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- #CARD:Moldova:Geography
- #IMAGE 49 66 TWPCX \maps\Moldova.PCX
- THE WORLD FACTBOOK Click Here for MAP
- Moldova
- Geography
-
-
- Location:
- Eastern Europe, between Ukraine and Romania
- Map references:
- Asia, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World
- Area:
- total area:
- 33,700 km2
- land area:
- 33,700 km2
- 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:
- potential dispute with Ukraine over former southern Bessarabian areas;
- northern Bukovina ceded to Ukraine upon Moldova's incorporation into USSR
- Climate:
- mild winters, warm summers
- Terrain:
- rolling steppe, gradual slope south to Black Sea
- Natural resources:
- lignite, phosphorites, gypsum
- Land use:
- arable land:
- 50%
- permanent crops:
- 0%
- meadows and pastures:
- 9%
- forest and woodland:
- 0%
- other:
- 41%
- Irrigated land:
- 2,920 km2 (1990)
- Environment:
- heavy use of agricultural chemicals, including banned pesticides such as
- DDT, has contaminated soil and groundwater; extensive erosion from poor
- farming methods
- Note:
- landlocked
-
- #ENDCARD
- #CARD:Moldova:People
- THE WORLD FACTBOOK
- Moldova
- People
-
-
- Population:
- 4,455,645 (July 1993 est.)
- Population growth rate:
- 0.4% (1993 est.)
- Birth rate:
- 16.15 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
- Death rate:
- 10.01 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
- Net migration rate:
- -2.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
- Infant mortality rate:
- 30.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
- Life expectancy at birth:
- total population:
- 67.92 years
- male:
- 64.49 years
- female:
- 71.53 years (1993 est.)
- Total fertility rate:
- 2.2 children born/woman (1993 est.)
- Nationality:
- noun:
- Moldovan(s)
- adjective:
- Moldovan
- Ethnic divisions:
- Moldovan/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:
- almost all churchgoers are ethnic Moldovan; the Slavic population are not
- churchgoers
- Languages:
- Moldovan (official); note - virtually the same as the Romanian language,
- Russian
- Literacy:
- age 9-49 can read and write (1970)
- total population:
- 100%
- male:
- 100%
- female:
- 99%
- Labor force:
- 2.095 million
- by occupation:
- agriculture 34.4%, industry 20.1%, other 45.5% (1985 figures)
-
- #ENDCARD
- #CARD:Moldova:Government
- THE WORLD FACTBOOK
- Moldova
- Government
-
-
- Names:
- conventional long form:
- Republic of Moldova
- conventional short form:
- Moldova
- local long form:
- Republica Moldoveneasca
- local short form:
- none
- former:
- Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova; Moldavia
- Digraph:
- MD
- Type:
- republic
- Capital:
- Chisinau (Kishinev)
- Administrative divisions:
- previously divided into 40 rayons; to be divided into fewer, larger
- districts at some future point
- Independence:
- 27 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
- Constitution:
- as of mid-1993 the new constitution had not been adopted; old constitution
- (adopted NA 1979) is still in effect but has been heavily amended during the
- past few years
- Legal system:
- based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts; does not
- accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction but accepts many UN and CSCE documents
- National holiday:
- Independence Day, 27 August 1991
- Political parties and leaders:
- Christian Democratic Popular Front (formerly Moldovan Popular Front), Ivrie
- ROSCA, chairman; Yedinstvo Intermovement, V. YAKOVLEV, chairman; Social
- Democratic Party, Oazul NANTOI, chairman, two other chairmen; Agrarian
- Democratic Party, Valery CHEBOTARV, leader; Democratic Party, Gheorghe
- GHIMPU, chairman; Democratic Labor Party, Alexandru ARSENI, chairman
- Other political or pressure groups:
- United Council of Labor Collectives (UCLC), Igor SMIRNOV, chairman; 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; Women's League; Stefan the Great Movement
- Suffrage:
- 18 years of age; universal
- Elections:
- President:
- last held 8 December 1991 (next to be held NA1996); results - Mircea SNEGUR
- ran unopposed and won 98.17% of vote
- Parliament:
- last held 25 February 1990 (next to be held NA 1995); results - percent of
- vote by party NA; seats - (350 total) Christian Democratic Popular Front 50;
- Club of Independent Deputies 25; Agrarian Club 90; Social Democrats 60-70;
- Russian Conciliation Club 50; 60-70 seats belong to Dniester region deputies
- who usually boycott Moldovan legislative proceedings; the remaining seats
- filled by independents; note - until May 1991 was called Supreme Soviet
-
- #ENDCARD
- #CARD:Moldova:Government
- THE WORLD FACTBOOK
- Moldova
- Government
- Executive branch:
- president, prime minister, Cabinet of Ministers
- Legislative branch:
- unicameral Parliament
- Judicial branch:
- Supreme Court
- Leaders:
- Chief of State:
- President Mircea Ivanovich SNEGUR (since 3 September 1990)
- Head of Legislature:
- Chairman of the Parliament Petru LUCINSCHI (since 4 February 1993); Prime
- Minister Andrei SANGHELI (since 1 July 1992)
- Member of:
- BSEC, CIS, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, IBRD, ICAO, ILO, IMF, NACC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
- WHO
- Diplomatic representation in US:
- chief of mission:
- Permanent Representative to the UN Tudor PANTIRU (also acts as
- representative to US)
- chancery:
- NA
- telephone:
- NA
- US diplomatic representation:
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Mary C. PENDLETON
- embassy:
- Strada Alexei Mateevich #103, Chisinau
- mailing address:
- APO AE 09862
- telephone:
- 7-0422-23-37-72 or 23-34-94
- FAX:
- 7-0422-23-34-94
- 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
-
- #ENDCARD
- #CARD:Moldova:Economy
- THE WORLD FACTBOOK
- Moldova
- Economy
-
-
- Overview:
- Moldova, the next-to-smallest of the former Soviet republics in area, is the
- most densely inhabited. Moldova has a little more than 1% of the population,
- labor force, capital stock, and output of the former Soviet Union. Living
- standards have been below average for the European USSR. The country enjoys
- a favorable climate, and economic development has been primarily based on
- agriculture, featuring fruits, vegetables, wine, and tobacco. Industry
- accounts for 20% of the labor force, whereas agriculture employs more than
- one-third. Moldova has no major mineral resources and has depended on other
- former Soviet republics for coal, oil, gas, steel, most electronic
- equipment, machine tools, and major consumer durables such as automobiles.
