1993 Edition

Area

total area: 33,700 km2 land area: 33,700 km2 comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Hawaii

Climate

mild winters, warm summers

Coastline

0 km (landlocked)

Environment

heavy use of agricultural chemicals, including banned pesticides such as DDT, has contaminated soil and groundwater; extensive erosion from poor farming methods

International disputes

potential dispute with Ukraine over former southern Bessarabian areas; northern Bukovina ceded to Ukraine upon Moldova's incorporation into USSR

Irrigated land

2,920 km2 (1990)

Land boundaries

total 1,389 km, Romania 450 km, Ukraine 939 km

Land use

arable land: 50% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 9% forest and woodland: 0% other: 41%

Location

Eastern Europe, between Ukraine and Romania

Map references

Asia, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World

Maritime claims

none; landlocked

Natural resources

lignite, phosphorites, gypsum

Note

landlocked

Terrain

rolling steppe, gradual slope south to Black Sea

Birth rate

16.15 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate

10.01 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)

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

Infant mortality rate

30.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)

Labor force

2.095 million by occupation: agriculture 34.4%, industry 20.1%, other 45.5% (1985 figures)

Languages

Moldovan (official); note - virtually the same as the Romanian language, Russian

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 67.92 years male: 64.49 years female: 71.53 years (1993 est.)

Literacy

age 9-49 can read and write (1970) total population: 100% male: 100% female: 99%

Nationality

noun: Moldovan(s) adjective: Moldovan

Net migration rate

-2.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Population

4,455,645 (July 1993 est.)

Population growth rate

0.4% (1993 est.)

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

Total fertility rate

2.2 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Administrative divisions

previously divided into 40 rayons; to be divided into fewer, larger districts at some future point

Capital

Chisinau (Kishinev)

Chief of State

President Mircea Ivanovich SNEGUR (since 3 September 1990)

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

Digraph

MD

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Permanent Representative to the UN Tudor PANTIRU (also acts as representative to US) chancery: NA telephone: NA

Executive branch

president, prime minister, Cabinet of Ministers

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

Head of Legislature

Chairman of the Parliament Petru LUCINSCHI (since 4 February 1993); Prime Minister Andrei SANGHELI (since 1 July 1992)

Independence

27 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

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

Legislative branch

unicameral Parliament

Member of

BSEC, CIS, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, IBRD, ICAO, ILO, IMF, NACC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, WHO

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

National holiday

Independence Day, 27 August 1991

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

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

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

President

last held 8 December 1991 (next to be held NA1996); results - Mircea SNEGUR ran unopposed and won 98.17% of vote

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal

Type

republic

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

Agriculture

Moldova's principal economic activity; products (shown in share of total

sunflower seed (4.4%), vegetables (4.4%), fruits and berries (9.7%), grapes (20.1%), meat (1.7%), milk (1.4%), eggs (1.4%)

output of the former Soviet republics)

Grain (1.6%), sugar beets (2.6%),

Budget

revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Currency

plans to introduce the Moldovan lei in 1993 or 1994, until then retaining Russian ruble as currency

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

Electricity

3,115,000 kW capacity; 11,100 million kWh produced, 2,491 kWh per capita (1992)

Exchange rates

rubles per US$1 - 415 (24 December 1992) but subject to wide fluctuations

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

External debt

$100 million (1993 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Illicit drugs

illicit producer of opium and cannabis; mostly for CIS consumption; transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe

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

Industrial production

growth rate -22% (1992)

Industries

key products (with share of total former Soviet output in parentheses where

freezers (2.7%), washing machines (5.0%), hosiery (2.0%), refined sugar (3.1%), vegetable oil (3.7%), canned food (8.6%), shoes, textiles

known)

agricultural machinery, foundry equipment, refrigerators and

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

27% per month (first quarter 1993)

National product

GDP $NA

National product per capita

$NA

National product real growth rate

-26% (1992)

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.

Unemployment rate

0.7% (includes only officially registered unemployed; also large numbers of underemployed workers)

Airports

total: 26 useable: 15 with permanent-surface runways: 6 with runways over 3,659 m: with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 5 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 8

Highways

20,000 km total; 13,900 km hard-surfaced, 6,100 km earth (1990)

Pipelines

natural gas 310 km (1992)

Ports

none; landlocked

Railroads

1,150 km; does not include industrial lines (1990)

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

Branches

Ground Forces, Air and Air Defence Force, Security Forces (internal and border troops)

Defense expenditures

exchange rate conversion - $NA, NA% of GDP

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 1,082,562; fit for military service 859,948; reach military age (18) annually 35,769 (1993 est.)