Location:

Eastern Europe, NE of Romania and SW of Ukraine

Geographic coordinates:

45°28’ - 48°28’ N (350 km), 26°40’ - 30°06’ E (150 km)

Area

• total: 33,843 km2, # 139
• land: 33,371 km2
• waters: 472 km2 (main rivers: Danube, Dniester, Prut, Răut; main lakes: Beleu, Bâc, Dracele)

Land boundaries

• total: 1389 km
• with the neighboring states: România 450 km, Ukraine 939 km
• coastline: around 480 m at the Southernmost point (Giurgiuleşti), with the delta of the Danube river

Land use

• arable land: 53%
• for cereal crops: 14%
• for pastures: 13%
• forests and woodland: 9%
• others: 11%

Extreme points:

• the lowest point: Dniester river, -2 m
• the highest point: Bălăneşti hill, +430 m
• Northernmost point: Naslavcea
• Southernmost point: Giurgiulești
• Westernmost point: Criva
• Easternmost point: Palanca

Climate

Moderate winter (January -4 -7 C°); warm summer (iulie +25 +28 C°)

Landscape

North and Center – hilly steppes (Codru Plateau), South – plain (Bugeac Plain)

Natural resources

lignite, phosphorite, gypsum, arable land

Population

• total: 3,55 million inh. [2019, National Bureau of Statistics]
• density: 121,9 inh./km2

Main cities

• Chişinău, 832,9 th. inh. [2019, National Bureau of Statistics]
• Tiraspol, 133,8 th. inh. [unofficial data]
• Bălţi, 151,8 th. inh. [2019, National Bureau of Statistics]
• Tighina, 89,2 th. inh. [unofficial data]
• Rîbniţa, 53,6 th. inh. [2004]

Religion [Population and Housing Census, 2014]

• Eastern Orthodox Christians — 96,8% (of 2,6 million inhabitants)
• Baptists — 1%
• Jehovah’s Witnesses — 0,7%
• Pentecostals — 0,4%
• Etc.

Official language

Romanian

Other spoken languages: Gagauz, Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, Polish, Hebrew, etc.

Currency

Leu (MDL) = 100 ban

Timezone

• UTC+2
• summer — UTC+3

Internet TLD

.md

Telephone code

+373