According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, at the beginning of 2019, 2.68 million people with ordinary residence were living in the Republic of Moldova. During the last years, however, the inhabitants of the country have been heavily involved in international migration so that, by 2017, around 160 thousand people had emigrated from the country, whilst 110 thousand people had immigrated into the country, most of them being returning migrants.