- Its industrial and agricultural products, in turn, have been exported to the
- other republics. Moldova has freed prices on most goods and has legalized
- private ownership of property. Moldova's near-term economic prospects are
- dimmed, however, by the difficulties of moving toward a market economy, the
- political problems of redefining ties to the other former Soviet republics
- and Romania, and the ongoing separatist movements in the Dniester and Gagauz
- regions. In 1992, national output fell substantially for the second
- consecutive year - down 22% in the industrial sector and 20% in agriculture.
- The decline is mainly attributable to the drop in energy supplies.
- National product:
- GDP $NA
- National product real growth rate:
- -26% (1992)
- National product per capita:
- $NA
- Inflation rate (consumer prices):
- 27% per month (first quarter 1993)
- Unemployment rate:
- 0.7% (includes only officially registered unemployed; also large numbers of
- underemployed workers)
- Budget:
- revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
- Exports:
- 100 million to outside the successor states of the former USSR (1992)
- commodities:
- foodstuffs, wine, tobacco, textiles and footwear, machinery, chemicals
- (1991)
- partners:
- Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Romania
- Imports:
- 100 million from outside the successor states of the former USSR (1992)
- commodities:
- oil, gas, coal, steel machinery, foodstuffs, automobiles, and other consumer
- durables
- partners:
- Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Romania
- External debt:
- $100 million (1993 est.)
- Industrial production:
- growth rate -22% (1992)
- Electricity:
- 3,115,000 kW capacity; 11,100 million kWh produced, 2,491 kWh per capita
- (1992)
- Industries:
- key products (with share of total former Soviet output in parentheses where
- known): agricultural machinery, foundry equipment, refrigerators and
- freezers (2.7%), washing machines (5.0%), hosiery (2.0%), refined sugar
- (3.1%), vegetable oil (3.7%), canned food (8.6%), shoes, textiles
-
- #ENDCARD
- #CARD:Moldova:Economy
- THE WORLD FACTBOOK
- Moldova
- Economy
- Agriculture:
- Moldova's principal economic activity; products (shown in share of total
- output of the former Soviet republics): Grain (1.6%), sugar beets (2.6%),
- sunflower seed (4.4%), vegetables (4.4%), fruits and berries (9.7%), grapes
- (20.1%), meat (1.7%), milk (1.4%), eggs (1.4%)
- Illicit drugs:
- illicit producer of opium and cannabis; mostly for CIS consumption;
- transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe
- Economic aid:
- IMF credit, $18.5 million (1992); EC agricultural credit, $30 million
- (1992); US commitments, $10 million for grain (1992); World Bank credit, $31
- million
- Currency:
- plans to introduce the Moldovan lei in 1993 or 1994, until then retaining
- Russian ruble as currency
- Exchange rates:
- rubles per US$1 - 415 (24 December 1992) but subject to wide fluctuations
- Fiscal year:
- calendar year
-
- #ENDCARD
- #CARD:Moldova:Communications
- THE WORLD FACTBOOK
- Moldova
- Communications
-
-
- Railroads:
- 1,150 km; does not include industrial lines (1990)
- Highways:
- 20,000 km total; 13,900 km hard-surfaced, 6,100 km earth (1990)
- Pipelines:
- natural gas 310 km (1992)
- Ports:
- none; landlocked
- Airports:
- total:
- 26
- useable:
- 15
- with permanent-surface runways:
- 6
- with runways over 3,659 m:
- 0
- with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
- 5
- with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
- 8
- Telecommunications:
- poorly supplied with telephones (as of 1991, 494,000 telephones total, with
- a density of 111 lines per 1000 persons); 215,000 unsatisfied applications
- for telephone installations (31 January 1990); connected to Ukraine by
- landline and to countries beyond the former USSR through the international
- gateway switch in Moscow
-
- #ENDCARD
- #CARD:Moldova:Defense Forces
- THE WORLD FACTBOOK
- Moldova
- Defense Forces
-
-
- Branches:
- Ground Forces, Air and Air Defence Force, Security Forces (internal and
- border troops)
- Manpower availability:
- males age 15-49 1,082,562; fit for military service 859,948; reach military
- age (18) annually 35,769 (1993 est.)
- Defense expenditures:
- exchange rate conversion - $NA, NA% of GDP
-
- #ENDCARD
-