Editing Moldavia (section)

==Population==

===Historical population===
{{See also|Demographic history of Romania|Bessarabia#Population|Bukovina#Historical population|Chernivtsi Oblast#Population and demographics|Budjak#Ethnic groups and demographics}}
[[File:Moldo-Wallachian Peasantry, 1853.jpg|thumb|Moldo-Wallachian peasantry, 1853]]
Contemporary historians estimate the population (historically referred to as Moldavians) of the Moldavian Principality in the 15th century, at between 250,000 and 600,000 people,<ref>East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500, Jean W. Sedlar, page 255, 1994</ref><ref>Cavalerii Apocalipsului: Calamitatile Naturale Din Trecutul Romaniei (Pana La 1800), Paul Cernovodeanu, Paul Binder, 1993, {{ISBN|973-95477-3-7}}, Romanian Edition</ref> but an extensive census was first conducted in 1769–1774.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.recensamantromania.ro/en/history/demographic-researches/| title = First activities of population counting conducted on the Romanian territory of today}}</ref>

In 1848, the northwestern part, annexed in 1775 by the Habsburg Empire, [[Bukovina]], had a population of 377,571; in 1856, the eastern half of Moldavia, [[Bessarabia]], annexed in 1812 by the Russian Empire, had a population of 990,274, while the population of Moldavia proper (the western half), in 1859, was 1,463,927.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.evenimentul.ro/articol/moldovenii-8211-vreo-5.html|title=Moldavians at the 2002 census}}</ref>

The contemporary population peaked in 1992, at 10.07 million inhabitants in all three historical divisions ([[Western Moldavia]], Bessarabia and Bukovina). As of 2011, the population was 8.63 million people, of which 3.67 million were in Western Moldavia, 3.86 million in Bessarabia and 1.08 million in Bukovina.<ref name="histmold"/>

===Cities===
[[File:AKauffmannJReyIasiFair.PNG|thumb|Lithograph of a cosmopolitan fair in [[Iași]] c. 1845; two [[History of the Jews in Romania|Orthodox Jews]] are visible to the right]]
The largest cities (as per last censuses) and [[Functional Urban Area|metropolitan areas]] in the Moldavia region are:{{cn|date=May 2021}}
* Romania:
** [[Iași]] – 290,422 (465,477 in metropolitan area) - capital of Moldavia between 1564 and 1859
** [[Galați]] – 249,432 (323,563)
** [[Bacău]] – 144,307 (223,239)
** [[Botoșani]] – 106,847 (144,617)
** [[Suceava]] – 92,121 (144,100) – capital of Moldavia between 1388 and 1564
** [[Piatra Neamț]] – 85,055 (131,334)
** [[Focșani]] – 79,315 (125,699)
* Ukraine:
** [[Chernivtsi|Chernivtsi (Cernăuți)]] – 264,298  
** [[Izmail|Izmail (Ismail)]] – 84,815
* Moldova:
** [[Chișinău]] – 532,513 (662,836 in metropolitan area)
** [[Bălți]] – 97,930 (102,457)
** [[Bender, Moldova|Tighina (Bender)]] – 91,882