Moldova

Geography

Location: Eastern Europe, northeast of Romania

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States - European States

Area:
total area: 33,700 sq km
land area: 33,700 sq km
comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Hawaii

Land boundaries: total 1,389 km, Romania 450 km, Ukraine 939 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none; landlocked

International disputes: certain territory of Moldova and Ukraine - including Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina - are considered by Bucharest as historically a part of Romania; this territory was incorporated into the former Soviet Union following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1940

Climate: moderate winters, warm summers

Terrain: rolling steppe, gradual slope south to Black Sea

Natural resources: lignite, phosphorites, gypsum

Land use:
arable land: 50%
permanent crops: 13%
meadows and pastures: 9%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 28%

Irrigated land: 2,920 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: heavy use of agricultural chemicals, including banned pesticides such as DDT, has contaminated soil and groundwater; extensive soil erosion from poor farming methods
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity, Climate Change

Note: landlocked

People

Population: 4,489,657 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 27% (female 588,155; male 609,372)
15-64 years: 64% (female 1,487,170; male 1,386,293)
65 years and over: 9% (female 258,958; male 159,709) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.36% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 15.93 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 10.05 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.25 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 29.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 68.22 years
male: 64.81 years
female: 71.8 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.16 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Moldovan(s)
adjective: Moldovan

Ethnic divisions: Moldavian/Romanian 64.5%, Ukrainian 13.8%, Russian 13%, Gagauz 3.5%, Jewish 1.5%, Bulgarian 2%, other 1.7% (1989 figures)
note: internal disputes with ethnic Russians and Ukrainians in the Dniester region and Gagauz Turks in the south

Religions: Eastern Orthodox 98.5%, Jewish 1.5%, Baptist (only about 1,000 members) (1991)
note: the large majority of churchgoers are ethnic Moldavian

Languages: Moldovan (official; virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian, Gagauz (a Turkish dialect)

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1989)
total population: 96%
male: 99%
female: 94%

Labor force: 2.03 million (January 1994)
by occupation: agriculture 34.4%, industry 20.1%, other 45.5% (1985 figures)

Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Moldova
conventional short form: Moldova
local long form: Republica Moldova
local short form: none
former: Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova; Moldavia

Digraph: MD

Type: republic

Capital: Chisinau

Administrative divisions: previously divided into 40 rayons; new districts possible under new constitution in 1994

Independence: 27 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day, 27 August 1991

Constitution: new constitution adopted NA July 1994; replaces old Soviet constitution of 1979

Legal system: based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts; does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction but accepts many UN and OSCE documents

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Mircea SNEGUR (since 3 September 1990); election last held 8 December 1991 (next to be held NA 1996); results - Mircea SNEGUR ran unopposed and won 98.17% of vote; note - President SNEGUR was named executive president by the Supreme Soviet on 3 September 1990 and was confirmed by popular election on 8 December 1991
head of government: Prime Minister Andrei SANGHELI (since 1 July 1992; reappointed 5 April 1994 after elections for new legislature); First Deputy Prime Minister Ion GUTU (since NA)
cabinet: Council of Ministers; appointed by the president on recommendation of the prime minister

Legislative branch: unicameral
Parliament: elections last held 27 February 1994 (next to be held NA 1999); results - percent by party NA; seats - (104 total) Agrarian-Democratic Party 56, Socialist/Yedinstvo Bloc 28, Peasants and Intellectual Bloc 11, Christian Democratic Popular Front 9

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Popular Front (formerly Moldovan Popular Front), Iurie ROSCA, chairman; Yedinstvo Intermovement, Vladimir SOLONARI, chairman; Social Democratic Party, Oazu NANTOI, chairman, two other chairmen; Agrarian-Democratic Party, Dumitru MOTPAN, chairman; Democratic Party, Gheorghe GHIMPU, chairman; Democratic Labor Party, Alexandru ARSENI, chairman; Reform Party, Anatol SELARU; Republican Party, Victor PUSCAS; Socialist Party, Valeriu SENIC, cochairman; Communist Party, Vladimir VORONIN, cochairman; Peasants and Intellectuals Bloc

Other political or pressure groups: United Council of Labor Collectives (UCLC), Igor SMIRNOV, chairman; Congress of Intellectuals, Alexandru MOSANU; The Ecology Movement of Moldova (EMM), G. MALARCHUK, chairman; The Christian Democratic League of Women of Moldova (CDLWM), L. LARI, chairman; National Christian Party of Moldova (NCPM), D. TODIKE, M. BARAGA, V. NIKU, leaders; The Peoples Movement Gagauz Khalky (GKh), S. GULGAR, leader; The Democratic Party of Gagauzia (DPG), G. SAVOSTIN, chairman; The Alliance of Working People of Moldova (AWPM), G. POLOGOV, president; Christian Alliance for Greater Romania; Stefan the Great Movement; Liberal Convention of Moldova; Association of Victims of Repression; Christian Democratic Youth League

