Moldovans

Moldovans

Moldoveni
Map of the Moldovan diaspora
Total population
c. 2.9 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
Moldova  2,023,069 (including 135,957 Moldovans from Transnistria)[2]
Other countries
Ukraine	258,619[3]
Romania	161,846[4]
Russia	77,509[5][6]
Italy	188,923[7]
Germany	139,000[8]
Poland	37,338[9]
France	26,300[10][11]
Spain	17,426[12]
Kazakhstan	14,245[13]
Portugal	13,586[14]
Turkey	13,472[15]
Greece	9,920[16]
Canada	8,050[17]
United States	7,859[18]
Czech Republic	5,260[19]
Belarus	3,465[20]
United Kingdom	3,417[21]
Latvia	2,284[22]
Languages
Romanian Russian within post-soviet
Religion
Orthodox Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Romanians

Moldovans, sometimes referred to as Moldavians (Romanian: moldoveni [moldoˈvenʲ], Moldovan Cyrillic: молдовень), are a Romanian-speaking ethnic group and the largest ethnic group of the Republic of Moldova (75.1% of the population as of 2014) and a significant minority in Romania, Italy, Ukraine and Russia. There is an ongoing controversy, in part involving the linguistic definition of ethnicity, over whether Moldovans' self-identification constitutes an ethnic group distinct and separate from Romanians, or a subset. The extent of self-identification as Romanians in the Republic of Moldova varies (2.1% of the population self-identified as Romanians in 2004 and 7% self-identified as Romanians in 2014).

The variant Moldavians is also used to refer to all inhabitants of the territory of historical Principality of Moldavia, currently divided among Romania (47.5%), Moldova (30.5%) and Ukraine (22%), regardless of their ethnic identity. In Romania, natives of Western Moldavia identifying with the term generally declare Romanian ethnicity,^[23] while the Moldovans from Bessarabia (the Republic of Moldova included) are usually called "Bessarabians" (Romanian: basarabeni).