n.
officially Republic of Moldova
Country, northeastern Balkan region of central Europe.
It is bordered by Ukraine and Romania. Area: 13,000 sq mi (33,700 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 3,620,000. Capital: Chisinau . The majority of the people are ethnic Moldovans, although in the Transdniester region, east of the Dniester River , there are large numbers of Russians and Ukrainians. Languages: Romanian (official), Russian, Ukrainian. Religion: Eastern Orthodoxy. Currency: leu. Most of Moldova is a fertile region lying between the Dniester and Prut rivers; the northern and central regions of the country are forested. The economy is based on agriculture; the major farm products are grapes, winter wheat, corn, and dairy products. Industry is centred on food processing. Moldova is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. The area of present-day Moldova consists of that part of the principality of Moldavia lying east of the Prut River (part of Romania before 1940) and, adjoining it on the south, the region of Bessarabia along the Black Sea coast. (See Moldavia for history prior to 1940.) The two regions were incorporated as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. in 1940. In 1991 Moldavia declared independence from the Soviet Union. It adopted the Romanian spelling of Moldova and had, earlier, legitimized use of the Roman rather than the Cyrillic alphabet. The republic was admitted to the UN in 1992. During the 1990s it struggled to find economic equilibrium. In 2000 it abandoned its semipresidential form of government to become a parliamentary republic.