Member of: BSEC, CE (guest), CIS, EBRD, ECE, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, ILO, IMF, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ITU, NACC, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Nicolae TAU
chancery: Suites 329, 333, 1511 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005
telephone: [1] (202) 783-3012
FAX: [1] (202) 783-3342

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Mary C. PENDLETON
embassy: Strada Alexei Mateevich #103, Chisinau
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [373] (2) 23-37-72
FAX: [373] (2) 23-30-44

Flag: same color scheme as Romania - 3 equal vertical bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, and red; emblem in center of flag is of a Roman eagle of gold outlined in black with a red beak and talons carrying a yellow cross in its beak and a green olive branch in its right talons and a yellow scepter in its left talons; on its breast is a shield divided horizontally red over blue with a stylized ox head, star, rose, and crescent all in black-outlined yellow

Economy

Overview: Moldova enjoys a favorable climate and good farmland but has no major mineral deposits. As a result, Moldova's economy is primarily based on agriculture, featuring fruits, vegetables, wine, and tobacco. Moldova must import all of its supplies of oil, coal, and natural gas, and energy shortages have contributed to sharp production declines since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Moldovan government is making steady progress on an ambitious economic reform agenda, and the IMF has called Moldova a model for the region. As part of its reform efforts, Chisinau has introduced a stable currency, freed all prices, stopped issuing preferential credits to state enterprises and backed their steady privatization, removed export controls, and freed interest rates. Chisinau appears strongly committed to continuing these reforms in 1995. Meanwhile, privatization of medium and large enterprises got underway in mid-1994 and is expected to pick up speed in 1995. To improve its precarious energy situation, Chisinau reached an agreement with Moscow in December 1994 on gas deliveries for 1995. Gazprom, Russia's national gas company, has agreed to reduce prices for natural gas deliveries to Moldova from the world market price of $80/thousand cubic meters (tcm) to $58/tcm in return for part ownership of the Moldovan pipeline system.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $11.9 billion (1994 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992)

National product real growth rate: -30% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $2,670 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 7.6% per month (1994)

Unemployment rate: 1% (includes only officially registered unemployed; large numbers of underemployed workers)

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
note: budget deficit for 1993 approximately 6% of GDP

Exports: $144 million to outside the FSU countries (1994); over 70% of exports go to FSU countries
commodities: foodstuffs, wine, tobacco, textiles and footwear, machinery, chemicals (1991)
partners: Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Romania, Germany

Imports: $174 million from outside the FSU countries (1994); over 70% of imports are from FSU countries
commodities: oil, gas, coal, steel, machinery, foodstuffs, automobiles, and other consumer durables
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Romania, Germany

External debt: $300 million (as of 11 December 1994)

Industrial production: growth rate -30% (1994 est.)

Electricity:
capacity: 3,000,000 kW
production: 8.2 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 1,830 kWh (1994)

Industries: key products are canned food, agricultural machinery, foundry equipment, refrigerators and freezers, washing machines, hosiery, refined sugar, vegetable oil, shoes, textiles

Agriculture: accounts for about 40% of GDP; Moldova's principal economic activity; products are vegetables, fruits, wine, grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, meat, milk, tobacco

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivator of opium poppy and cannabis; mostly for CIS consumption; transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Economic aid:
recipient: joint EC-US loan (1993), $127 million; IMF STF credit (1993), $64 million; IMF stand-by loan (1993), $72 million; US commitments (1992-93), $61 million in humanitarian aid, $11 million in technical assistance; World Bank loan (1993), $60 million; Russia (1993), 50 billion ruble credit; Romania (1993), 20 billion lei credit

Currency: the leu (plural lei) was introduced in late 1993

Exchange rates: lei per US$1 - 4.277 (22 December 1994)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation

Railroads:
total: 1,150 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines
broad gauge: 1,150 km 1.520-m gauge (1990)

Highways:
total: 20,000 km
paved or graveled: 13,900 km
unpaved: earth 6,100 km (1990)

Pipelines: natural gas 310 km (1992)

Ports: none

Airports:
total: 26
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
with paved runways under 914 m: 3
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 2
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 5
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 8

Communications

Telephone system: 577,000 telephones; 134 telephones/1,000 persons; telecommunication system not well developed; 215,000 unsatisfied requests for telephone service (1991)
local: NA
intercity: NA
international: international connections to the other former Soviet republics by land line and microwave radio relay through Ukraine, and to other countries by leased connections to the Moscow international gateway switch; 1 EUTELSAT and 1 INTELSAT earth station

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
radios: NA

Television:
broadcast stations: NA
televisions: NA

Defense Forces

Branches: Ground Forces, Air and Air Defense Forces, Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops)

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 1,116,912; males fit for military service 881,642; males reach military age (18) annually 35,447 (1995 est.)

Defense expenditures: $NA, 2% of GDP (1994)