Almost half of the Romanian population of the Republic of Moldova also hold Romanian citizenship.
72% confidence
Social PolicyMoldova
Omissions
The 858,913 figure is the cumulative number of citizenship reacquisitions since 1991 as reported by Romanian authorities in mid-2025, not a survey-based count of current holders; more than 150,000 applications were still pending, so the share is still rising.
The 'almost half' framing is best supported by President Sandu's round figure of ~1 million passport holders (≈49% of ethnic Romanians); the official cumulative reacquisition count of ~859,000 yields ≈42% of the ethnic Romanian population, somewhat below half.
If the denominator is the total population of Moldova (including ethnic minorities such as Ukrainians, Gagauz and Russians), the share is roughly 36–42%, less clearly 'almost half'.
Evidence rests on secondary news reports (Radio Chișinău, Moldova 1, Digi24) citing official data; the session is dated 2026-07-07, and the sources used here are from 2025 (before the session), but no primary official database page (e.g., Eurostat or the Romanian Ministry of Interior) was directly retrieved.
A 2021 Balkan Insight report put the share at only one in four Moldovans, illustrating that the figure has grown rapidly in recent years.
Sources
PrimaryNational Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova (statistica.gov.md)Preliminary results of the 2024 Population and Housing Census: of the total population that declared their mother tongue, 49.2% declared 'Moldovan' and 31.3% declared 'Romanian' (combined ≈80.5% Romanian-speaking); the census covers about 2.4 million inhabitants excluding Transnistria.
SecondaryRomania InsiderOver 850,000 citizens from the Republic of Moldova had gained Romanian citizenship by 2024, according to official data cited by Radio Chișinău.
SecondaryMoldova 1Since 1991, a total of 858,913 citizens of the Republic of Moldova have reacquired Romanian citizenship.
SecondaryDigi24Maia Sandu said that 'un milion dintre cetăţenii noştri au paşaport românesc' (a million of our citizens have a Romanian passport).
SecondaryBalkan InsightOne out of every four Moldavans now has Romanian citizenship, and the proportion could rise by the end of 2021 to a third of the total.