Life expectancy is higher for women than for men
Women live, on average, 8.0 years longer than men. Life expectancy at birth in 2020 was 73.9 years for women and 65.9 years for men. This gap is caused by the higher level of premature mortality of men, especially those of working age (16-62 years).
Women get married earlier than men
The average age of women at first marriage in 2020 was 26.0 years while for men - 29.0 years. By age groups, most men who married in 2020 belong to the age group 25-29 years (35.1%) while in case of women predominate marriages at the age of 20-24 years (35.8% ). Marriages up to the age of 20 are more common in rural areas: 11.0% of the number of marriages registered in rural areas were concluded by women under the age of 20, compared to 4.1% of marriages for women of the same age in the urban area.
Of the total marriages registered in 2020, those concluded by singles accounted for about 78% for both men and women.
Women have a higher level of education than men
According to the Labor Force Survey, women aged 25-64 have a higher level of education than men of the same age. The largest gap is recorded for the higher level: in 2020 24.8% of women of this age reached that level compared to 18.3% of men of the same age.
Both women and men, in the total structure of the population aged 25-64, have a predominantly medium level of education - 58.9% of men compared to 54.0% of women. 22.8% of men aged 25-64 have a low level of education, compared to 21.2% of women of the same age.
Men leave the education system earlier than women, in favor of entering the labor market. The early school leaving rate for 18-24 year olds in 2020 was 20.6% for men compared to 13.1% for women of the same age. At the same time, the degree of involvement in lifelong learning programs for both women and men aged 25-64 is very low (0.9% - men and 1.4% - women in 2020).
The employment rate among women is lower than that of men
The share of women in the employed population is lower compared to that of men (47.9% women and 52.1% men in 2020). The discrepancy in the employment rate by sex was 8.1 pp. in 2020: among women there was a rate of 35.0% compared to 43.1% for men.
The employment rate of women depends on several factors, including the presence of children under the age of 16. Thus, for women aged 25-49 with at least 1 child (16 years and under) the employment rate in 2020 was 47.3%, while for women without children, the employment rate reached the value of 60.5%.
Women work mainly in the service sector
The distribution by economic sector reveals a higher share of women employed in the services sector (57.4% women and 42.6% men respectively in 2020). Women are less found in the agricultural sector (37.2%), industry (47.5%), construction (5.5%), transport and storage (25.6%), information and communications (38.7%) , but predominate in such economic activities as hotels and restaurants (70.8%), financial intermediation and insurance (67.2%), education (82.3%), health and social assistance (79.4%), cultural activities and leisure (63.9%).
Women earn on average 14% less than men
Women earned on average 13.7% less than men in 2020 (86.3% of average men's earnings). Expressed in absolute value, the discrepancy was, on average, about 1171 lei. Thus, the average gross monthly earnings of women in 2020 amounted to 7387.2 lei, and of men - 8558.5 lei.
COVID-19 has affected the female labor market to a greater extent
In 2020, the share of employed people who stated that their situation at work was affected because of the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for over 8% of the total employed population. At the same time, COVID-19 affected the female population to a greater extent - 10.1% of the total employed women compared to the male population - 6.3% of the total employed men.
In the structure by sex, the share of women accounted for 59.7% of the total number of people affected at work and that of men - 40.3% (while in total employment women accounted for 47.9% and men 52.1 %).
The impact of the pandemic on the situation at work was manifested mainly by: interruption / cessation of activity, reduction of working hours actually worked, work at home, transition to part-time work, etc.
Among the employed people affected by the pandemic in 2020, the majority were people who did not work at all / interrupted activity (54.4% among women and 45.6% among men), followed by people who had to work fewer hours per week (38.1% among women and 22.9% among men) and by people who worked from home / worked remotely (33.6% among women and 16.3% among men).
Men are more optimistic about the household's standard of living than women
Male-headed households are more optimistic about the standard of living of the household. Thus, every 5th household headed by men appreciates the standard of living as very good or good compared to every 8th household headed by women. At the same time, households headed by men can afford unforeseen expenses in the amount of 5,000 lei, in a higher proportion than those headed by women (24.6% compared to 15.9% in 2020).
The analysis of the poverty rate does not show significant differences by sex
In 2020, the level of poverty among women was 26.9%, and among men - 26.7%. Poverty, however, affects women and male headed households with varying intensity. Thus, the level of poverty in female-headed households was 29.3% or 3.7 pp. more than in households headed by men (25.6%).
For more details: https://statistica.gov.md/en/statistical-portrait-of-women-and-men-from-moldova-9617_3542.html.