Without outside help, Pridnestrovie's state provides social safety net
In one of the truest measures of the consolidation of Pridnestrovie as a well functioning country, its state has been able to fully provide a comprehensive social safety net for its citizens. International observers report that the social system provided by Pridnestrovie is twice as good as in Moldova. Healthcare is free, education is universal and people get their pensions on time.
Life in Pridnestrovie is pretty good, all things considered. As early as 2004, a report by the International Crisis Group stated that "extensive social infrastructure is still in place and a wide range of benefits and subsidies are provided." It also went on to say "its population is better off than in Moldova. In recent years, the average pension has been about twice that in Moldova".
The state system of social security is functioning and making progress in Pridnestrovie. It guarantees a right to material security in old age, in case of an illness, full or partial loss of ability to work, the loss of a bread-winner for every person, as well as aid and support in other cases of hardship. Without any capital transfers from Chisinau, the Pridnestrovian state helps families with children, old men and women and the disabled through a well-funded social security system.
Support for the institutionalized is being improved in partnerships between the state and local and international NGOs. A brand new national rehabilitation center for handicapped children has been set up, chockful of trained staff and modern equipment. Disabled sportsmen represent Pridnestrovie at international competitions for the handicapped.
Pensioners and families are protected by a well-funded social safety net in Pridnestrovie.
The social orientation of the expenditure of the budget remains a priority in Pridnestrovie. In what is a record for any country in Eastern Europe, just over 60% of the state's annual budget is allocated to workers' compensation, pensions and other social benefits.
Food security: No one goes to bed hungry
For 16 years and counting, Pridnestrovie has provided the key element of the statehood – food security of citizens. Since the formation of the republic the agrarian policy of the state has been oriented to overcoming negative tendencies and creation of the stable and efficient agricultural production aimed at providing the population with foodstuffs of high quality and strengthening the food security of the republic. The reforms in this field led to an increase in the gross product of agriculture; its share of GDP has increased in recent years.
Living standards are up all over the country: In 2002 a new minimum wage law went into effect, raising the real wage of Pridnestrovians. Another rise in pay was passed in 2004, this time for public sector workers. The result was seen in every indicator from an absolute growth in amount of incomes, salaries and pensions, dwelling, personal cars, means of communication, TV's per capita, computer penetration, Internet use, etc.
As a result of an active social policy, the government of Pridnestrovie was able to increase its expenditures in the field from USD $61.6 million in 2000 to $141.6 million just four years later, in 2004. In the same period, population income skyrocketed from USD $163.6 million to $413.3 million. All of this, it goes without saying, as a result of Pridnestrovie's own efforts. Not at any time did the republic receive any funding or any help whatsoever from Moldova; a country which on a per-capita basis is poorer than Pridnestrovie but which nevertheless, after a decade and a half, still believes that it has some sort of a valid claim on Pridnestrovian territory...
