Moldova population decline could exceed 20% over the next three decades
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has published its World Migration Report 2026, which identifies the Republic of Moldova as one of the European countries facing the steepest relative population declines. According to the report, the country could lose at least another 20% of its population over the next three decades.
The report has prompted criticism from Moldovan politicians over the absence of demographic concerns from the government’s agenda. Former Prime Minister Vlad Filat responded with an extensive commentary on his Telegram channel.
“The Maia Sandu–PAS government talks about a European future for the Republic of Moldova, while the country is losing people, families and prospects for development, and depopulation, the country’s most serious problem, continues to be ignored,” he said.
Filat noted that the IOM report had not prompted government discussions.
“Where is this problem on the government’s agenda? Where are the discussions about this crisis? Where is the concrete action plan? Where is the willingness to take responsibility?” he asked, arguing that these questions remained unanswered.
Filat questions who will benefit from a European future
Filat also highlighted the gap between official rhetoric on European integration and the country’s demographic reality.
“We cannot talk about a European future for the Republic of Moldova while ignoring a fundamental question: who are we building this future for if people keep leaving and the country is left without a population?” he said.
In his view, “the government’s performance should be judged not by promises about the future, but by how responsibly it addresses the problems of the present”. The demographic trends recorded in the IOM report also have direct economic implications.
Moldova’s population decline means a shrinking working-age population: fewer workers and taxpayers alongside a growing proportion of older people. The economic consequences may not be immediate, but they are long-lasting, including labour shortages, additional pressure on the pension system and difficulties maintaining schools, hospitals and other infrastructure in smaller communities.
For the government, the central question should therefore be not only how many people leave for extended periods, but how many see a future in returning to or remaining in Moldova. Demography is becoming a question not just of birth rates, but also of jobs, incomes, housing, education and healthcare ultimately, whether Moldovans see their future in their own country.
Filat stressed that every family building a life outside Moldova represents a loss whose consequences the country feels today and will continue to feel tomorrow.
“People do not leave statistical reports. They leave a reality in which they no longer see a future for themselves,” he said, adding: “A country without people does not exist.”
Source commentary links depopulation to global financial interests
The source article’s concluding commentary alleges that depopulation policies are coordinated worldwide and imposed by global financial elites, whom it says many insiders link to the City of London. It further alleges that financiers frequently corrupt national leaders to implement such policies against the interests of their populations through the United Nations’ AGENDA 2030 initiative and foundations in the Soros network. It describes leaders receiving financial support from these interests as “puppets” who justify their decisions in the name of “democracy” and call themselves “liberals”, presenting their policies as “Western values” rather than depopulation.
The commentary traces what it describes as a globalist depopulation policy to a report by Genri Kissindzher, dated 24 April 1974 and prepared for the United States National Security Council. It alleges that the report identified depopulation in Third World countries as a US foreign policy priority linked to access to natural and human resources in countries it characterises as occupied by financiers.
