Final findings of 2024 Census in Moldova: National Statistics Bureau presents data on ethnic, cultural characteristics of population

The National Statistics Bureau (BNS) today presented data on the ethnic and cultural characteristics of the population got from the 2024 Census. They reveal that 76.7 per cent out of the total surveyed individuals identified as Moldovans, while another 8 per cent declared themselves as Romanians. At the same time, the share of those who stated Moldovan and Romanian as their mother tongues sums up to approximately 79.9 per cent. As for the religion, 94.3 percent said they are  Orthodox Christians.

According to BNS, out of the total 2.4 million surveyed individuals, 1,848,000 or 76.7 per cent declared themselves as Moldovans and 193,200 or 8 per cent - as Romanians. The other ethnic groups represented a share of 15.3 per cent, of whom 123,500 people (5.1 per cent) declared themselves to be Ukrainians, 81,600 (3.4 per cent) as Russians, 97,200 (4 per cent) as Gagauzians, 38,200 (1.6 per cent) as Bulgarians, and 9,300 (0.4 per cent) as Roma/Gypsies. Overall, at the 2024 census, the country's population declared its affiliation to 185 ethnicities.

Compared to the 2014 census, there was an increase in the share of the residents who declares themselves to be ethnically Moldovans (from 74 to 76.7 per cent), Romanians (from 6.6 to 8.0 per cent), and Roma/Gypsies (from 0.3 to 0.4 per cent). The share of Ukrainians decreased from 6.6 to 5.1 per cent, Russians from 4.1 to 3.4 per cent, Gagauzians from 4.3 to 4.0 per cent, and Bulgarians - from 1.8% to 1.6%.

The Romanian and Moldovan languages combined were declared by about 80 percent of the population

Out of the total population of 2,409,200 people, 99.9 per cent declared their mother tongue, of which Moldovan was declared by 1,441,400 people (48.1 per cent), Romanian by 765,800 people (31.8 per cent), Russian by 280,000 people (11.6 per cent), Gagauz  - by 87,400 people (3.6 per cent), Ukrainian by 71,800 people (3 per cent), Bulgarian by 28,800 people (1.2 per cent), Romani by 7,600 people (0.3 per cent), and other languages by 6,100 people (0.3 per cent).

Overall, those who declared Moldovan and Romanian as mother tongues sum up to approximately 79.9 per cent, compared to 78.1 per cent in 2014. Compared to the 2014 census, the share of those who declared Moldovan as their mother tongue decreased by 7.4 percentage points (from 55.5% in 2014 to 48.1% in 2024), while the share of those who declared Romanian as their mother tongue increased by 9.2 percentage points (from 22.6 to 31.8 per cent). The share of those who consider Russian as their mother tongue increased by 2 percentage points, from 9.6% in 2014 to 11.6% in 2024. In the case of Ukrainian, Gagauz, and Bulgarian languages, there was a decrease in their share as declared mother tongues, by 0.9 percentage points, 0.3 percentage points, and 0.3 percentage points, respectively.

Compared to the 2014 census, at the 2024 census, the share of those who declared to speak Romanian increased from 23.1 to 33.7 per cent, or by 10.6 percentage points, while the share of those who declared Moldovan as the commonly spoken language decreased from 53.6 to 45.0 per cent, or by 8.6 percentage points. A slight increase was also recorded for Russian from 14.3% in 2014 to 15.9% in 2024 and Romani (Gypsy) from 0.2% to 0.3%, while the Ukrainian, Gagauz, and Bulgarian languages decreased in share.

The absolute majority of citizens declare themselves to be Orthodox Christians

The census data further reveal that the absolute majority of the population, which means 2,271,100 surveyed individuals or 94.3%, declared themselves Orthodox. Among other religious denominations, the neo-Protestant sects, such as Baptists (26,200 or 1.1 per cent), Pentecostals (12,600 or 0.5 per cent), Adventists (6,900 or 0.3 per cent), Evangelical Christians (6,300 or 0.3 per cent), as well as Jehovah's Witnesses (16,500 or 0.7 per cent), had the most significant numbers.

Other denominations with more notable shares included the Old Believers/Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (Staroobryadtsy) (4,000 or 0.2 per cent), Catholics (2,500 or 0.1 per cent), and Muslims (3,100 or 0.1 per cent). Other religions totaled 4,700 or 0.2 per cent of the population. There were 36,800 people (1.5 per cent) who did not belong to any religious denomination, including 20,000 without religion, 14,200 atheists, 2,100 agnostics and 400 freethinkers.

Compared to the 2014 census, the religious structure of the population did not undergo major changes, except for the share of individuals who did not declare a religion, which fell significantly from 6.4 per cent in 2014 to 0.8 per cent in 2024.

The data got from the census is important for supporting decision-making processes

BNS Director Oleg Cara said that, during the population and housing censuses, the registration of ethnicity, languages and religion had been based on the free declaration of surveyed individuals.

Wojciech Paczynski, program officer of the EU Delegation in Moldova, stressed that the data got from the census was important for supporting decision-making processes in any field.

“The census is one of the most important exercises, providing an overview of the population number and living conditions. The data obtained is important for supporting decision-making processes in any field. For example, reliable data is needed for investments in infrastructure, schools, hospitals and other public services,” said the official.

Natalia Plugaru, Deputy Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Moldova), said that the data obtained from the census would be useful for various institutions and it is important that decisions improving people's lives are made based on this data.

“Behind every figure, there are people, life stories, families. It is important to see how we interpret this data, so that decisions are made to improve people's lives,” highlighted Natalia Plugaru.

The Population and Housing Census was conducted as of April 8 till July 7, 2024. During this exercise, about 2.4 million people were surveyed, including both individuals with usual residence and those without usual residence in Moldova.

The census is conducted once every ten years, being a large-scale national activity that provides a complete demographic picture of the country. The data collected from the census will provide information for developing public policies, both nationally and locally, necessary for the economic and social development of the country.