located from Galaţi.- Geography :...
terminal on the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
is compatible with small seagoing vessels. Shipping on the lower Prut
Prut
The Prut is a long river in Eastern Europe. In part of its course it forms the border between Romania and Moldova.-Overview:...
and Nistru rivers plays only a modest role in the country's transportation system.
Telecommunications
The first million of mobile telephone users was registered in September 2005. The number of mobile telephone users in Moldova increased by 47.3 % in the first quarter of 2008 against the last year and exceeded 2.89 million.In September 2009, Moldova was the first country in the world to launch high-definition voice services (HD voice) for mobile phones, and the first country in Europe to launch 14,4 Mbit/s mobile broadband at a national scale, with over 40% population coverage.
there are around 1,295,000 Internet users in Moldova with overall Internet penetration of 35.9%.
Demographics
Cultural and ethnic composition
The last reference data is that of the 2004 Moldovan Census2004 Moldovan Census
The 2004 Republic of Moldova Census was carried between October 5 and October 12, 2004. The breakaway Transnistria failed to come into an agreement with the central government in Chişinău, and carried out its own census during between November 11 and November 18, 2004...
(areas controlled by the central government), and the 2004 Census in Transnistria
2004 Census in Transnistria
The 2004 Census in Transnistria was organized in Transnistria at roughly the same time that Moldova held its own census, which Transnistria refused to participate in out of principle and deference to its September 2, 1990 Declaration of Independence....
(areas controlled by the breakaway authorities, including Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
, Bender/Tighina
Bender, Moldova
Bender or Bendery, also known as Tighina is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Transnistria Republic since 1992...
, and four neighboring communes):
| Self-identification | Moldovan census | % Core Moldova | Transnistrian census | % Transnistria + Bender | Total | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moldovans Moldovans Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova... 1 |
2,564,849 | 75.81% | 177,382 | 31.94% | 2,742,231 | 69.62% |
| Ukrainians Ukrainians Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens... |
282,406 | 8.35% | 160,069 | 28.82% | 442,475 | 11.23% |
| Russians Russians The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.... |
201,218 | 5.95% | 168,678 | 30.37% | 369,896 | 9.39% |
| Gagauz Gagauz people The Gagauz people are Turkic speaking group living mostly in southern Moldova , southwestern Ukraine , south-eastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria. Unlike most other Turkic speaking people, the Gagauz are predominantly Orthodox Christians... |
147,500 | 4.36% | 4,096 | 0.74% | 151,596 | 3.85% |
| Romanians Romanians The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania.... 1 |
73,276 | 2.17% | 253 | 0.05% | 73,529 | 1.87% |
| Bulgarians Bulgarians The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:... |
65,662 | 1.94% | 13,858 | 2.50% | 79,520 | 2.02% |
| Romani | 12,271 | 0.36% | 507 | 0.09% | 12,778 | 0.32% |
| Jews Jews The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation... |
3,608 | 0.11% | 1,259 | 0.23% | 4,867 | 0.12% |
| Poles Poles thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe... |
2,383 | 0.07% | 1,791 | 0.32% | 4,174 | 0.11% |
| Others/undeclared | 30,159 | 0.89% | 27,454 | 4.94% | 57,613 | 1.46% |
| TOTAL | 3,383,332 | 100% | 555,347 | 100% | 3,938,679 | 100% |
1There is an ongoing controversy
Controversy over linguistic and ethnic identity in Moldova
A controversy exists over the national identity and name of the native language of the main ethnic group in the Republic of Moldova. The issue more frequently disputed is whether Moldovans constitute a subgroup of Romanians or a separate ethnic group...
over:
- whether the Moldavians from Romanian Moldavia are also ethnic Moldovans;
- whether Romanians and Moldovans are the same ethnic group, namely whether Moldovans' self-identification constitutes an ethnic group distinct and apart from Romanians or a subset. At the census, citizens could declare only one nationality. Consequently, one could not declare oneself both Moldovan and Romanian.
Languages
The Constitution of 1994Constitution of Moldova (1994)
The Republic of Moldova Constitution of 1994 is the country's supreme law of the country since August 27, 1994.- History :It was adopted on July 29, 1994 by the Moldovan Parliament and published in Monitorul Oficial al R. Moldova, N1, July 18, 1994....
states that the national language of the Republic of Moldova is Moldovan
Moldovan language
Moldovan is one of the names of the Romanian language as spoken in the Republic of Moldova, where it is official. The spoken language of Moldova is closer to the dialects of Romanian spoken in northeastern Romania, and the two countries share the same literary standard...
