Counties of Moldova

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Updates: 

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns new FIPS codes to the current Moldovan districts, superseding the county codes formerly in effect.

In March, 2003, Moldova underwent another reorganization. I have updated the Primary subdivisions table to show the new divisions. Sources: Statistica Moldovei , Wikipedia . Serhii Tymofiiev and Richard Pollard helped me find information about the new divisions.

I have now seen a series of Moldovan statistical yearbooks. The most recent issue available was "Anuarul Statistic al Republicii Moldova 2003", published by the Department for Statistics and Sociology of the Republic of Moldova, Chişinău, 2003. It clearly shows that the divisions of Moldova on the primary level are ten counties, one city, one autonomous territorial unit, and one other unit which is verbosely described as Unităţile administrativ-teritoriale din partea stîngă a Nistrului, cărora li se pot atribui forme şi condiţii speciale de autonomie (Administrative-territorial units from the left side of the Nistru (Dniester) River, which could be entitled to special formations and conditions of autonomy). I have accordingly decided to split Chisinau city from Chisinau county (former HASC code MD.CE) in the main list below.

Change Notice 8 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-06-28. It changes the name of Dubăsari to Stîngă Nistrului, which is also the name used for it in the ISO update. I've concluded that the name Dubăsari is obsolete.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It completely revises the list of subdivisions of Moldova. It shows Moldova divided into one unitate teritorială autonoma (autonomous territory), one municipiu (city), one unitatea teritorială (territorial unit), and nine judeţul (counties). The header for the Moldova entry incorrectly states that there are ten counties; the 10 is corrected to 9 in ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-3, published on 2002-08-20. Taraclia county is not shown. The list includes a city named Chişinău (code CU) and a county named Chişinău (code CH). It may be that Chişinău city has been split from Chişinău county, but until that supposition is confirmed, I'll continue treating them as a single unit. I have added the new ISO codes to the table below. Newsletter Number I-4, published on 2002-12-10, adds Taraclia county.

According to a report from Tass (1999-02-22), Moldova was to be reorganized into nine provinces and two autonomous regions - Găgăuzia and Dniester - following local elections held on 1999-05-23. The International Monetary Fund requested the change to reduce Moldova's administrative expenses.

Change Notice 4 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2000-02-25. It shows Moldova divided into ten judeţul (counties) and one unitate teritorială autonoma (autonomous territorial unit). If they are the same divisions as those predicted by Tass, the Dniester region would have to be the same as Dubăsari county.

The list below shows one additional county, Taraclia, which was created after the FIPS list was made.

Country overview: 

Russia acquired the eastern part of the principality of Moldavia from the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. It became the guberniya of Bessarabia, consisting of all the territory between the Prum and Dniestr Rivers east of about 26°45' East. Bessarabia proclaimed its independence on 1918-01-24, in the chaos of World War I. It united with Romania two months later. The merger was ratified by the Paris Peace Conference in 1920. The Soviet Union asserted a claim to the territory. Unable to prevail, it established a Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (capital Balta from 1924 to 1929, then Tiraspol) on the eastern side of the Dniestr. After the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union and Germany carved up the intervening territory. In 1940, the Soviet Union moved in and annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania. On 1940-08-02, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was created. It contained about 28,000 sq. km. of Bessarabian territory and 3,400 sq. km. of the Moldavian A.S.S.R. The remaining pieces - Northern Bukovina, 4,900 sq. km. of the Moldavian A.S.S.R., and 17,600 sq. km. of Bessarabia, including the districts of Belgorod Dniestrovskiy, Hertza, Hotin, and Izmail - became part of the Ukraine. Although Romania re-occupied this area during the war, the Soviet Union prevailed in 1944. Moldavia once again declared independence on 1991-08-27, taking the name Moldova. More recently, the part of Moldova east of the Dniestr has formed a breakaway government, Transdniestria, which has not been recognized by any other country.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Republikken Moldova (formal)
2. Dutch: Moldavië, Republiek Moldavië (formal)
3. English: Republic of Moldova (formal), Moldavia (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Moldova
5. French: Moldavie f, République f de Moldova (formal)
6. German: Moldawien n, Moldau f (obsolete)
7. Icelandic: Moldavía
8. Italian: Moldavia f, Repubblica Moldova (formal)
9. Norwegian: Moldova, Republikken Moldova (formal)
10. Portuguese: Moldávia, Moldova f, República f da Moldávia f (formal)
11. Romanian: Republica Moldoveneasca (formal)
12. Russian: Moldavskaya Respublika (formal)
13. Spanish: Moldavia f
14. Swedish: Moldavien

