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Location: Eastern Europe, northeast of Romania
Geographic coordinates: 47 00 N, 29 00 E
Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States
Area:
total: 33,843 sq km
land: 33,371 sq km
water: 472 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than Maryland
Land boundaries:
total: 1,389 km
border countries: Romania 450 km, Ukraine 939 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: moderate winters, warm summers
Terrain: rolling steppe, gradual slope south to Black Sea
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Nistru River 2 m
highest point: Dealul Balanesti 430 m
Natural resources: lignite, phosphorites, gypsum, arable
land
Land use:
arable land: 53%
permanent crops: 14%
permanent pastures: 13%
forests and woodland: 13%
other: 7% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 3,110 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: landslides (57 cases in 1998)
Environment - current issues: heavy use of agricultural
chemicals, including banned pesticides such as DDT, has contaminated
soil and groundwater; extensive soil erosion from poor farming methods
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants
Geography - note: landlocked
Background: Formerly ruled by Romania, Moldova became part
of the Soviet Union at the close of World War II. Although independent
from the USSR since 1991, Russian forces have remained on Moldovan
territory east of the Nistru (Dnister) River supporting the Slavic
majority population (mostly Ukrainians and Russians) who have proclaimed
a "Transnistria" republic.
Moldova
GEOGRAPHY
Size: Approximately 33,700 square kilometers.
Topography: Gently rolling hilly plain in north;
thick deciduous forests in center; numerous ravines and gullies
in steppe zone in south. Highest point 430 meters.
Climate: Moderately continental. Average annual
precipitation ranges from 600 millimeters in north to 400 millimeters
in south.
SOCIETY
Population: 4,473,033 (July 1994 estimate); average
annual growth rate 0.38 percent (1994 estimate).
Ethnic Groups: According to 1989 census, 64.5
percent Romanian, 13.8 percent Ukrainian, 13.0 percent Russian,
3.5 percent Gagauz, 2.0 percent Bulgarian, 1.5 percent Jewish, and
1.7 other, including Belarusian, Polish, Roma (Gypsy), and German.
Languages: Moldovan (a dialect of Romanian) official
language; Russian retained as language of interethnic communication;
areas of non-Romanian ethnic majority may also use local language
as means of communication.
Religion: About 98.5 percent Eastern Orthodox
(1991); also, Uniate, Jewish, Armenian Apostolic, Seventh-Day Adventist,
Baptist, Pentecostal, and Molokan.
Education and Literacy: Mandatory School attendance,
ten years; literacy, 96 percent (1992). Approximately half of students
study in Romanian language and half in Russian language.
Health: Health care provided by state, mostly
free of charge. Infant mortality rate 30.3 per 1,000 live births
(1994). Life expectancy (1994) for males sixty-five years and for
females seventy-two years. Modern medical equipment and facilities
in short supply. In 1990 about 129 hospital beds and forty doctors
per 10,000 inhabitants.
Data as of June 1995
Moldova
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
Located in southeastern Europe, Moldova is bordered on the west
by Romania and on the north, south, and east by Ukraine. Most of
its territory lies between the area's two main rivers, the Nistru
and the Prut. The Nistru (Dnister, in Ukrainian; Dnestr in Russian)
forms a small part of Moldova's border with Ukraine in the northeast,
but it mainly flows through the eastern part of the country, separating
Bessarabia and Transnistria. The Prut River forms Moldova's entire
western boundary with Romania.
Data as of June 1995
Moldova
Topography and Drainage
Most of Moldova's approximately 33,700 square kilometers of territory
(about the size of Maryland) cover a hilly plain cut deeply by many
streams and rivers. Geologically, Moldova lies primarily on deep
sedimentary rock that gives way to harder crystalline outcroppings
only in the north, where higher elevations are found on the margins
of the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.
The gently rolling Balti Plain (Stepa Balti, in Romanian; Bel'tskaya
ravnina, in Russian) in northern Moldova (lying at ninety to 600
meters in elevation in the north) gives way to thick, deciduous
forests in the Codri Hills (Podisul Codrilor, in Romanian; Kodry,
in Russian), averaging 350 to 400 meters in elevation, where the
most common trees are hornbeam, oak, linden, maple, wild pear, and
wild cherry. The country's highest point, Mount Balanesti (Balaneshty,
in Russian), is located in the west central portion of the country
and reaches 430 meters.
The Bugeac Plain (Budzhak, in Russian) in the south has numerous
ravines and gullies. Transnistria has spurs of the Volyn-Podolian
Upland (Podisul Podolie, in Romanian; VolynoPodil 's'ka vysochyna,
in Ukrainian), which are cut into by tributaries of the Nistru River.
About 75 percent of Moldova is covered by a soil type called chernozem
. In the northern highlands, more claytextured soils are found;
in the south, red-earth soil is predominant. The soil becomes less
fertile toward the south but can still support grape and sunflower
production. The uplands have woodland soils, while southern Moldova
is in the steppe
zone, although most steppe areas today are cultivated. The lower
reaches of the Prut River and the southern river valleys are saline
marshes.
Drainage in Moldova is to the south, toward the Black Sea lowlands,
and eventually into the Black Sea, but only eight rivers extend
more than 100 kilometers. Moldova's main river, the Nistru, is navigable
throughout almost the entire country, and in warmer winters it does
not freeze over. The Prut River is a tributary of the Danube River,
which it joins at the far southwestern tip of the country.
Data as of June 1995
Moldova
Climate
Moldova's climate is moderately continental: the summers are warm
and long, with temperatures averaging about 20°C, and the winters
are relatively mild and dry, with January temperatures averaging
-4°C. Annual rainfall, which ranges from around 600 millimeters
in the north to 400 millimeters in the south, can vary greatly;
long dry spells are not unusual. The heaviest rainfall occurs in
early summer and again in October; heavy showers and thunderstorms
are common. Because of the irregular terrain, heavy summer rains
often cause erosion and river silting.
Data as of June 1995
Moldova
Environmental Concerns
Moldova's communist-era environmental legacy, like that of many
other former Soviet republics, is one of environmental degradation.
Agricultural practices such as overuse of pesticides, herbicides,
and artificial fertilizers were intended to increase agricultural
output at all costs, without regard for the consequences. As a result,
Moldova's soil and groundwater were contaminated by lingering chemicals,
some of which (including DDT) have been banned in the West.
Such practices continue in Moldova to the present day. In the early
1990s, per hectare use of pesticides in Moldova averaged approximately
twenty times that of other former Soviet republics and Western nations.
In addition, poor farming methods, such as destroying forests to
plant vineyards, have contributed to the extensive soil erosion
to which the country's rugged topography is already prone.
Data as of June 1995
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