, and its writing is based on the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
. The 1991 Declaration of Independence
Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova
The Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova was a document adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova following the failure of the August coup attempt....
names the official language Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
. The 1989 State Language Law speaks of a Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity.
There is a political controversy over the name of the main ethnicity of the Republic of Moldova. During 2003–2009, the Communist government adopted a national political conception which states that one of the priorities of the national politics of the Republic of Moldova is the insurance of the existence of the Moldovan language
Moldovan language
Moldovan is one of the names of the Romanian language as spoken in the Republic of Moldova, where it is official. The spoken language of Moldova is closer to the dialects of Romanian spoken in northeastern Romania, and the two countries share the same literary standard...
. Scholars agree that Moldovan and Romanian are the same language, with the glottonym
-onym
The suffix onym, in English and other languages, means "word, name," and words ending in onym refer to a specified kind of name or word, most of which are classical compounds. For example, an acronym is a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts...
"Moldovan" used in certain political contexts.
Russian is provided with the status of a "language of interethnic communication" (alongside the official language), and in practice remains widely used on all levels of the society and the state. The above-mentioned national political conception also states that Russian-Moldovan bilingualism is characteristic for Moldova.
As of the 2004 census
2004 Moldovan Census
The 2004 Republic of Moldova Census was carried between October 5 and October 12, 2004. The breakaway Transnistria failed to come into an agreement with the central government in Chişinău, and carried out its own census during between November 11 and November 18, 2004...
, the country has significant Russian (6%) and Ukrainian (8.4%) populations. 50% of ethnic Ukrainians, 27% of Gagauz
Gagauz
Gagauz may refer to:* Gagauz people* Gagauz language* Gagauzia...
, 35% of Bulgarians, and 54% of smaller ethnic groups speak Russian as first language. In total, there are 541,000 people (or 16% of the population) in Moldova who use Russian as first language, including 130,000 ethnic Moldovans. By contrast, only 47,000 members of ethnic minorities use Romanian as first language.
Gagauz
Gagauz language
The Gagauz language is a Turkic language, spoken by the Gagauz people, and the official language of Gagauzia, Moldova. There are two dialects, Bulgar Gagauzi and Maritime Gagauzi. This is a different language from Balkan Gagauz Turkish....
and Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
have significant regional speaker populations and are granted official status together with Russian in Gagauzia
Gagauzia
Gagauzia , formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia , is an autonomous region of...
and Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
respectively.
| Population of Moldova | Moldovan (Romanian) Romanian language Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova... |
Russian Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics... |
Ukrainian Ukrainian language Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet.... |
Gagauz Gagauz language The Gagauz language is a Turkic language, spoken by the Gagauz people, and the official language of Gagauzia, Moldova. There are two dialects, Bulgar Gagauzi and Maritime Gagauzi. This is a different language from Balkan Gagauz Turkish.... |
Bulgarian Bulgarian language Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the... |
Other languages, non-declared |
| by native language | 2,588,355 76.51% |
380,796 11.26% |
186,394 5.51% |
137,774 4.07% |
54,401 1.61% |
35,612 1.04% |
| by language of first use | 2,543,354 75.17% |
540,990 15.99% |
130,114 3.85% |
104,890 3.10% |
38,565 1.14% |
25,419 0.75% |
From 1996 the Republic, also being Romance-speaking
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, is a full member of Francophonia. Therefore the French language occupies the principal place among the foreign languages. In 2009/10 it was told taught to 52% of schoolchildren as L1
L1
L1, L01, L.1, L 1 or L-1 may refer to:* L1 distance in mathematics, used in taxicab geometry* L1, the space of Lebesgue integrable functions in mathematics* L1 family, a protein family of cell adhesion molecules...
and 7% as L2
L2
L2, L2, L02, L II, L.2 or L-2 may be :* L², the official youth wing of Flemish Progressives, a Flemish political party* L2 cache, the Level-2 CPU cache in a computer...
. It is followed by English having 48% and 6% respectively, and German, which was taught to 3% altogether.
Religion
For the 2004 census, Orthodox ChristiansEastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, who make up 93.3% of Moldova's population, were not required to declare the particular of the two main churches they belong to. The Moldovan Orthodox Church
Moldovan Orthodox Church
The Moldovan Orthodox Church is an autonomous church under the Russian Orthodox Church, whose canonic territory covers the Republic of Moldova....
, autonomous and subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, and the Orthodox Church of Bessarabia, autonomous and subordinated to the Romanian Orthodox Church
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
, both claim to be the national church of the country. 2% of the population is Protestant, 1.2% belongs to other religions, 0.9% is non-religious, 0.4% is atheist, and 2.2% did not answer the religion question at the census.
