Inequality is deeply perceived in Chisinau, from incomes to access to goods and services: UNDP Moldova study

People face difficulties in finding a decent and well-paid job in Chisinau. The inhabitants of the capital city suffer from limited access to qualitative basic services, to adequate housing, while the infrastructure is of low quality. All these factors lead to social-economic inequalities between different groups of capital city.

A new case study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Moldova was released today. The case study is a part of a regional report that covers Europe and Central Asia region.

“The majority of interviewed people have noted that the inequality between the people within Chisinau gets deeper – the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. In their opinion, life in Chisinau is marked by continuous stress and permanent psycho-emotional pressure”, said Alexandru Oprunenco, Policy Specialist at UNDP Moldova.

The case study called “Inequalities in urban Moldova”, also finds that the elderly people and the persons with health problems represent two categories perceived as being the most vulnerable in Chisinau.  Another group mentioned as a rather disadvantaged would be the young families without dwelling. The persons with low incomes also were mentioned among the vulnerable persons, such as: employees in the public sector, the persons with no financial support from abroad, etc.

Another very important aspect refers to access to housing. Over 7% of urban households and 11% households living in Chisinau municipality do not have houses, flats and live in rented dwellings.  The rent payment severely affects the chances of young families to have their own housing. At the same time, one fourth of households from Chisinau municipality, that have their own dwelling space, still cannot enjoy the minimum space set by the legislation in force. The young families with children encounter the biggest problems related to the dwelling space and housing conditions.

The number of unemployed people in Chisinau municipality fell in the recent years, being 3 times as low as in 2010.

“The number of available jobs in the capital city has also increased. However, persistence of high number of available jobs against the background of stubbornly high number of unemployed raises serious questions about mismatch between jobs on offer and preferences or skills of official unemployed”, noted Alexandru Oprunenco, Policy Specialist at UNDP Moldova.

Inequality of opportunity in employment persists among certain groups of population: young persons without work experience, the older persons, especially the persons of pre-retirement age, mothers with small children.

Chisinau inhabitants with low incomes encounter problems in accessing public services, including education and health care, the provision of which many times is conditioned fully or partially by payment of some informal payments. Compulsory health insurance does not secure full access to healthcare services of high quality. The private healthcare services, which are perceived as being of higher quality, may be accessed mainly by the persons with higher incomes.

“Chisinau inhabitants wish to be “sure in the day of tomorrow” and the preconditions for this would be: a decent place of living and a job with decent salary; healthy food; resources for a vacation, and some financial reserves for unforeseen expenses. It is also necessary to provide social protection to children from vulnerable families by offering them some allowances and increasing their access to educational institutions and activities”, concluded Alexandru Oprunenco, UNDP Moldova.

The authors draw attention to the risk of increasing food and energy poverty in Chisinau, due to rising prices and dropping remittances. The most affected groups seem the ones left behind.

Further, the report calls for guaranteeing decent salaries in the public sector and accountability of the private employers, which is an important factor for decreasing the wage-driven discrepancies. In order to increase access to social security, it is needed to diminish informal sector and thus to ensure more adequate access to the pensions’ system and healthcare services.

The case study was developed based on existing statistical and administrative data and analysis of stories collected from about 1,000 women and men. Also, 3 groups discussions have been carried out to collect qualitative data: unemployed; persons with small incomes; young families, with children without dwelling space.