Over the past 5 years, the number of Moldovan citizens has decreased by 262 thousand, including 207 thousand people who emigrated from the country - IDIS Viitorul
Such data was presented by the expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives Veaceslav Ionita. According to him, as of January 1, 2025, about 3.9 million citizens lived in Moldova, of which about 3.5 million lived on the right bank of the Dniester, and 450 thousand on the left bank. Of the 3.5 million living on the right bank of the Dniester, almost 2.4 million were in the country, and 1.1 million were abroad. Of the 2.4 million citizens in the country, 200 thousand go abroad seasonally to earn money, on vacation, or to visit relatives, etc. Thus, no more than 2.2 million Moldovans permanently resided in the country. At the same time, out of 450 thousand residents of the region, about 290 thousand citizens currently live on the left bank of the Dniester, and the rest have left. The expert notes that in terms of population, Moldova, taking into account the left-bank residents, has rolled back 75 years - to the level of 1950, when 2.6 million people lived in the republic. The expert calculated that today in 1 year Moldova loses as many citizens as the number of residents previously increased in 3 years. The largest population decline occurred in 2022/2023 - by almost 142 thousand. The economist claims that the reason for the population decline is 35 years of negative natural population growth and active migration. "From 1991 to 1998, Moldova recorded a positive natural increase annually, and since 1999 - only a negative natural increase. Over the past 5 years, the number of Moldovan citizens has decreased by 262 thousand, of which: 207 thousand migrated, and about 55 thousand - this is the difference between the number of births and deaths, and this is the largest negative natural increase in history," said Veaceslav Ionita, noting that, according to his calculations, 1.4% of the country's population has left the country annually over the past 25 years. The expert draws attention to the fact that the departure of young people is a big problem. If in the 90s people over 30 years old went abroad, now young people from 20 to 29 years old are actively leaving. "The migration structure in our country has changed, now these are young people aged 20 to 29. This is Moldova's biggest problem," said Veaceslav Ionita. According to the economist, the very high migration among young people has led to the fact that in 2025, for the first time, the number of elderly people exceeded the number of children under 14, which means that the demographic burden is becoming extremely alarming. Herewith, in recent years, a new phenomenon has been observed - the migration of foreigners to Moldova, which compensates for part of the number of people leaving the country. For every 10 Moldovan citizens leaving, 1 foreigner arrives in the country. As of June 1, there were 47.4 thousand foreign citizens in the country (+1 thousand people per year). Most of them are from Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Great Britain, the USA, etc. According to the expert, today 2% of the country's population are foreigners who came here to live - they improve the demographic situation in the country. // 20.06.2025 — InfoMarket
