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One third of Moldovans who plan to emigrate are young people who want children

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One third of Moldovans who plan to emigrate are young people who want children

News

One third of Moldovans who plan to emigrate are young people who want children

calendar_today 20 September 2022

Three speakers sitting on a stage, in front of the public, on a debate
One third of Moldovans planning to emigrate are young people who want children: what demographic policies are needed

Young families who want to have children, have higher education and high income are more likely to emigrate in the next 3 years. In this way, according to the study ‘Migration Intentions and Demographic Implications for Fertility’, launched today at a public debate organised by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Moldova, we are missing out on the country’s economic and reproductive potential. 

The event was attended by representatives of Parliament, Government, UNFPA, national and international fertility and migration experts, demographers and researchers from the civil society and from the academia. The event is part of UNFPA's Demographic Resilience Programme which aims to support authorities to develop evidence-based population policies based on people’s needs. 

‘As we approach the day when the world will be home to 8 billion people, the discussions about population and demographic trends become increasingly relevant. While the population in many countries in the world is growing, in Europe, including Moldova, we see a decline. The analysis presented today shows evidence of the causes for this phenomenon – the migration of young people with economic and reproductive potential. Thus, it becomes clear that the demographic resilience can be strengthened by investing in young people and increasing the quality of life for every one. UNFPA is supporting the Government of Moldova to use this evidence in public policy and turn the current demographic crisis into an opportunity,’ said Natalia Plugaru, Deputy Representative of UNFPA Moldova. 

Aliona Crețu, Head of the Demographic Policies Service of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection reiterated the need to develop studies that provide qualitative data to develop efficient policies that would prevent the demographic challenges such as: continuing population decline, massive youth migration, population ageing, etc.

‘The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection has implemented a number of policies that support families to have the desired number of children and remains committed to using the data from the Generations and Gender Survey to develop new population policy documents that would encourage people to stay and create families in the Republic of Moldova,’ emphasised Aliona Cretu.

The policy analysis ‘Migration and Demographic Implications on Fertility’ was conducted by a team of researchers from Moldova and Romania based on the data from the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), conducted on a sample of over 10,000 people in our country.

The main conclusions of this analysis are:  

  • 15% of the Moldovan population intend to emigrate to another country in the next three years, and men account for a larger share. 
  • One in three people who intend to migrate is up to 35 years old and of reproductive age. A young person aged 20-29 is 3.8 times more likely to emigrate than a person aged 50 or over.
  • For the first time in recent years, people from the Republic of Moldova intend to emigrate not for financial reasons, but for social reasons, related to the quality of services, public infrastructure and for living conditions in general, etc.
  • The economic factor is no longer a strong predictor of emigration, the intention to emigrate being higher among people in cities and those with higher incomes. Those with higher incomes have also raised their expectations of life, lifestyle and of the public space in which they want to live.
  • The intention to emigrate is 8.2 higher among people planning to change their residence within the country or move to another address. This is explained by the desire to change the public space in which people live, to have better job opportunities, quality public, educational and health services, to have better infrastructure and higher the quality of public transport, etc.

The event was also attended by journalist Alexandru Gurdila, who lived abroad for 7 years and returned to Moldova a year ago. He shared his experience of raising a family in the United States, spoke about the opportunities for young families he has found in the Republic of Moldova over the years, and about what should be improved. 

‘The country has changed a lot over the past 7 years. We do not regret the choice we made, but the biggest problem for a young parent is the lack of kindergartens. As parents who wanted to find jobs when we returned home, it was complicated to find a place at the kindergarten – they either did not have places or they lacked staff to look after children aged 1.5-2,’ said Alexandru Gurdila. 

The analysis also shows that young people aged up to 29 years are more likely to want to emigrate and to have a child in the next few years than those aged over 30. Young people aged up to 29 who want to have a child in the next period are more likely to emigrate as well as people aged 30-40 who do not want to have a child (the latter are most likely already parents).

As regards the level of education, more educated people, with higher education who want to emigrate intend to become parents.

Key conclusion: The Republic of Moldova is still at high risk to experience a decline in the number of people of reproductive age who can ensure the country’s socio-economic development: young, educated people with high incomes who intend to become parents in the next future. 

This public debate is the second in a series of events organised by UNFPA and by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection under the Demographic Resilience Programme to discuss various demographic transformations that take place in the Republic of Moldova: desired fertility and reproductive changes, emigration intentions of people planning to become parents, the problem of infertility, the feeling of loneliness in Moldova, intergenerational support and other.

You can watch the recording of the debate here. 

GGS in the Republic of Moldova is implemented by the UN Population Fund in partnership and with the financial support of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MLSP) and India-UN Development Partnership Fund. The project partners include the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which developed the study sample.