Education
In Moldova, there are 16 state and 15 private institutions of higher educationHigher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
, with a total of 126,100 students, including 104,300 in the state institutions, and 21,700 in the private ones. The number of students per 10,000 inhabitants in Moldova has been constantly growing since the collapse of the Soviet Union, reaching 217 in 2000–2001, and 351 in 2005–2006.
The National Library of Moldova
National Library of Moldova
The National Library of Moldova is on 31-August-1989 Street in Chişinău. It was founded on August 22, 1832. The Director General is currently Alexe Rău.The architect of it was A. Ambartumian...
was founded in 1832. The Moldova State University
Moldova State University
The Moldova State University is a university located in Chişinău, Moldova. It was founded in 1946.-Organization:The university is organized into eleven faculties:*1. Biology and Pedology...
and the Academy of Sciences of Moldova
Academy of Sciences of Moldova
The Academy of Sciences of Moldova , established in 1946, is the main scientific organization of the Republic of Moldova and coordinates research in all areas of science and technology.- Presidents :...
, the main scientific organizations of Moldova, were established in 1946.
Crime
The CIA World Factbook lists widespread crime and underground economic activity among major crime issues in Moldova.Health
The average birth rate is at 1.5 children per woman. Public expenditure on health was 4.2% of the GDP and private expenditure on health 3.2%. There are about 264 physicians per 100,000 people. Health expenditure was 138 US$ (PPP) per capita in 2004.Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the country has seen a decrease in spending on health care and, as a result, the tuberculosis incidence rate in the country has grown. Because of this, Moldova is struggling with one of the highest incidence rates of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the world.
Emigration
Emigration is a mass phenomenon in Moldova and has a major impact on the country's demographicsDemographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
and economy. The Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service has estimated that 600,000 to one million Moldovan citizens (almost 25% of the population) are working abroad, most illegally.
Culture
The country's cultural heritage was marked by numerous churches and monasteries built by the Moldavian ruler Stephen the Great in the 15th century, by the works of the later renaissance Metropolitans Varlaam
Varlaam, Metropolitan of Moscow
Varlaam was Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' from 1511 to 1521. From 1506 he was archimandrite of the Simonov Monastery in Moscow.He was selected by Grand Prince Vasily III on July 27, 1511 and consecrated Metropolitan on August 3, 1511. He was said to be austere, never sycophantic to the...
and Dosoftei
Dosoftei
Dimitrie Barilă, better known under his monastical name Dosoftei , was a Moldavian Metropolitan, scholar, poet and translator....
, and those of scholars such as Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche was a Moldavian chronicler who wrote on Moldavian history in his Letopiseţul Ţării Moldovei , covering the period from 1359 to 1594....
, Miron Costin
Miron Costin
Miron Costin was a Moldavian political figure and chronicler. His main work, Letopiseţul Ţărâi Moldovei [de la Aron Vodă încoace] was meant to extend Grigore Ureche's narrative, covering events from 1594 to 1660...
, Nicolae Milescu
Nicolae Milescu
Nicolae Milescu was a Moldavian writer, traveler, geographer, and diplomat. Milescu spoke 9 languages: Romanian, Latin, Greek, Modern Greek, French, German, Turkish, Swedish and Russian...
, Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir was twice Prince of Moldavia . He was also a prolific man of letters – philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer....
, Ion Neculce
Ion Neculce
Ion Neculce was a Moldavian chronicler. His main work, Letopiseţul Ţărâi Moldovei [de la Dabija Vodă până la a doua domnie a lui Constantin Mavrocordat] was meant to extend Ion Neculce's narrative, covering events from 1661 to 1743.-Life:Ion Neculce...
. In the 19th century, Moldavians from the territories of the medieval Principality of Moldavia, then split between Austria, Russia, and an Ottoman-vassal Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
(after 1859, Romania), made a significant contribution to the formation of the modern Romanian culture
Culture of Romania
Romania has a unique culture, which is the product of its geography and of its distinct historical evolution. Like Romanians themselves, it is defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be truly included in any of them...
. Among these were many Bessarabians, such as Alexandru Donici
Alecu Donici
Alecu Donici was a Moldavian-born Romanian poet and translator.- Biography :...
, Alexandru Hâjdeu
Alexandru Hâjdeu
Alexandru Hâjdeu was a writer of Romanian origin, who lived in Bessarabia . He was the father of Romanian writer and philologist Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu....
, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Hasdeu is considered to have been able to understand 26 languages .-Life:...
, Constantin Stamati
Constantin Stamati
Constantin Stamati was a Romanian/Moldovan writer and translator.He settled in Chişinău, Bessarabia after the 1812 partition of Moldavia at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, but made his literary debut in Iaşi.Stamati became a civil servant and official translator under the first Russian...
, Constantin Stamati-Ciurea
Constantin Stamati-Ciurea
Constantin Stamati-Ciurea was a Romanian writer and translator from Bessarabia. The son of Constantin Stamati, he followed in his father's footsteps as an author of prose, plays, and translations...
, Costache Negruzzi, Alecu Russo
Alecu Russo
Alecu Russo , was a Moldavian Romanian writer, literary critic and publicist....
, Constantin Stere
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea was a Romanian writer, jurist, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; , Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere;...
.
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, a late Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
poet, and Ion Creangă
Ion Creanga
Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes...
, a writer, are the most influential Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
artists, considered national writers both in Romania and Moldova.
The largest ethnic group is a speaker of Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
and share the Romanian culture. Their culture has been also influenced (through Eastern Orthodoxy) by the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
culture.
The country has also important minority ethnic communities. Gagauz
Gagauz people
The Gagauz people are Turkic speaking group living mostly in southern Moldova , southwestern Ukraine , south-eastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria. Unlike most other Turkic speaking people, the Gagauz are predominantly Orthodox Christians...
, 4.4% of the population, are Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
people. Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, Armenians
Armenians in Moldova
Armenians in Moldova are the ethnic Armenians that live in Moldova. They settled in the Principality of Moldavia since the Late Middle Ages, and were well-known as a merchant community. They prospered, and built a number of Armenian churches. Since the 18th century, however, their numbers decreased...
, Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, Jews
Bessarabian Jews
-Early history:Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their main activity in Moldavia was commerce, but they could not compete with Greeks and Armenians, who had the knowledge of the Levantine commerce and relationships...
, Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, although not numerous, were present since as early as 17th century, and had left cultural marks. The 19th century saw the arrival of many more Ukrainians and Jews from Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
and Galicia, as well as new communities, such as Lipovans
Lipovans
Lipovans or Lippovans are the Old Believers, mostly of Russian ethnic origin, who settled in the Moldavian Principality, in Dobruja and Eastern Muntenia...
, Bulgarians
Bessarabian Bulgarians
The Bessarabian Bulgarians are a Bulgarian minority group of the historical region of Bessarabia, inhabiting parts of present-day Ukraine and Moldova.- Location and number :-Modern Ukraine:...
and Bessarabian Germans.
In the second part of the 20th century, Moldova saw a massive Soviet immigration, which brought with it many elements of Soviet culture.
Moldovan culture was also influenced by historic minority ethnic communities, and in turn has had an influence on the culture of these groups, such as Bessarabian Germans and Bessarabian Jews
Bessarabian Jews
-Early history:Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their main activity in Moldavia was commerce, but they could not compete with Greeks and Armenians, who had the knowledge of the Levantine commerce and relationships...
.
Popular media
In October 1939, Radio Basarabia, a local station of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting CompanyRomanian Radio Broadcasting Company
The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company , informally referred to as Radio Romania , is the public radio broadcaster in Romania. It operates four national radio channels, and, under the Radio România Regional umbrella, eleven regional radio stations. The four national radio channels are: Radio...
, opened in Chişinău. Television in Moldova was introduced in April 1958
Timeline of the introduction of television in countries
This is a list of when the first publicly announced television broadcasts occurred in the mentioned countries. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not included....
, within the framework of Soviet television. Through cable, Moldovan viewers can receive a large number of Russian channels
Television in Russia
Television in Russia was introduced in 1931, when Russia was still known as the Russian SFSR.- History :Between 1941 and 1945 all television broadcasts in the nation were interrupted because of Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union...
, a few Romanian channels
Television in Romania
Television in Romania was introduced on August 1955. State television started to broadcast in 1956, on December, 31st.Accorting to an article on the Romanian newspaper Adevărul, the top TV broadcasters were : Pro TV , TVR1 , Antena 1 , OTV , Acasă TV , Prima TV...
, and several Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
versions of international channels in addition to several local channels. One Russian and two local channels are aired.
Food and beverage
Russian cuisine
Russian cuisine is diverse, as Russia is the largest country in the world. Russian cuisine derives its varied character from the vast and multi-cultural expanse of Russia. Its foundations were laid by the peasant food of the rural population in an often harsh climate, with a combination of...
, Turkish
Turkish cuisine
Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including that of western Europe...
