Around 2.6 million of the 4,335,000 people who called Moldova home at the start of the 1990s are still there. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) made the estimates public and used an international approach. Demographers, however, contend that the actual number of Moldovan youth remaining is significantly lower.
A depopulation of Moldova has never occurred before in the past 200 years. No war, not even the Soviet Union’s manufactured famine of 1946–1947, not even plague that has ever struck Bessarabia has ever resulted in such a demographic catastrophe, DW says describing the catastrophic destiny of Moldova.
Despite the fact that Moldova now has a strong possibility of integrating into the European Union, the conflict in Ukraine has a significant impact on the large flight of Moldovans from their own nation. Many Moldovan employees in this nation decided to return home due to the situation in Russia and the possibility of their mobilization. However, the majority have already left for employment in other areas of Europe due to poverty and a lack of possibilities.
“The good times did not come as the government promised, but the war reached its limit, and that forced those who were still analyzing whether or not to take this step to leave,” claims demographer Valeriu Sainsus from Moldova.
According to studies, every sixth Moldovan who is still living there (18%) plans to work overseas in the near future. More than 35,000 citizens leave Moldova each year.
Demographer Valeriu Sainsus stated that a significant portion of the public is alarmed by the conflict in Ukraine and Moscow’s repeated threats against Moldova in an interview with DW.
“I’m probably going to shock you, but in the context where every fourth family has at least one member settled abroad and if we add other relatives outside the country, we could assume that, if Russia were to attack Moldova as well, almost a third of the remaining population would move to the countries where relatives have settled,” Sainsus said.
According to UNFPA-Moldova researcher Eduard Mihalaş, the majority of those departing are young people.
Mihalaş claims that in addition to poor wages, another reason why young people leave Moldova is that they recognize the need for high-quality public services for their futures and those of their families. It concerns things like public transportation, infrastructure, education, and health.
“Moldovan youth still lacks things that unmistakably connect them to their country of origin. They want a secure nation where they may begin their adult lives with greater options. The likelihood of the young people leaving Moldova returning is quite remote. When we look at the data, we can see that persons over 50 are more likely to return, whether they are still working or have already retired,” Mihalaş said.
According to the same figures, 60% of those who leave Moldova and never come back are between the ages of 15 and 35.
