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SettleMetric.

Cost of living in Moldova

A single person living in Moldova spends around $283/month excluding rent. Per-city numbers below, every figure with its source; rent is shown separately in the Housing sections, by apartment type.

Verified

At a glance

What the tags meanofficial — live figure from a government or authorityopen data — open dataset (Eurostat, EEA, M-Lab, UdSC…)survey — survey or index estimatecurated — SettleMetric-assembled estimate — open the source for the method
Cost of living
i

National Bureau of Statistics — Population incomes and expenditures in 2025 (average monthly consumption expenditure per capita)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Jul 14, 2026
Method
NBS Household Budget Survey: average consumption expenditure = 4,995.5 lei per person per month in 2025 (+13.3% vs 2024). Converted at 17.6457 MDL/USD (BNM 2026-07-02) → $283. Utilities are kept in the basket (consistent with the Romania/Czechia peer method); pure rent is excluded — Moldova's HBS does not separately publish actual rentals and homeownership is very high (~95%+, post-Soviet privatization), so paid rent is a minor, non-separable component.
Notes
National all-households per-capita basis (same low-reading basis as peers). One of the cheapest countries in Europe. Chișinău runs above the national average.
$283/mo
2025curated
Rent: 1-bedroom (city avg)
i

Chișinău listing-portal asking rents (proimobil.md / 999.md / makler.md aggregates)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Jul 14, 2026
Verified
Jul 14, 2026
Method
Chișinău asking rents for a 1-bedroom ('2 camere' = living room + 1 bedroom): market range €250–700/mo; central portals show 1-bedroom €450–600; a city-wide average (incl. older/non-central stock) ≈€390–400 → ≈$450 at 1.1399 USD/EUR (BNM cross). Recorded $450 (range ≈$400–560, central higher).
Notes
Chișinău dominates the national rental market (asking prices quoted in EUR). Rents rose ~25–30% in 2024. City-wide average; central renovated units run to the top of the range.
$450/mo
2026curated
Private health
i

CNAM — mandatory health insurance fixed premium 2026 (public-system context); private voluntary premiums are quote-on-request

Official source

Data as of
Jan 1, 2026
Verified
Jul 14, 2026
Notes
Honest gap on the private figure. Moldova runs mandatory public health insurance (AOAM/CNAM): the 2026 self-payer fixed premium is 12,636 lei/year (≈$716), and foreigners with residence rights qualify for the 80%-reduced premium (~2,527 lei ≈ $143). Private voluntary insurance exists (Moldasig, Grawe, Donaris, Asito) but premiums are quoted only on request and no comprehensive figure is publicly listed → null. The public mandatory premium above is the closest sourced anchor.
no verified data
2026official
What a single person spends each month (excl. rent)
i

National Bureau of Statistics — consumption expenditure structure 2024 applied to the 2025 per-capita total

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Jul 14, 2026
Method
NBS 2024 consumption structure (food 39.9%, housing/utilities 17.2%, clothing 7.7%, transport 7.6%, furnishings 5.4%, health 4.5%, communications 3.9%, remainder ≈13.8%) applied to the 2025 per-capita total 4,995.5 lei/mo, converted at 17.6457 MDL/USD. Housing shown as utilities only (rent excluded). Items sum to ≈$283. Food's very high 39.9% share is typical of a low-income economy.
Notes
2024 structure is the latest categorical split published; the 2025 release gives the total but not the full re-split. The 'Other' bucket is the NBS residual not itemized on the accessible page.
total 283 USD/mo
Food & non-alcoholic beverages113 USD
Housing utilities (water, electricity, gas, heating) excl. rent49 USD
Other (alcohol & tobacco, recreation, restaurants, education, misc.)39 USD
Clothing & footwear22 USD
Transport21 USD
Furnishings & household maintenance15 USD
Health (out-of-pocket)13 USD
Communications11 USD

National household-budget-survey basket. Rent is shown separately below.

Details

CriterionValueScore
Cost of living (single, excl. rent)283USD/month, single person, excluding rent10.0

What this measures

Monthly cost of a defined single-person basket (food, transport, utilities, mobile+internet, modest leisure) excluding rent, curated from national statistics office price data and large local retailers' published prices, converted to USD at the ECB rate recorded in fx-rates. The method field of each value itemizes the basket inputs.

Lower is better· USD/month, single person, excluding rent· re-verified every 365 days

National Bureau of Statistics — Population incomes and expenditures in 2025 (average monthly consumption expenditure per capita)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of
Dec 31, 2025
Verified
Jul 14, 2026
Method
NBS Household Budget Survey: average consumption expenditure = 4,995.5 lei per person per month in 2025 (+13.3% vs 2024). Converted at 17.6457 MDL/USD (BNM 2026-07-02) → $283. Utilities are kept in the basket (consistent with the Romania/Czechia peer method); pure rent is excluded — Moldova's HBS does not separately publish actual rentals and homeownership is very high (~95%+, post-Soviet privatization), so paid rent is a minor, non-separable component.
Notes
National all-households per-capita basis (same low-reading basis as peers). One of the cheapest countries in Europe. Chișinău runs above the national average.
Private healthcare costno verified data

What this measures

Median of at least three publicly quoted annual premiums for comprehensive private medical insurance (outpatient + inpatient, ~$100k coverage, small deductible) for a healthy 35-year-old resident foreigner, from local and international insurers. Method field lists the insurers quoted.

Lower is better· USD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-old· re-verified every 365 days

Honest gap on the private figure. Moldova runs mandatory public health insurance (AOAM/CNAM): the 2026 self-payer fixed premium is 12,636 lei/year (≈$716), and foreigners with residence rights qualify for the 80%-reduced premium (~2,527 lei ≈ $143). Private voluntary insurance exists (Moldasig, Grawe, Donaris, Asito) but premiums are quoted only on request and no comprehensive figure is publicly listed → null. The public mandatory premium above is the closest sourced anchor.

City detail pages: Chișinău