Expert-Grup

Demographic Profile of the Gagauzia Autonomous Territorial Unit

AlteleProtecția socialăMonday, 20 March 20234248 views

Automatically translated summary. The full text is available in Romanian.

A demographic profile of Gagauzia, based on revised 2022 National Bureau of Statistics data and the Generations and Gender Survey, shows a shrinking and ageing population. Deaths have exceeded births since 2018, while fertility remains above the national average but is declining.

At the start of 2022 Gagauzia had 121.7 thousand residents. In 2021 natural decrease was 3.9‰, and people aged 60 and over make up 24%, up 6 percentage points since 2014. The total fertility rate is 1.85, but annual births fell from 1.9 thousand in 2014 to 1.5 thousand in 2021. Over 70% of respondents consider three or more children ideal, and the intended average is 2.67, above the 2.1 replacement level.

Family planning receives too little attention: only 22.1% of women aged 15-49 use contraception, 42.0% use none and 35.9% did not answer. Southern Moldova traditionally has higher mortality and lower life expectancy, and the pandemic raised deaths among those aged 50 and over. Among residents aged 65+, 24.5% rate their health as poor or very poor. The findings are meant to help local authorities design people-centred demographic policies.

View the original in Romanian