/VIDEO/ Ghost villages from the Republic of Moldova: The alarming phenomenon with localities left only on the map
Every day, the Republic of Moldova is abandoned by about 30 people. In two decades, our population will be halved to only 1.7 million people, most of whom are elderly. These are not speculations, but the forecasts that emerge from a study conducted and recently published by the UN Population Fund. In this wave of migration, people no longer go just because they need money. Those who want better living conditions, especially for their children, go. The departure of people abroad is also one of the causes of the depopulation of localities, and small villages have suffered the most. Some have disappeared altogether, becoming ruins. Others are getting smaller and smaller, with each house in which there is no longer life, it is shown in a brand report “Moldova thinks” from TV8.
The road to… nowhere. Present in navigation applications, but also on maps, the village of Dărăuții does not exist in reality. And we’re not exaggerating at all when we say it’s a ghost village.
“- How do we get there?
– There is a mound there. There is no one, everything is fallow.
– Then where are the people? Did they come here?
– Yes, look. They are next to me here, they are all with crosses on their heads.
– Died…”.
We continued our journey, as the villagers advised us and according to the directions of the GPS.
The GPS on the mobile phone shows us that we are already in the village of Dărcăuții Noi. We have arrived, we have been here for some time, we are not always spinning, but so far we have not found any signs that people lived here.
We found, you can see, this well, among the trees, among the acacias, but it is so old that it is clear that it has not been used for a very, very long time.
With acacias on the right and left, the road was over in no time. Not far away, with my eyes squinted from the wind and the sun, I met nea Constantin. He was tending the village cows, because it was his turn. Sam was actually surprised that he was looking for the village of New Goblins.
“- They’re all gone, they’re dead.
– Did they move to the village, to Dărăuți, or did the people simply die?
– Those who were young went elsewhere. And that’s not it.
– You mean, we’ve already passed the village?
– Yes.
– Do we have to go back now? Is it the only way there is now?
– Yes. It’s the only way,” Constantin said.
We’re back where we started. Next to the old well, which I was telling you about earlier. We found here another place from which we can deduce that it was a household because we found an old cellar, left open.
Around here, by the way, we can also see the ruins of a house. We can deduce that here was a kind of village center, because only here until he showed us, as well as the applications, that we are in Dărăuții noi.
The houses in the former village were swallowed up on their own land. Near a mound, covered with acacia saplings, I found with difficulty the ruins of a house.
Most likely here was the window of a house. Notice, around here, probably the householders would come home, climb the stairs, sit down on the porch when they were tired and wanted to rest.
Even though many years have passed since then, we can see on the house, signs of the colors in which the house was painted. We see a blue belt, a green belt…
Depopulation has crossed the border of the village of Dărăuții noi and threatens the neighboring town – Dărăuți.
The mayor here talked to us about how to try to save the commune, so that it doesn’t become a ghost settlement in years to come.
“In 1997, the last resident died. Since then, no one lives in the village. But the village, as the people call it Odaia lui Sava, is not an old village. People owned property, they had land. It was the room where a certain Sava lived and the name was passed down. With the death of the last inhabitant, no one lives there, but people own property. Some of them take care of the agricultural lands, some of them have turned them into forests”, declared the mayor of Dărcăuți commune, Oleg Rozimovschi.
During the 60s and 70s, Dărcăuți was home to about 30 families, in which 20 children were growing up. In one of the more spacious houses, a kindergarten had even been set up for them. Probably no one would have thought that in a few years the village would disappear from the face of the earth. In order to keep the memory alive, the mayor has been thinking, for some time, to transform the former locality into an open-air museum.
“We have a project idea, but we don’t have money, because we focused on the two villages so that years don’t pass and journalists come and ask why these two are deserted,” said the mayor.
Livezi is also on the list of depopulated villages, which I found a few kilometers away from Dărăuții noi. Of the 10 houses, only half have people living in them. The others died with their owners.
Mr. Dumitru is one of the few who still keep the small village alive. He believes that if there was even a little infrastructure, it might become attractive to outsiders. He raised two daughters, but both left, with his and his wife’s approval and encouragement.
“Jobs, roads need to be built, people are depopulating because no one wants to live in poverty in Moldova,” said Dumitru, a resident of Livezi village.
He was born in Livezi, but he is not sure that he wants to die here. They will probably migrate too.
“We were 8 children…”.
Who knows the village better than him? Although it is a small piece of land, the hamlet is full of impressive sights. The first abandoned house appeared in the setting.
“Here was an old man, but he passed away. The relatives came, they wanted to have a party, but they didn’t let them. Sobari City Hall”.
Another empty house, another life suddenly ended. The owner was killed by Covid.
“- They took him to Chisinau, but they couldn’t do anything to him.
