Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
A large portion of present-day Moldovan territory became a province of the Russian Empire in 1812 and then unified with Romania in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I. This territory was then incorporated into the Soviet Union at the close of World War II. Although Moldova has been independent from the Soviet Union since 1991, Russian forces have remained on Moldovan territory east of the Nistru River in the breakaway region of Transnistria. Years of Communist Party rule in Moldova from 2001 to 2009 ultimately ended with election-related violent protests and a rerun of parliamentary elections in 2009.
- Capital
- Chisinau in Romanian (Kishinev in Russian)
- Government
- parliamentary republic
- Population
- 3,578,930
- Area
- 33,851 sq km
- Location
- Eastern Europe, northeast of Romania
- Climate
- moderate winters, warm summers
- Natural resources
- lignite; phosphorites; gypsum; limestone; arable land
- Languages
- Moldovan/Romanian 80.2% (official) (56.7% Moldovan; 23.5% Romanian); Russian 9.7%; Gagauz 4.2% (a Turkish language)…
- Religions
- Orthodox 90.1%; other Christian 2.6%; other 0.1%; agnostic <0.1%…
- Independence
- 27 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
- Administrative divisions
- 32 districts (raioane, singular - raion), 3 municipalities (municipii, singular - municipiul), 1 autonomous territorial…
- Currency
- Moldovan lei (MDL)
- Export partners
- Romania 31%; Ukraine 13%; Italy 6%; Germany 6%…
- Import partners
- Romania 16%; Ukraine 13%; China 11%; Turkey 8%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain