Rîșcani (Romanian pronunciation:[rɨʃˈkanʲ], also spelled Râșcani) is a city in Moldova, the capital of the Rîșcani District. It is located along the Copăceanca river, about 22 kilometres from the station in Drochia. Two villages are administered by the city, Bălanul Nou and Rămăzan.
A number of Bessarabian Germans lived in the village from its founding in 1865, who called it Ryschkanowka. The German population was forcibly removed in 1940; among the Germans expelled from Rîșcani were the parents of later German president Horst Köhler.
In the USSR era, Rîșcani was home to a number of factories, a state agrotechnic school, and tobacco farms.
Demographics
According to the 2014 census, the population of Rîșcani amounted to 9,259 inhabitants, a decrease compared to the previous census in 2004, when 12,117 inhabitants were registered. Of these, 4,318 were men and 4,941 were women.[2]
*There is an ongoing controversy regarding the ethnic identification of Moldovans and Romanians.
*Moldovan language is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova. In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence,[5] thus giving official status to the name Romanian.[6][7]
1 In Transnistria. 2 Controlled by the Transnistrian authorities. 3 Also a municipality. 4 The seat of Dubăsari District is the commune of Cocieri (not a city).
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