Moldova
Republic of Moldova
Geography
Area: 33,843 sq. km. (13,000 sq. mi.); slightly larger than Maryland.
Cities: Capital--Chisinau.
Terrain: Rolling steppe, gradual slope south to Black Sea.
Climate: Moderate winters, warm summers.
Time Zone: GMT+2
People
Nationality: Noun--Moldovan(s). Adjective--Moldovan.
Population (January 2006): 3.39 million, excluding the estimated Transnistrian population of 537,000. Population growth rate: 0.5% (2005).
Ethnic groups (2004 census): Moldovan (83.7%), Ukrainian (6.6%), Russian (1.7%), Gagauz (4.5%), Bulgarian (1.7%), Romanian (1.4%), other (0.4%).
Main religions: Christian Orthodox (93.3%), Baptist (1%), Adventist, Roman Catholic, Jewish.
Languages: Romanian (officially known as Moldovan), Russian, Ukrainian, Gagauz.
Education: Literacy--96%.
Health: Infant mortality rate--12/1,000. Life expectancy-68.4 years.
Work force (1.3 million): Agriculture--41%; industry--12%; other--47%.
Government
Type: Republic.
Constitution: Adopted July 28, 1994.
Independence: August 27, 1991 (from Soviet Union).
Branches: Executive--President (head of state), Prime Minister (head of Government), Government (cabinet). Legislative--unicameral Parliament. Judicial--Supreme Court.
Administrative subdivisions: 32 counties (raions), 4 municipalities, and one autonomous territorial unit.
Political parties: Communist Party, Christian Democratic People's Party, Our Moldova Alliance, Democratic Party, Social Liberal Party, Social-Democratic Party and the Party for Social Democracy.
Suffrage: Universal at 18.
Economy
GDP (2006): $3.35 billion ($2.9 billion in 2005; $2.6 billion in 2004).
GDP real growth rate (January-June 2007): 8.0% (5.0% in 2006; 8.6% in 2005; 6.5% in 2004).
Per capita GDP (2006): $937 ($890 in 2005; $766 in 2004: $540 in 2003).
Natural resources: Lignite, phosphates, gypsum, arable land, and limestone.
Agriculture: Products--vegetables, fruits, wine and spirits, grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, meat, milk, eggs, tobacco, walnuts.
Industry: Types--processed foods and beverages, including wine and refined sugar; processed fruit and vegetable products, including vegetable oil; dairy and meat products; tobacco items; metal processing and production of machinery; textiles and clothing, shoes; furniture.
Trade (2006): Exports--$1,051.6 million (of which 50% go to countries outside the former Soviet Union): foodstuffs, wine, textiles, clothing, footwear and machinery. Major markets--Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Italy, Belarus, Germany. Imports--$2,693.2 million (of which 60% come from countries outside the former Soviet Union): gas, oil, coal, steel, machinery and equipment, chemical products, textiles, foodstuffs, automobiles, and other consumer durables. Major suppliers--Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Germany, Italy. Currency: Moldovan Leu (plural Lei).
Exchange rate: Leu/US$ (2006): average 13.13; 12.91 (end of year); 12.60 (average in 2005); 12.33 (average in 2004); 13.94 (average in 2003).
PEOPLE AND HISTORY
Ethnic groups represented in Moldova include Moldovan/Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Gagauz, and Bulgarian. Romanian (officially known as Moldovan) is the official language; Russian, Ukrainian, and Gagauz also are spoken. The great majority of Moldova's population is Christian Orthodox -- 90% of the population nominally belongs to one of the two main Orthodox denominations. The Moldovan Orthodox Church, an autonomous diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and loyal to the Patriarch of Moscow, has 1,194 parishes; the Bessarabian Orthodox Church, affiliated with the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate in Bucharest, has 124 parishes. In addition, followers of the Old Rite Russian Orthodox Church (Old Believers) make up approximately 3.6% of the population.
The Republic of Moldova occupies most of what has been known as Bessarabia. Moldova's location has made it a historic passageway between Asia and southern Europe, as well as the victim of frequent warfare. Greeks, Romans, Huns, and Bulgars invaded the area, which in the 13th century became part of the Mongol empire. An independent Moldovan state emerged briefly in the 14th century under celebrated leader Stefan the Great but subsequently fell under Ottoman Turkish rule in the 16th century.
After the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-12, the eastern half of Moldova (Bessarabia) between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers was ceded to Russia, while Romanian Moldavia (west of the Prut) remained with the Turks. Romania, which gained independence in 1878, took control of Russian-ruled Bessarabia in 1918. The Soviet Union never recognized the action and created an autonomous Moldavian republic on the east side of the Dniester River in 1924.
In 1940, Romania was forced to cede Bessarabia to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), which established the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic by merging the autonomous republic east of the Dniester and the annexed Bessarabian portion. Stalin also stripped the three southern counties along the Black Sea coast from Moldova and incorporated them in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Romania sought to regain Bessarabia by joining with Germany in the 1941 attack on the Soviet Union. On June 22, 1941, German and Romanian troops crossed the border and deportations of the Jews from Bessarabia began immediately. By September 1941, most of the Jews of Bessarabia and Bukovina had been transported in convoys and force marched to concentration camps in Transnistria. About 185,000 Jews were in the Transnistria area in concentration camps by 1942 in abysmal conditions. Very few were left alive in these camps when the Soviets reoccupied Bessarabia in 1944.
In September 1990, the Supreme Soviet elected Mircea Snegur as President of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova. A former Communist Party official, he endorsed independence from the Soviet Union and actively sought Western recognition. On May 23, 1991, the Supreme Soviet renamed itself the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, which subsequently declared its independence from the U.S.S.R.
In August 1991, Moldova's transition to democracy initially had been impeded by an ineffective Parliament, the lack of a new constitution, a separatist movement led by the Gagauz (Christian Turkic) minority in the south, and unrest in the Transnistria region on the left bank of the Nistru/Dniester River, where a separatist movement declared a "Transdniester Moldovan Republic" in September 1990. The Russian 14th Army intervened to stem widespread violence and support the Transnistrian regime which is led by supporters of the 1991 coup attempt in Moscow. In 1992, the government negotiated a cease-fire arrangement with Russian and Transnistrian officials, although tensions continue, and negotiations are ongoing. In February 1994, new legislative elections were held, and the ineffective Parliament that had been elected in 1990 to a 5-year term was replaced. A new constitution was adopted in July 1994. The conflict with the Gagauz minority was defused by the granting of local autonomy in 1994.Moldova
Moldova
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