Origin of name: 

from Molda River (not to be confused with the Moldau)

Primary subdivisions: 

Moldova is divided into 32 raioane (sing. raion: districts), three municipiu (city), one unitate teritorială autonomă (autonomous territory), and one unitatea teritorială (territorial unit).

Note: I reused HASC codes from earlier divisions of the same name and type. I can't guarantee that the area covered is exactly the same in all cases.

Postal codes: 

Moldova uses four-digit postal codes. Moldovan addresses can be identified by prefixing the postal codes with "MD-".

Further subdivisions:

According to the 2003 Statistical Yearbook, the secondary subdivisions of Moldova were 15 municipalities, 50 cities, 66 localities in the frame of cities, 663 villages (communes), and 886 localities in the frame of villages (communes), for a total of 1,680 secondary subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

Chişinău: Hungarian Kis-Jenö: Little Eugene, name of a fortress
Orhei: Hungarian varhely: citadel
Soroca: Theory 1: Romanian sarac: poor. Theory 2: From sroc: a feudal obligation.

Change history: 

1. 1991-08-27: When Moldova declared independence, it was divided into forty districts (raioane), six towns (oraşe), and four municipal councils. The 1993 issue of Moldova's Statistical Yearbook shows the following list. Populations are estimates from the 1992 yearbook. International standard ISO 3166-2, dated 1998-12-15, shows Moldova divided into the fifty divisions listed here (with no distinction between cities and towns). Change Notice 2 to FIPS PUB 10-4 was dated 1999-03-01. It showed Moldova divided into 41 districts (the same 40 listed below, plus Gagauzia) and four cities; the six towns were not listed.

1. Note: Many districts were split between two or more counties in the 1999 reorganization. The "Later" column in this table shows the last two letters of the HASC code for the 1999 division which contains the town whose name matches this division.
2. 1995-01: Găgăuzia district (FIPS code MD23) became an autonomous territory. Previously it had been a minority area consisting approximately of the districts of Ciadîr-Lunga, Comrat, and Vulcaneşti, forming two disconnected areas along the southern border of Moldova with Ukraine. Its capital is Comrat (or Komrat).
3. 1999-06: Moldova reorganized into nine counties (judeţul; sing. judeţ), one city, one autonomous territory, and Transdnistria.
4. 1999-10-04: Taraclia county split from Cahul, to accommodate a local ethnic Bulgarian majority. As a result, Moldova was divided into ten counties, one city, one autonomous territory, and one territorial unit, as shown in the following table.

1. 2003-03-18: Moldova reorganized into the divisions shown under the Primary subdivisions heading.

Other names of subdivisions: 

During the existence of the Moldavian S.S.R., the Soviet Union imposed the use of the Cyrillic alphabet for the Romanian language spoken in Moldavia. Names transliterated from Cyrillic are different from the native forms now used by Moldova, as shown in the tables above.

1. Găgăuzia: Unitate Teritorială Autonoma Găgăuzia (formal); UTAG (informal)
2. Slobozia: Slobodzia (variant)
3. Transnistria: Dniester, Transdniestria (variant); Dubăsari (obsolete); Stîngă Nistrului (variant); Unitatea Teritorială din Stîngă Nistrului (formal)
4. Tighina: Bender (variant)