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