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Moldova

1992 Edition — sovereign

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Communications
Airports [time series]
NA
Civil air [time series]
NA major transport aircraft
Roadways (Highways) [time series]
20,000 km total (1990); 13,900 km hard-surfaced, 6,100 km earth
Waterways (Inland waterways) [time series]
NA km perennially navigable
Merchant marine [time series]
NA
Pipelines [time series]
NA
Ports [time series]
none - landlocked
Railways (Railroads) [time series]
1,150 km (includes NA km electrified) (1990); does not include industrial lines
Telecommunication systems (Telecommunications) [time series]
poorly supplied with telephones; 215,000 unsatisfied applications for telephone installations (31 January 1990); connected to Ukraine by landline and countries beyond the former USSR through the switching center in Moscow
Defense Forces
Military and security forces (Branches) [time series]
Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops); Russian Forces (Ground, Navy, Air, and Air Defense)
Military expenditures (Defense expenditures) [time series]
$NA, NA% of GDP
Manpower availability [time series]
NA
Economy
Agricultural products (Agriculture) [time series]
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%), and eggs (1.4%)
Budget [time series]
revenues $NA million; expenditures $NA million, including capital expenditures of $NA million (1992)
Exchange rates (Currency) [time series]
as of May 1992, retaining ruble as currency
Economic aid [time series]
US commitments, including Ex-Im (1991), $NA, Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1991), $NA million
Electricity [time series]
3,000,000 kW capacity; 13,000 million kWh produced, 2,806 kWh per capita (1991)
Exports [time series]
$400 million rubles (f.o.b., 1990) commodities: foodstuffs, wine, tobacco, textiles and footwear, machinery, chemicals (1991) partners: NA
Debt - external (External debt) [time series]
$650 million (1991 est.)
Fiscal year [time series]
calendar year
Real GDP (purchasing power parity) (GDP) [time series]
NA; per capita NA; real growth rate -12% (1991)
Illicit drugs [time series]
transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe
Imports [time series]
$1.9 billion rubles (c.i.f., 1990) commodities: oil, gas, coal, steel machinery, foodstuffs, automobiles, and other consumer durables partners: NA
Industrial production growth rate (Industrial production) [time series]
growth rate -7% (1991)
Industries [time series]
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
Inflation rate (consumer prices) [time series]
97% (1991)
Economic overview (Overview) [time series]
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 the 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 former Soviet republics. Moldova has freed prices on most goods and has legalized private ownership of property, including agricultural land. Moldova's economic prospects are dimmed by the difficulties of moving toward a market economy and the political problems of redefining ties to the other former Soviet republics and Romania.
Unemployment rate [time series]
NA%
Geography
Climate [time series]
mild winters, warm summers
Coastline [time series]
none - landlocked
Area - comparative (Comparative area) [time series]
slightly more than twice the size of Hawaii
Disputes - international (Disputes) [time series]
potential dispute with Ukraine over former southern Bessarabian areas; northern Bukovina ceded to Ukraine upon Moldova's incorporation into USSR; internal with ethnic Russians in the Trans-Dnestr and Gagauz Muslims in the South
Environment - current issues (Environment) [time series]
NA
Area (Land area) [time series]
33,700 km2
Land boundaries [time series]
1,389 km; Romania 450 km, Ukraine 939 km
Land use [time series]
NA% arable land; NA% permanent crops; NA% meadows and pastures; NA% forest and woodland; NA% other; includes NA% irrigated
Maritime claims [time series]
none - landlocked
Natural resources [time series]
lignite, phosphorites, gypsum
Terrain [time series]
rolling steppe, gradual slope south to Black Sea
Area (Total area) [time series]
33,700 km2
Government
Administrative divisions [time series]
previously divided into 40 rayons; now to be divided into 7-9 larger districts at some future point
