 In Romania, the inhabitants from the Republic of Moldova are colloquially called "Bessarabians" "(basarabeni)" (after the Bessarabia region), in order to be distinguished from the inhabitants of the Romanian Moldavia region who also generally refer to themselves (or are referred to by the inhabitants of the other Romanian regions) as "Moldavians" "(moldoveni)", but declare Romanian ethnicity.According to the 2014 census preliminary data, 2,998,235 inhabitants lived in Moldova (within the areas controlled by the central government), an 11.3% decrease from the figure recorded at the 2004 census.The urbanization rate was 45% of the total population living in urban areas ().