Republic of Moldova ranks 112 out of 189 countries and territories in the Human Development Index (HDI)’s measurement of national achievements in health, education and income, just released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Moldova’s HDI value for 2017 is 0.700, which puts the country in the high human development category. Due to inequalities, HDI falls to 0.627, meaning a loss of 10.4 percent.

Between 1990 and 2017, Moldova’s HDI value has increased with 7.5 percent. However, the increase rate is slower compared to countries like Albania and Armenia. From Europe and Central Asia, countries which are close to Moldova in 2017 HDI rank and to some extent in population size are Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which have HDIs ranked 108 and 105 respectively.

For every 100,000 live births, 23 women die from pregnancy related causes. The adolescent birth rate is 22 births per 1,000 women of ages 15-19. Female participation in the labour market is 39.5 percent compared to 45.8 for men.

Between 1990 and 2017, Republic of Moldova’s life expectancy at birth increased by 4.1 years. Mean years of schooling increased by 3.6 years and expected years of schooling decreased by 0.4 years. Moldova’s gross national income per capita diminished by about 14.2 percent between 1990 and 2017.

Women in Moldova live longer, but earn less

The 2017 female Human Development Index for Moldova is of 0.701 in contrast with 0.698 for males, resulting in a Gender Development Index value of 1.005, placing it into Group 1, meaning have high equality in HDI achievements between women and men.

The Gender Inequality Index, interpreted as the loss in human development due to inequality between female and male achievements, is for Moldova of 0.226, ranking it 48 out of 160 countries in the 2017 index.

Life expectancy at birth for women in Moldova is of 76 years, compared to 67.4 for men. Women’s income is three quarter of what men earn (GNI per capita for women is 4,849 and for men – 6,318).

Dysfunctional labour market remains one of the barrier towards accelerated human development. The Republic of Moldova needs to align its education curriculum to the needs of the market, and to make jobs attractive for young persons.

Even in 2013, 9 out of 10 interviewed persons for “The Future We Want” post-2015 consultations mentioned that all they want for a better life is a decent job.

***

ABOUT THE HDI: The Human Development Index (HDI) was introduced in the first Human Development Report in 1990 as a composite measurement of development that challenged purely economic assessments of national progress. The HDI covers 189 countries and territories.

HDI values and rankings as presented in Table 1 of the Statistical Update are calculated using the latest internationally comparable data for health, education and income. Previous HDI values and rankings are retroactively recalculated using the same updated data sets and current methodologies, as presented in Table 2 of the Statistical Update. The HDI rankings and values in the 2018 Statistical Update cannot therefore be compared directly to HDI rankings and values published in previous Human Development Reports.  

Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical Update: http://hdr.undp.org/en/2018-update

Full press package in all UN official languages

http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/2018-human-development-indicators-media-package

Download here the Briefing Note on the Republic of Moldova.