With a population of 35,157, it is the seventh largest town in Moldova and the seat of Ungheni District.

There is another border town with the same name in Romania (Ungheni, Iași), on the other side of the Prut River.

A railway between Ungheni and Chișinău was built in 1875 by Russia in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.

In 1876, after the spring flooding of the river Prut, the railway bridge that linked Moldova and Romania was almost destroyed.

The Railways Department invited Gustave Eiffel to Bessarabia (Moldova) to redesign and rebuild the bridge.