Number of Moldovan Students Collapses as Youngsters Flee Country

The number of Moldovan students has practically halved over the last 15 years, according to a new study, which blames the low birthrate and the mass migration of the country's youth.

Moldovan students arriving in Bucharest, Romania, to vote in Moldova’s parliamentary elections at their country’s embassy in Bucharest, on November 30, 2014. Photo: EPA/Robert Ghement

The number of students attending university in Moldova has fallen from 128,000 to 59,600 in the last 15 years, according to a study presented but the economic analyst Veaceaslav Ionita of the Chisinau-based NGO, IDIS Viitorul. In 2019, the number dropped further to only 56,000.

According to Ionita, in 2006-2007, there were 39 students per thousand inhabitants, which is now down to 22.6 students per thousand inhabitants.

“The sharp decline in the birth rate and continued migration have led to what we do not have today,” Ionita said

In 2010, there were almost 424,000 young people of university age, aged 19 to 24 years old; now, there are only 245,000, a decline of almost 50 per cent in little more than a decade.

The second negative factor, he said, was the mass flight of young people abroad.

He said that for most of the 245,000 young people in Moldova aged between 19 and 24, only 146,000 are actually in the country – the other 88,000 have gone abroad. Every year, he said, 4,500 young people of university age leave the country.

In 2010, the share of young people aged 19 to 24 was almost 12 per cent of the total population. Today this share is 6 per cent. By 2025, the share could be only 5 per cent.

“Young people are no longer seen in the villages. The elderly population stays, but young people are not coming home anymore,” the economic analyst said.

Dimitri Cernica, a spokesperson for the European Student’s Association AEGEE-Chisinau, told BIRN that young students leave Moldova for better studies and job opportunities.

“Many students want a recognised European diploma, which our universities in Moldova cannot offer. Many hope to study abroad because, after graduating abroad, they can stay there and find a better-paid job in communities in more developed countries,” he said.