Inequalities in urban and rural Moldova: Beyond incomes and averages, looking into the future of inequalities

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Inequalities in urban and rural Moldova: Beyond incomes and averages, looking into the future of inequalities

February 20, 2020

Through this paper, UNDP Moldova is tapping into new evidence, including big data on mobility and thick data on people’s perceptions. We analyzed income and some non-income inequalities through the prism of access to qualitative services, including health care, primary education, green spaces, transportation and urban mobility.  While income inequalities are relatively low, our analysis demonstrates the risks of new non-income inequalities emerging, such as inequalities in accessing food and energy.

Taking into account the fact that opportunities to obtain a better income may be found in Chisinau as compared to other localities in the country, the study presents income gaps expressed through different wages in different socioeconomic areas, which deepen the inequality between groups of employees depending on their employment sector. The study also tackles the problem of decent work and informal employment, which marginalizes certain groups of people from the perspective of risk assurance, access to health care and so on. Other tackled issues in the report are the access to public services, dwelling, clean environmental, education, healthcare services and social protection.