Romani people by country

[ Belarus | Bosnia & Herzegovina | Bulgaria | Croatia | Czech Republic | France | Greece | Hungary | Ireland | Italy | Kosovo | Macedonia | Norway | Poland | Romania | Russia | Serbia | Slovakia | Spain | Sweden | Turkey | Ukraine | United Kingdom ]

The Romani people are divided into a number of distinct populations, the largest being the Roma, located originally, and currently still mostly, in Central and Eastern Europe.

There is no official or reliable count of the Romani populations worldwide. Many Romanies refuse to register their ethnic identity in official censuses for fear of discrimination.

There are an estimated 4 to 9 million Romani people in Europe and Asia Minor (as of 2000s). although some high estimates by Romani organizations give numbers as high as 14 million. Significant Romani populations are found in the Balkan peninsula, in some Central European states, in Spain, France, Russia, and the Ukraine. Several more million Romanies may live out of Europe, in particular in the Middle East and in the Americas.

The Romani people recognize divisions among themselves based in part on territorial, cultural and dialectal differences and self-designation. The main branches are:

1. Roma, crystallized in Eastern Europe and Central Italy, emigrated also (mostly from the 19th century onwards), in the rest of Europe, but also on the other continents;
2. Iberian Kale, mostly in Spain (see Romani people in Spain), but also in Portugal, Southern France and Latin America;
3. Finnish Kale, in Finland, emigrated also in Sweden;
4. Welsh Kale, in Wales;
5. Romanichal, in the United Kingdom, emigrated also to the United States and Australia;
6. Sinti, in German-speaking areas of Central Europe and some neighboring countries;
7. Manush, in French-speaking areas of Central Europe;
8. Romanisæl, in Sweden and Norway.

Among Romanies there are further internal differentiations, like Bashaldé; Churari; Luri; Ungaritza; Lovari (Lovara) from Hungary; Machvaya (Machavaya, Machwaya, or Macwaia) from Serbia; Romungro (Modyar or Modgar) from Hungary and neighbouring carpathian countries; Erlides (also Yerlii or Arli); Xoraxai (Horahane) from Greece/Turkey; Boyash (Lingurari, Ludar, Ludari, Rudari, or Zlătari) from Romanian/Moldovan miners; Ursari from Romanian/Moldovan bear-trainers; Argintari from silversmiths; Aurari from goldsmiths; Florari from florists; and Lăutari from singers.

Source. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Target Countries

An institutionalised crime against the Roma people is taking place in eastern Europe. A report from Human Rights Watch documents an ongoing scandal at Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo, which began 10 years ago in the wake of the looting and burning to the ground of the entire settlement known as the Roma Mahalla.

Italy is home to about 150,000 Roma, who live mainly in squalid conditions on the outskirts of major cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples. They amount to less than 0.3 per cent of the population, one of the lowest proportions in Europe. In general, the ethnic group lives apart and yet is often blamed for petty theft and burglaries. On July 3, 2008 it was announced that Italy had started fingerprinting their Roma populations, despite accusations of racism by human rights advocates and international organizations.

Within the Czech Republic a definite shift has occurred recently on the extreme right, where more political parties espousing blatantly racist views are receiving more support than ever before—and this on the eve of the EU presidency, an event which will expose the country to more international scrutiny than it has seen since the days of the "Velvet Revolution" in 1989.

On February 23rd a Roma man and his five-year-old son were shot dead on Monday in a brutal and premeditated murder in the village of Tatrszentgyrgy, about 40 kilometers south east of Budapest. Attackers threw petrol bombs at the home of a Roma family and the victims were gunned down as they tried to escape the ensuing blaze. The victim's wife and two other children were lucky to survive after being rescued by fire fighters. The mother was not badly hurt, but the children, aged three and six, were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Dale Farm is the home of some one thousand Travellers, recognized as an ethnic group under UK law. Roma (English Gypsies) began establishing homes in the UK in the l960s and were joined by Travellers in the 1990s, especially after the l994 Criminal Justice Act increased the powers of police under "S62" to “move on”. During this period, land was purchased at Dale Farm, formally a former scrap metal yard. Basildon Council has decided to take direct action to clear one thousand Travellers from the district. Many believe that their policy is a form of ethnic-cleansing.

The neighborhood of Sulukule is under threat of demolitions due to the ‘urgent’ urban transformation proposals developed by the Fatih and Greater Istanbul municipalities. The proposals go beyond the specific area of Sulukule affecting the whole historic peninsula of Istanbul due to processes of urban transformation and gentrification driven by private sector and governmental agencies, which is currently threatening Sulukule's centuries-old cultural heritage.