Capital [time series]
Chisinau (Kishinev)
Constitution [time series]
formulating a new constitution; old constitution is still in effect but has been heavily amended during the past few years
Diplomatic representation in the US (Diplomatic representation) [time series]
Ambassador vacant US: Charge Howard Steers; Interim Chancery at #103 Strada Alexei Mateevich, Kishinev (mailing address is APO AE 09862); telephone 8-011-7-0422-23-28-94 at Hotel Seabeco in Kishinev
Executive branch (Elections) [time series]
President: last held 8 December 1991; results - Mircea SNEGUR won 98.17% of vote Moldovan Supreme Soviet: last held 25 February 1990; results - Moldovan Popular Front 33%, Intermovement 34%, Communist Party 32%; seats - (366 total) Popular Front Club 35; Sovereignty Club 35; Club of Independent Deputies 25; Agrarian Club 110; Club Bujak 15; Reality Club 25; Soviet Moldova 80; remaining 41 seats probably belong to Onestr region deputies who usually boycott Moldovan legislative proceedings
Executive branch [time series]
president, prime minister, Cabinet of Ministers
Flag [time series]
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 carrying a cross in its beak and an olive branch in its claws
Independence [time series]
27 August 1991 (from Soviet Union; formerly Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova)
Judicial branch [time series]
Supreme Court (highest civil court in Moldova)
Executive branch (Leaders) [time series]
Chief of State and Head of Government: Prime Minister Valeriy MURAVSKY (since 28 May 1991), 1st Deputy Prime Minister Constantin OBOROC (since June 1990); 1st Deputy Prime Minister Constantin TAMPIZA (since June 1990); 1st Deputy Prime Minister Andrei SANGHELI (since June 1990) Chief of State: President Mircea SNEGUR (since 3 September 1990) Head of Legislature: Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (Premier) Valeriy MURAVSKIY (since May 1991); 1st Deputy Prime Minister Ian HADIRCA (since 11 May 1990); Deputy Prime Minister Victor PUSCASU, 21 November 1989; Deputy Prime Minister Mihial PLASICHUK, NA
Legal system [time series]
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 [time series]
Moldovan Supreme Soviet
Country name (Long-form name) [time series]
Republic of Moldova
International organization participation (Member of) [time series]
CSCE, UN
National holiday [time series]
Independence Day, 27 August 1991
Political parties (Other political or pressure groups) [time series]
United Council of Labor Collectives (UCLC), Igor SMIRNOV, chairman; Social Democratic Party of Moldova (SDPM), V. CHIOBATARU, leader; 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
Political parties (Political parties and leaders) [time series]
Moldovan Popular Front, Yuriy ROSHKA, chairman (since summer 1990); Unitatea-Yedinstvo Intermovement, V. YAKOVLEV, chairman; Bulgarian Rebirth Society, Ivan ZABUNOV, chairman; Democratic Group, five cochairmen
Suffrage [time series]
universal at age 18
Government type (Type) [time series]
republic
People
Birth rate [time series]
19 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate [time series]
10 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Ethnic groups (Ethnic divisions) [time series]
Moldavian (Moldovan) 64.5%, Ukrainian 13.8%, Russian 13.0%, Gagauz 3.5%, Jews 1.5%, Bulgarian 2.0%, other 1.0% (1989 figures)
Infant mortality rate [time series]
35 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Labor force [time series]
2,095,000; agriculture 34.4%, industry 20.1%, other 45.5% (1985 figures)
Languages [time series]
Romanian; (Moldovan official), Russian
Life expectancy at birth [time series]
64 years male, 71 years female (1992)
Literacy [time series]
NA% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write
Nationality [time series]
noun - Moldovan(s); adjective - Moldovan
Net migration rate [time series]
-2 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Organized labor [time series]
NA
Population [time series]
4,458,435 (July 1992), growth rate 0.7% (1992)
Religions [time series]
Eastern Orthodox 98.5%, Jewish 1.5%, Baptist only about 1,000 members, other 1.0%; note - almost all churchgoers are ethnic Moldovan; the Slavic population are not churchgoers (1991 figures)
Total fertility rate [time series]
2.6 children born/woman (1992)