| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 285,000 (mid-2020) [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Region of Western Moldavia and large urban areas | |
| Languages | |
| Romanian | |
| Religion | |
| Mainly Eastern Orthodox |
Moldovans in Romania include the people born in the Republic of Moldova living in Romania and their descendants. The largest group of immigrants in Romania are from Moldova. Owing to the former period of union between most of Moldova and Romania, many Moldovans are eligible for Romanian citizenship on the basis of Romanian descent. Many immigrants from the Republic of Moldova prefer to settle in the Romanian counties from the region of Western Moldavia as the culture there is more similar to that of their home country. [2] There are also significant Moldovan communities in the largest cities of Romania, such as Bucharest and Constanta (Wallachia) as well as Cluj-Napoca (Transylvania) and Timișoara (Banat). [3] [4]
Demographic features of the population of Republic of Moldova include distribution, ethnicity, languages, religious affiliation and other statistical data.
The economy of Moldova is an emerging upper-middle income economy, Moldova is a landlocked Eastern European country, bordered by Ukraine on the East and Romania to the West. It is a former Soviet republic and today a candidate member to the European Union.
Moldovan, also called Moldavian, is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova. Moldovan was declared the official language of Moldova in Article 13 of the constitution adopted in 1994, while the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova used the name Romanian. In 2003, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as glottonyms for the same language. In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence, thus giving official status to the name Romanian. The breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize Moldavian as one of its official languages, alongside Russian and Ukrainian. Ukraine also continues to make a distinction between Moldovan and Romanian, with one village declaring its language to be Romanian and another declaring it to be Moldovan, though Ukrainian officials have announced an intention to remove the legal status of Moldovan. On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, promulgated the law.
Romanians are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a common culture and ancestry, they speak the Romanian language and live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2021 Romanian census found that 89.3% of Romania's citizens identified themselves as ethnic Romanians.
Orhei, also formerly known as Orgeev, is a city, municipality and the administrative centre of Orhei District in the Republic of Moldova, with a population of 21,065. Orhei is approximately 40 kilometres north of the capital, Chișinău.
Taraclia is a city located in the south of Moldova. It is the capital of Taraclia District, bordered by the autonomous region of Gagauzia, by the Cahul District and the Odesa Oblast of Ukraine. The great majority of its inhabitants are ethnic Bulgarians.
The European Social Democratic Party is a centre-left, populist social-democratic political party in Moldova. Established in 1997, the party holds pro-European views, and is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and a full member of the Socialist International. According to its statute, the PSDE pleads that Moldova is an independent, sovereign, and democratic state, based on law, and integrated in the united family of European democracies. Reflecting former leader Marian Lupu's views, but also the strong influence of the Moldovan Orthodox Church, the party is more conservative on social issues, such as LGBT rights.
The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept in the two countries that began during the Revolutions of 1989. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the development of a movement for the unification of the two Romanian-speaking countries. The question of reunification is recurrent in the public sphere of the two countries, often as a speculation, both as a goal and a danger. Though historically Romanian support for unification was high, a March 2022 survey following the Russian invasion of Ukraine indicated that only 11% of Romania's population supports an immediate union, while over 42% think it is not the right moment.
The Romanian diaspora is the ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in nearby states, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Therefore, the number of all Romanians abroad is estimated at 4–12 million people, depending on one's definition of the term "Romanian" as well as the inclusion respectively exclusion of ethnic Romanians living in nearby countries where they are indigenous. The definition of "who is a Romanian?" may range from rigorous conservative estimates based on self-identification and official statistics to estimates that include people of Romanian ancestry born in their respective countries as well as people born to various ethnic-minorities from Romania. As of 2015/16, over 97% of Romanian emigrants resided in OECD countries; and about 90% of Romanian emigrants in OECD countries lived in Europe, with the most common country of residence being Italy. The vast majority of Romanian emigrants are based in just ten countries, with the most common countries being Italy, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Hungary, France and Canada.
Modern Moldova-Romania relations emerged after the Republic of Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Pan-Romanianism has been a consistent part of Moldovan politics, and was adopted in the Popular Front of Moldova's platform in 1992. The official language of Moldova is Romanian. The peoples of the two countries share common traditions and folklore, including a common name for the monetary unit – the leu. At present, relations between the two states are exceptionally friendly, especially on account of the pro-Romanian administration of Maia Sandu in Moldova.
Internet in Moldova is one of the fastest and least expensive in the world. The country ranks 3rd in the world by gigabit coverage with around 90% of the population having the option to subscribe to a gigabit plan. The overall infrastructure is well developed which allows many users to experience good quality services throughout the country. However, despite high speeds and cheap prices, the penetration level is quite low when compared with many EU or CIS countries. In 2018, 49% of Moldovan households had broadband access. In 2015, there were 80 registered Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) in the country, with the majority being local or regional with only a few offering their services throughout the country. Moldtelecom and StarNet are the country's leading providers sharing around 88% of the market. The remaining 12% are shared between other ISPS, like SunCommunications, Arax Communications and others. Almost all ISPs that offer their services across the country have their headquarters located in the capital-city of Chişinău.
Immigration to Romania is less common than immigration to most other European Union countries, with Romania having 3.6% of the population foreign born as of 2021. Among immigrants, the most common countries of birth were Republic of Moldova (40%), Italy (11%) and Spain (9%). About two thirds of the foreign born population consists of labour migrants.
The official state language of Moldova is Romanian, which is the native language of 78.6% of the population ; it is also spoken as a primary language by other ethnic minorities. Gagauz, Russian, and Ukrainian languages are granted official regional status in Gagauzia and/or Transnistria.
Moldova–Russia relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation, two Eastern European, post-Soviet, ex-communist countries. Russian support for the self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) and a substantial Russian military presence therein strained Moldovan relations with Russia.
A controversy exists over the national identity and name of the native language of the main ethnic group in Moldova. The issue more frequently disputed is whether Moldovans constitute a subgroup of Romanians or a separate ethnic group. While there is wide agreement about the existence of a common language, the controversy persists about the use of the term "Moldovan language" in certain political contexts.
Russians in Moldova form the second largest ethnic minority in the country. According to the Moldovan Census (2004) and a separate 2004 Census in Transnistria, about 370,000 persons identified themselves as ethnic Russians in Moldova.
Tourism in the Republic of Moldova focuses on the country's natural landscapes and its history. Wine tours are offered to tourists across the country. Vineyards/cellars include Cricova, Purcari, Ciumai, Romanești, Cojușna, Mileștii Mici. In 2015, Moldova received 2.85 million visitors.
Starting in the spring of 2015, Moldova experienced large-scale protests amid a worsening economic situation and corruption scandals. The protests gained momentum in September, when up to 100,000 people demonstrated in the largest protest since Moldova's independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991.
Afro-Romanians are Romanians who are of African descent. Afro-Romanian populations are mostly concentrated in major cities of Romania. Africans have been immigrating to Romania since the Communist Era.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Moldova was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached the Republic of Moldova on 7 March 2020, when a Moldovan woman who returned from Italy tested positive for the novel coronavirus. As the number of infected people started to rise during the next days, the Parliament declared a state of emergency on 17 March 2020 for the entire territory of the Republic of Moldova for a period of 60 days.
 Ethnic groups in Romania | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dominant group | Romanians (16,792,868) |  |
| Officially recognised minorities |
| |
| Non-recognized minorities |
| |
| Historical ethnic groups |
| |
| Immigrant groups |
| |
* = Subgroups of officially recognized ethnicities that are not treated by the Romanian authorities as separate minorities. | ||