, and Ukrainian
Ukrainian cuisine
Ukrainian cuisine has significant diversity, historical traditions. "Cuisine - Flavors and Colors of Ukrainian Culture."] . Accessed July 2011. Common foods used include meats, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, berries and herbs...
cuisine. Main dishes include beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
, pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
, and a variety of cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
s. Popular alcoholic beverages are divin
Divín
Divín is a village and municipality in the Lučenec District in the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia.-History:In historical records, the village was first mentioned in 1329 as a parish and a castle...
(Moldovan brandy
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...
) and local wines.
Total recorded adult alcohol consumption is approximately evenly split between spirits, beer and wine; and the average annual adult per capita consumption, in terms of pure alcohol, in 2003–2005, was 18.2 litres, the highest in the world.
Music
Among Moldova's most prominent composers are Gavriil Musicescu, Ştefan NeagaStefan Neaga
Ştefan Neaga was a Moldavian composer. He was known in Russian as Степан Тимофеевич Няга.The Chişinău College of Music is named for him....
and Eugen Doga
Eugen Doga
Eugen Doga is a Moldovan/Romanian composer. After the fall of the Soviet Union he lives in Moscow, Russia.-Biography:Doga was born on March 1, 1937 in the village of Mocra in the Rîbniţa district of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic...
.
In the field of popular music, Moldova has produced the band O-Zone
O-Zone
O-Zone was a Romania/Moldovan pop music trio that was active from 1998 to 2005 and consisted of Dan Bălan, Radu Sîrbu, and Arsenie Todiraş. The group gained global popularity with their song "Dragostea din tei" and their subsequent album DiscO-Zone....
, who came to prominence in 2003, with their hit song Dragostea Din Tei
Dragostea din Tei
"Dragostea din tei" , also informally known as "The Numa Numa Song" , is the most successful single by the Moldovan pop group O-Zone, sung in Romanian. It shot to the number one spot on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it remained for 12 weeks between June and early September 2004...
. Moldova has been participating in the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
since 2005. Another popular band from Moldova is ska rock
Ska punk
Ska punk is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk rock. It achieved its highest level of commercial success in the United States in the late 1990s. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk, blending ska with hardcore punk.The characteristics of ska punk vary, due to the fusion of contrasting...
band Zdob şi Zdub
Zdob si Zdub
Zdob şi Zdub is a Moldovan band, based in Chişinău, whose work for the last several years has combined elements of hip-hop , hardcore punk and comical lyrics with traditional Romanian folk music. The name is onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat...
that represented the country in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 6th. They also again represented Moldova in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 12th. Dan Bălan
Dan Balan
Dan Mihai Bălan is a Moldavian singer, songwriter, and producer. He was born to Mihai Bălan and Ludmila Bălan, a TV presenter. Dan Bălan has performed eurodance and commercially pop music...
, another popular artist, released the album Chica Bomb in 2010.
Also worth mentioning is the band SunStroke Project
SunStroke Project
SunStroke Project are a Moldovan dance/pop trio composed of Sergei Yalovitsky , Anton Ragoza and Sergey Stepanov , the band's producer is Aleksei Myslicky. They are famous for representing Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010...
, which along with Olia Tira
Olia Tira
Olia Tira is a singer based in Moldova.-Early life:Tira was born in 1988 into a Soviet military family in Potsdam, East Germany. She spent a few years there and moved to Chişinău...
represented the country in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest with their hit song, Run Away
Run Away (SunStroke Project and Olia Tira song)
"Run Away" is a song performed by SunStroke Project and Olia Tira, and represented Moldova at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in May 2010 in Oslo, Norway. The song won the final of the O melodie pentru Europa 2010, that took place on 6 March...
. Their performance gained international notoriety as an internet meme
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
due to the pelvic thrusting and dancing of Sergey Stepanov, the band saxophonist. He has been fittingly dubbed "Epic Sax Guy."
Holidays
Most retail businesses close on New Year'sNew Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
and Independence Day
Independence Day (Republic of Moldova)
Independence Day is the national day of Moldova commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union on August 27, 1991....
, but remain open on all other holidays.
Sport
Trânta (a type of wrestlingWrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
) is the national sport in Moldova. Football is the most popular sport in Moldova.
Rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
is popular as well. Registered players have doubled and almost 10,000 spectators turn up at every European Nations Cup
European Nations Cup (rugby union)
The European Nations Cup is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations. The Championship is split into 7 divisions with 5 or 6 teams in each. The divisions play on a two-year cycle with the teams playing each other both home and away...
match.