– A deceased?
– Yes. Now the boys come, but rarely.”
And in this house there is no life. No one draws water from the well to quench their thirst, and the doors are locked more often.
“I’m showing you an ornament detail. That man who came from Chisinau liked these forms. It’s a woman’s figure, if you can see well.”
The old man with the scythe is the second inhabitant of Livezi village. He came here to take care of his parents’ house. At the age of 7, you have to take care of them yourself, but they are not very well.
“- Hello. We are from television, from Chisinau.
– Huh?
– We are from Chisinau, from television.
– Be healthy, come again.
– We’re coming, of course. Do we want to see how you live in this little village?
– Well, it was big, but the world was saved.
– Where did the world go?
– Huh?
– Where is the world?
– The world was saved. Not only in this village, I’m running from all over the place. They closed the gates, they closed all the gates, what can they live on? Everything is expensive. Where will we end up? We are targeting him. It’s a nice touch.”
Eager to talk, the man told us about his life’s greatest trials and thanks God that he escaped safely.
“- Earth what to work with? There was no solar car, there was no tractor. So he was the power horse. I sold the land because I owed money. I went to Chisinau, on Ștefan cel Mare Boulevard. I borrowed money, sold the land and gave money to the doctors.
– To treat you? You were sick, right?
– I broke my hand.
– And what, they asked you for money for this?
– They cured me, sorry to say. The doctors did it to me then. I didn’t have a pension and I gave the money, that’s it.
– Did you sell land to treat yourself?
– Yes. I sold land, I sold the share. The hand was broken, only in the skin it rests. It was only in the bones.
– Where did you break it?
– I fell out of the cart and the wheel went over her”, said a resident, Livezi village, Victor.
He also has a word with the social worker who visits him.
“- He comes, visits me…
– You are afraid to stay…
– Such a beautiful little girl is coming.”
I didn’t find life either in the village of Dobrușa, in the Telenești district. In 2019, the locality became known internationally, after the famous American publication New York Times wrote the story of the only resident here.
Grigore Muntean, then 53 years old. He took us looking for him to see how his life has changed since then. But I didn’t find it.
There was no way to find him because the man moved to another village. One very far and right on the border with Ukraine. He practically lives in the forest, in a house that was still abandoned, being pressured to leave his hometown.
“- You’re not coming back?
– No no no. I’m still alone here, at least I don’t have anything to do with anyone.
– Have you built a house?
– I haven’t built anything yet. I bought a house, there are a lot of abandoned people here”, said a former resident of the village of Dobrușa, Grigore Muntean.
According to a study prepared by the UN Population Fund, the Soroca district is not among the top five least populated districts. Instead, Basarabeasca, Dubăsari, Soldănești, Taraclia and Dondușeni can be found here.
“On this country for three decades, the population has decreased drastically. We planned it to be 5 million, but we risk that in the next 50-100 years we will not reach the figure. On the contrary, the forecasts are very gloomy. The population number is 1.7 – 1.9 million. That’s not over the mountains, but in the next 5 years. As a result of migration, we have reached the stage where parents go to babysit their grandchildren. The latest data show that their share would be 2.5, which is not small”, said the demographer, doctor of sciences, university lecturer, Valeriu Sainsus.
Valeriu Sainsus is one of the most famous demographers that the Republic of Moldova has. It has been monitoring the depopulation process for about three decades. He says that even if steps are taken to slow the trends, the effects will be felt much later anyway.
“The dividends of these measures appear a decade from now. Or over 5 maximum 7 years. We could restore the population by increasing reproduction. This would be a first step”.
Not only small villages are abandoned by people, but also big cities, including the capital.
“Chisinau is facing a stagnation in the number, stop creating values of migrants. In fact, the capital grew because of the cities that were included.”
The study, carried out by the UN Population Fund, on a sample of 10,000 people, revealed another alarming aspect. Young families with high incomes want to go abroad.
“The departure of young people will implicitly lead to an increase in the number of elderly people. Under these conditions, urgent measures are needed to increase the birth rate and create the conditions for families to educate a larger number of children”, said deputy representative, UNFPA, Natalia Plugaru.
What is the government’s current strategy to stop the depopulation process and how does it want to convince people to stay in the country? With these two questions I went to a public event attended by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița. We were not allowed to approach her, because, according to a guard, she was in a great hurry.
But, in the Republic of Moldova there are localities that boast of many inhabitants.
According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in the top three we find the village of Congaz, with 12 thousand people, Costești – with 11,000 inhabitants and Cărpineni, where almost 10,000 inhabitants live.
The next population census would take place in 2023, about 10 years away from the last one that was conducted in the Republic of Moldova and on which all the data is based.