How different are we? Women and men of Moldova in figures

2019.03.07 2,099

Women predominate in the number of population

The female population is predominant among the population, the sex ratio is 93 males per 100 females. The ratio differs significantly depending on certain age groups. Men predominate in the age groups 0-14 and 15-34, with a ratio of 106 males per 100 women and 104 males per 100 women, respectively. The differences are more pronounced in the case of the population aged 35-64 and 65 and over, with 100 men and 90 men and 62 men respectively.

Life expectancy in women is higher than that of men

Women live longer than men on average by 8.0 years, life expectancy at birth being 77.0 years for women and 69.4 years for males. This gap is due to the higher level of premature mortality among men, especially for those at working age. The mortality rate by residence area shows some differences in the  life  expectancy of urban and rural residents. Thus, urban men live on average more than 4.4 years compared to those in rural areas, and for women this gap is 3.8 years.

Women marry earlier than men

The woman's average age at first marriage is 25.7 years, and for men - 28.5 years. Most men who married in 2017 belong to the age group of 25-29 years (39.0%), and in the case of women the marriages prevail at the age of 20-24 years (38.1%). Marriages up to 20 years of age are more common in rural areas: 9.6% of the number of marriages registered in the villages were concluded by women aged under 20, compared to 3.8% in urban areas.

Of the total number of marriages registered in 2017, those committed by single persons accounted for 82% for both men and women. At the same time, men are more remarried than women after divorce, 17.4% for males and 16.7% for women. However, the proportion of widowed women remarried in total widowed persons is higher than that of men.

Women have higher level of training than men

Women aged 25-64 have  higher level of training than men. The largest gap is recorded for the upper level, 23.4% of women have reached this level compared to 18.0% of men. Both women and men in the total population structure have the highest shares for the medium level of training, 60.2% of men  against 55.5% of women. A low level of training has 21.8% of men as compared to 21.0% of women.

Men leave the education system earlier than women in favor of entering the labor market. The rate of early school leaving for 18-24 year olds is 21.0% for males compared to 17.6% for women. At the same time, the level of involvement in permanent education programs for both women and men is very low (0.9% - men and 0.8% - women).

                                                    

The employment rate among women is lower than that of men

The share of women in the employed population is practically equal to that of men and has remained at the same level in the last few years (50.5% men and 49.5% women). However, female employment rates are lower (38.1%) than men (43.1%).

The employment rate of women depends on several factors, including whether have or not children under the age of 16. Thus, for women aged 25-49 with at least 1 child (16 years and less) the employment rate is 49.2%, while for women without children the employment rate reaches 54.1 %.

Women work predominantly in the services sector

Distribution by economic sectors reveals a higher share of women employed in the service sector (57.8% women respectively 42.2% men). Women are less in the agricultural sector (42.9%), industry (48.5%) and construction (8.7%), but predominate in such economic activities as trade (54.9%), hotels and restaurants (71.4%), education (81.9%), health and social care (79.1%).

Women prefer paid employment and formal jobs

More than 69.7% of all employed women are employed as employees . For men this indicator is 60.7%. Among non-wage earners, men predominate in the category of self-employed (60.5%) and women - among unpaid family workers (72.5%). The share of informal employment among women is 30.4%, and among men - 38.9%.

Women earn on average 13% less than men

Women earn on average 13.5% less than men (86.5% of the average male wage). Expressed in numerical value, the discrepancy is on average about 813 lei. Thus, the average salary in 2017 constituted for women 5204 lei and for men - 6017 lei.

The largest gap in the earnings of women and men are in financial, information and communications, industry

Women's pay levels are lower than men in most economic activities, with the discrepancy ranging from 0.2% in education to 39.2% in financial and insurance activities. Gender pay disparities in the detriment of women were also recorded in activities such as information and communications (35.4%), industry (19.7%), art, recreation and leisure (19%), health and care social (15.8%), professional, scientific and technical activities (15.6%), agriculture, forestry and fishing (11.3%).

Most decision-making functions belong to men, and women continue to be under-represented in the decision-making process

Women's participation in decision-making at the parliamentary level reveals a representation of women of 21.8% at the beginning of 2018 (out of 101 deputies 22 were women), while at European level it constituted 30.5%, the global average being of 24.0%.

Women are also underrepresented in the justice and police bodies

The share of women in the total number of judges in 2017 accounted for 47.4%. At the same time, the share of women in the total number of police officers, including civil protection and border guards was 18.8%.

Women exceed the retirement men's share

Of total retirees in 2018, 64.5% are women. Depending on the category of pensioners, the share of women varies from 81.2% in the case of survivors' pension beneficiaries, 70.6% - retirees for old age, up to 50.7% for the beneficiaries of disability pensions and 10.7% % in the case of force officers.

About 85 thous. women and 90 thous. men benefit from a social pension or social disability allowance from social security bodies. Every second disability retiree is a woman. Men predominantly benefit of severe and medium disability pensions and women of accentuated disability pensions. 

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