Moldovans in Ukraine

Moldovan Ukrainians
Total population
258,619 (2001 Ukrainian census)
Regions with significant populations
Odesa Oblast, Chernivtsi Oblast
Languages
Predominantly Moldovan/Romanian (71.1%), Russian (17.6%), Ukrainian 10.7%
Religion
Eastern Orthodox

Moldovans in Ukraine (Romanian: Moldovenii din Ucraina) are the third biggest minority recorded in the 2001 All Ukrainian Census after Russians and Belarusians. Unlike many other minorities, Moldovans often live in the countryside (71.5%) rather than in a city (28.5%), the majority in the northern and southern historical region of Bessarabia. There is an undergoing identity controversy among the Romanian speakers of Ukraine over whether self-identified Moldovans are a part of the larger Romanian ethnic group or a separate ethnic group.