Administrative divisions of Moldova

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According to the Moldovan law on territorial administrative organisation, Moldova is divided administratively into the following administrative territorial units: districts (Romanian: raioane; see also raions), cities/towns (Romanian: orașe) and villages (Romanian: sate).^[1] The administrative territorial organization of Moldova is made on 2 levels:^[2][3]

1. villages (communes), sectors and cities/towns (municipii) constitute the first level,
2. districts, Chișinău municipality, Bălți municipality and Bender municipality constitute the second level.

Two or more villages can form together a commune (Romanian: comună).^[4]

Currently, Moldova is divided into the following first-tier units,^[5] which include 32 districts:

three municipalities:

two autonomous territorial units:

1. Gagauzia (officially "Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia")
2. Transnistria (officially "Territorial administrative units from the left part of Nistru river")

The final status of the latter has not been settled yet, as the region, such as defined administratively, in fact is not under the control of Moldovan authorities. The cities of Comrat and Tiraspol also have municipality status, but are not among first-tier units of Moldova; they are the seats of Gagauzia and Transnistria, respectively.^{[citation needed]} Besides Chișinău, Bălți, Bender, Comrat, and Tiraspol, on 13 April 2017 eight more became municipalities: Cahul, Ceadîr-Lunga, Edineț, Hîncești, Orhei, Soroca, Strășeni, and Ungheni.^[6]

Localities[]

Moldova has a total of 1,682 localities; from these 982 are incorporated (de jure with 982 mayors and 982 local councils), including 53 cities/towns, other 13 cities with municipality status (see municipiu), and 916 rural localities.^[7] They cover the entire area of the country. A number of villages are self-governed, while others 700 villages are too small to have a separate administration, and are part of either cities/towns/municipalities (41 of them) or communes (659). Few localities are inhabited.

Current divisions[]

In the administrative-territorial structure of Moldova are 898 first level administrative territorial units (cities/towns, sectors and villages (communes)).^[8]

The status of Chișinău, Bălți, and Bender as municipalities and first-level territorial units of the country allows their suburb villages to have, when large enough, their own mayor and local council. By contrast, the villages that are administratively part of (some of) the other cities do not retain self-rule.

• Districts (32):

Name of district	District seat	President	Area (km²)	Population (2011)	Population density	Towns/ villages
Anenii Noi	Anenii Noi	Vladimir Vâzdoagă	892	83,100	93.2	45
Basarabeasca	Basarabeasca	Ilie Cernăuțan	295	29,200	99.0	10
Briceni	Briceni	Efimia Bendulac	814	75,300	92.5	39
Cahul	Cahul	Avram Micinschi	1,546	124,800	80.7	56
Cantemir	Cantemir	Ion Balan	870	62,800	72.2	51
Călărași	Călărași	Ilie Rău	753	78,800	104.6	54
Căușeni	Căușeni	Ilie Gluh	1,163	92,300	79.3	48
Cimișlia	Cimișlia	Ion Veveriță	923	61,700	66.8	39
Criuleni	Criuleni	Vitalie Rotaru	688	73,100	106.2	43
Dondușeni	Dondușeni	Anastasie Pavlov	645	45,100	70.0	30
Drochia	Drochia	Andrei Marian	1,000	90,100	90.1	40
Dubăsari	Dubăsari	Grigore Policinschi	309	35,200	113.9	15
Edineț	Edineț	Oleg Scutaru	933	82,900	88.9	49
Fălești	Fălești	Valeriu Muduc	1,073	92,600	86.3	76
Florești	Florești	Ștefan Paniș	1,108	90,000	81.2	74
Glodeni	Glodeni	Valeriu Țarigradschi	754	61,900	82.1	35
Hîncești	Hîncești	Grigore Cobzac	1,484	122,000	82.2	63
Ialoveni	Ialoveni	Nicolae Andronache	783	99,100	126.5	34
Leova	Leova	Efrosinia Grețu	775	53,800	69.4	39
Nisporeni	Nisporeni	Vasile Bîtcă	630	66,800	106.0	39
Ocnița	Ocnița	Ion Tomai	597	56,100	94.0	33
Orhei	Orhei	Ion Ștefârță	1,228	125,900	102.5	75
Rezina	Rezina	Eleonora Graur	621	52,600	84.7	41
Rîșcani	Rîșcani	Ion Parea	936	70,000	74.8	55
Sîngerei	Sîngerei	Gheorghe Meaun	1,033	93,400	90.4	70
Soroca	Soroca	Mircea Martîniuc	1,043	100,400	96.3	68
Strășeni	Strășeni	Petru Voloșciuc	730	91,300	125.1	39
Șoldănești	Șoldănești	Alexandru Relițchi	598	43,300	72.4	33
Ștefan Vodă	Ștefan Vodă	Vasile Buzu	998	71,900	72.0	26
Taraclia	Taraclia	Vasile Plagov	674	44,200	65.6	26
Telenești	Telenești	Boris Burcă	849	74,200	87.4	54
Ungheni	Ungheni	Iurie Toma	1,083	117,400	108.4	74

• Municipalities of first-tier (3):

Municipality	Mayor	Area (km²)	Population (2011)	Population density	Towns/ villages
Chișinău	Dorin Chirtoacă	635	789,500	1243.3	35
Bălți	Renato Usatîi	78	148,900	1909.0	3
Bender	Yuriy Gervachuk	97	101,000	1041.2	2

