PROPORTION OF OLDER PERSONS HAS REACHED 20.8% OF MOLDOVAN POPULATION

As of the beginning of 2019, Moldova was home to 558.4 thousand persons aged 60 and older, which constituted 20.8% of the republic’s population, according to the data published by the National Statistics Bureau on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons marked annually on October 1.

According to the Bureau, women constitute almost 60% of the older people in Moldova. By age group, persons aged 60 to 64 make 33.9% elderly, aged 65 to 69 years – 29.6%, and people over 85 years old make only 3.9% elderly.

The ageing coefficient with men is 17.5, whereas with women – 23.8. Among the older people, for every 100 women there are only 67 men because men live only 14.8 years, on the average, after they turn 60, and women – av. 19.2 years.

Deaths among the older people are caused most often by cardiovascular diseases – 67.8% instances, by malignant neoplasms – 15.2%, and gastro-intestinal diseases – 6.8%.

As on the beginning of 2019, there were 703.9 thousand pensioners in Moldova, including 526.7 thousand old-age pensioners. In early 2019, the average pension size in the republic was merely 1643.7 lei (under US$93) a month, though this figure is 12.8% higher than that one year before. And the minimal-pension size is now standing at 961 lei a month, or 65% of the subsistence level.

So, it is not surprising that almost one-quarter of the elderly in Moldova continue working beyond retirement age.