27 Marvellous Moldova Facts That Everyone Should Know

Moldova used to be known as Moldavia.

It was later called Moldova after the Soviet Union's separation. Moldova’s regional language is Romanian along with Gagauz, Russian and Ukrainian. Moldova's flag has the emblem of an eagle with a shield and aurochs in a tricolor background of blue, yellow, and red.

Moldovan, Romanian, Ukrainian, Gagauz, Russian, Bulgarian, and Roma are the ethnic groups, and Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy are the religions that have dominance within a population of four million. Moldova was Bessarabia's largest area, resting between the rivers Prut and Dniester. Chisinau, Tiraspol, Balti, and Bender are the main cities.

Moldova has a continental climate because it is enclosed by the Black Sea.Moldova is divided into the East European plain and Pontic Caspian steppe, with the Central European mixed forest, Pontic Steppe, and East European forest-steppe encapsulating 11% of the entire region.

On 21 July 2007, the highest temperature went up to 106.7 F (41.5 C) and the lowest to -31.9 F (-35.5 C).

Moldova has its own reserves, including Codru which consists of 12792.65 acre (5177 ha), lower Prut which consists of 4178.55 acre (1691 ha), Plaiul Fagului which consists of 13941.69 acre (5642 ha), Lagorlic which consists of 2065.8 acre (836 ha) and Padurea Domneasca which consists of 6032 hectares (6032 ha).

The environment was contaminated in this landlocked country due to industrial development and by the lack of emission control in the Soviet era. When it comes to energy resources, for the most part they are dependent upon Russia and Ukraine. This dependency led them to take debt from Gazprom.

They have commercial wine production in regions like Valul Lui Traian, Codru, and Stefan Voda, mainly for exportation and their continental weather has led them to become a prominent agricultural provider to south-eastern Europe. Aurochs became the national animal along with the representation of many other animals.

If you are looking for a historical site, Moldova has many including the Cathedral of Christ's Nativity, Gypsy Hill, and Chisinau Lake. The country has railways, air gateway, highways, and sea-going vessels as their means of transport and they received 4G mobile connections by 2012.

Moldova government’s focus was to build a stable educational system that would benefit the people who needed it the most. To deal with the inconsistency they formed some rules. They initiated pre-school and compulsory education programs along with vocational and technical training.

They included ICT to endorse digital literacy. They started offering active citizenship and jobs through training. Authorities even managed to roll out teacher training to make the system more efficient.

They optimize the whole structure by providing books, technical equipment, reading materials, and financial efficacy. Now Moldova has kindergartens, primary schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, vocational schools, vocational lyceums, schools of trades, general evening schools, and colleges as well.

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The Culture of Moldova

In the capital, in the 19th century, there was a specific type of architecture where one-story houses were prominent along with Soviet-centric buildings.

The outskirts of the city used to have Moldovan, Ukrainian, Gagauz, Bulgarian, and German architecture. Despite having a sense of anonymity, people still used to have good communication but it depended on different regions.

Mamaliga is the national dish. It is a hard corn porridge that became their staple food and they used to have it with cheese, milk, or sour cream.

The love for their staple food led non-natives to make jokes about their eating patterns. Moldovans daily diet includes various vegetables, meat dishes, cottage cheese, stuffed cabbage, grape leaves, zama, and borsch. Placinta is considered a dessert.

They have huge ceremonial gatherings where homemade meats, vegetables, and drinks are shared amongst all. In the era of the Soviet Union, boyars started to dissipate and young entrepreneurs were trying to make their footprints in new ventures.

Moldovans were mostly involved with the government, whereas Russians had their influence over the private sector and basically played a prominent role in the growth of capitalism. Later on, the economic crisis led them to illegal cultivation and racketeering, even most NGOs were not able to meet the challenges of the time.

The official currency of Moldova is the Moldovan leu. Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Like in many other countries, males dominate over women in decision-making. The population is significantly orthodox and believes in afterlife ideology.

Over time, Moldova came under many forms of government, namely the Principality of Moldavia (in 1346), Bessarabia Governorate (in 1812), Moldavian Democratic Republic (in 1917), Union with Romania (in 1918), Moldavian USSR (in 1924), Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (in 1940), and finally independence from the Soviet Union (in 1991).

They became a part of the United Nations in 1992 and finally, the Constitution was put in place in 1994.

'Limba Noastra' by Alexandru Cristea and Alexei Mateevici became the national anthem of Moldova.

Medical Facilities And Health Information

In 2004, mandatory health insurance was introduced in the health system with stable financial accommodations which made the health system efficient.

Moldova, the second poorest country in Europe, has a high mortality rate because of cancer and digestive malfunction diseases. The casualty rate in males was once 57.6% and females it was 62.3% in relation to smoking and 18.8% in males and 13.7% in females regarding alcohol indulgence.

Previous socio-economic difficulties saw a rise in mental health disorders but the situation got worse with the rise of tuberculosis and HIV between 1990-2010. Although, with the increase in child immunization, the child mortality rate began to decline from 1990.

Despite having an inferior health system, Moldova still has two to five years of higher life expectancy than some superior countries in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). The United Nations has played a prominent supporting role in Moldova’s SDGs initiative.

Safety And Security

Unfortunately, you can become a victim of petty theft, ATM fraud, pickpocketing, verbal abuse, and even police harassment in Moldova.

According to the World Tourism Organization, it is better to leave your original identification documents where you are staying. If this place is on your wish list of touristy destinations, and you are not being cautious, you can get into trouble with Moldovan laws in the autonomous region. You should avoid this, especially with Transnistria authorities.

Naive actions, even in tourist destinations, can be considered a felony. This place is known for its history of trafficking illegal items in western Europe. In this political deadlock country, corrupted protests and vandalism happen as well.

Minorities are not treated well in these places. Police forces are compromised in the country and even a little ignorance can see you get ripped off. If you are approached by any official staff, you can always ask for their identity, so that you can inform the embassy later. Natalia Gavrilita became Prime Minister of Moldova in 2021.

Due to safety issues, it is the third least visited country in Europe.

Traffic Safety And Road Conditions

Moldova’s highways are two-lane based, poorly maintained, and full of distractions, as it is dominated by ignorant pedestrians and aggressive drunk drivers.

Due to a lack of viable monitoring, culprits often get away with their acts. The whole transportation system in this area is inadequate. Emma Sophia Maclennan’s EASST has, however, established its footprints in road safety.

They initiated ‘White Nights’ to mitigate reckless drunk drivers, where every individual has to go through a breath analyzer test. They made a manifest that helped to increase seat belt usage. Despite having resistance from the system, they still did it.

Languages In Moldova

Romanian became the main language in Moldova. In 1989, however, state language law was introduced, which made Moldovan the state language.

It was believed that both forms of native language used to share a similar basic foundation. 94.4 % of Moldovans, 8.7% Bulgarians, 5.8% of Russians, and 7.7% of Ukrainians, speak Moldovan. Other languages spoken are Gauguz and Ukrainian.

Russian was considered the prime foreign language and English also made its mark. If you try to differentiate between Moldovan and Romanian language, it is remarked as an ideological manipulation according to native cultural institutes.

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