• Autonomous territories (2):

Name of autonomy	Autonomy Seat	Leader	Area (km²)	Population (2011)	Population density	Towns/ villages
Găgăuzia	Comrat	Irina Vlah	1,832	160,700	87.7	35
Transnistria	Tiraspol	Vadim Krasnoselsky	4,163	518,700	124.6	147

Notes[]

Areas not under central government control include:

• Transnistria, which with the exception of six communes (comprising a total of ten localities) corresponds to the geographic part of Moldova situated to the east of the Dniestr (Romanian: Nistru) river, is de jure a part of Moldova, but in fact is governed by breakaway authorities (see also: War of Transnistria). The city of Dubăsari (geographically and administratively in Transnistria, and not in the Dubăsari District), and six communes (administratively in the Dubăsari District of Moldova, and not in the administrative definition of Transnistria), all controlled by the central authorities (except the village of Roghi in commune Molovata Nouă, which is controlled by Tiraspol), form the northern part of the security zone set at the end of the war.
• Bender municipality (the city itself, plus the commune Proteagailovca), and three communes (five localities) of Căușeni District (Gîsca, Chițcani, and Cremenciug) are de facto controlled by the breakaway regime of Transnistria. Together with the commune Varnița of Anenii Noi District and the commune Copanca of Căușeni District under Moldovan control, these localities form the southern part of the security zone set at the end of the war. The city of Bender has both a Moldovan police force (mostly symbolic) and a Transnistrian militsiya force (practically in charge in most instances).

Population[]

• The smallest entity electing a mayor is the commune of Salcia, in Taraclia District (population 441). It consists of the village of Salcia, population 382, and the village of Orehovca, population 59. The largest entity is the municipality of Chișinău, electing a mayor for 712,218 inhabitants.
• The largest number of localities governed by a single commune or city government in Moldova is 6. This is the case for:
  • city of Anenii Noi, population 11,463, of which 3,105 in the 5 suburban villages
  • commune Copăceni, Sîngerei District, population 3,315
  • commune Natalievca, Fălești District, population 2,231
  • commune Tătărăuca Veche, Soroca District, population 2,203

On the opposite end, 42 of the 66 cities, and about half the communes of Moldova have local administration providing services for a single locality.

• There are four or five localities in Moldova with a zero population:
  • village Armanca, commune Vasileuți, Rîșcani District
  • village Chetrișul Nou, commune Chetriș, Fălești District
  • village Pelinia, loc. st. c. f., commune Pelinia, Drochia District
  • village Stălinești, commune Corestăuți, Ocnița District

The village of Schinoasa was outlined within commune Țibirica, Călărași District in 2007, and information is not available yet whether it has any population.

• Village (hamlet) Ivanovca, commune Natalievca, Fălești District, population 19, inhabited by 14 Russians and 5 Ukrainians, is the only inhabited locality in Moldova without any ethnic Moldovans. On the opposite end, one commune, Cigîrleni, Ialoveni District, population 2,411, and 42 villages of sub-commune level (population varying from 1 to 673), have a 100% Moldovan population.

Coincidal names[]

There are 147 settlement names shared by multiple localities in Moldova. Most notable cases includes these:

• A town Mărculești, and a different commune Mărculești, both situated in the Florești District
• A city Dondușeni, and a different commune Dondușeni, both situated in the Dondușeni District
• A city Drochia, and a different commune Drochia, both situated in the Drochia District
• A town Costești, in Rîșcani District, with a population of 2,247 (4,109 with 4 suburb villages), the 8th smallest city in Moldova, and a commune (village) Costești, in Ialoveni District, population 11,128, the 2nd largest village in Moldova
• A town Cornești, in Ungheni District, and a different village Cornești in the same Ungheni District, and also a village Cornești in Hîncești District
• etc.

Previous divisions[]

Counties (1998-2003)[]

Between 1998 and February 2003, Moldova was divided into 12 territorial units, including 1 municipality, 1 autonomous territorial unit, 1 territorial unit, and 9 counties (Romanian: județe; seats in brackets):

1. Chișinău municipality, surrounded by Chișinău county, but different from it
2. Bălți County (Bălți)
3. Cahul County (Cahul)
4. Chișinău County (Chișinău)
5. Edineț County (Edineț)
6. Lăpușna County (Hîncești)
7. Orhei County (Orhei)
8. Soroca County (Soroca)
9. Tighina County (Moldova) (Căușeni)
10. Ungheni County (Ungheni)
11. Găgăuzia, autonomous territorial unit (Comrat)
12. Stânga Nistrului, territorial unit (Dubăsari)

In October 1999, Taraclia County was split out from the Cahul County; it coincides with the current Taraclia District.

Cities and districts (1991-1998)[]

Between 1991-1998, Moldova was divided into 10 cities and 40 districts:^[9]

See also[]

• ISO 3166-2:MD, ISO subdivision codes for Moldova

References[]

External links[]

• Moldovan Ministry of Local Public Administration
• Law № 764-XV/2001 on the administrative organization of the Republic of Moldova available on Wikisource.
  • Modification 37-XV-14.02.2003
  • Modification 124-XV-18.03.2003
• Moldovan Law 431-XIII from April 19, 1995, Monitorul Oficial al Republicii Moldova, no. 31-32/340, June 9, 1995