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03. 02. 12. - 14:00

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03. 02. 12. - 14:00

More gypsies in Romania census shows

Romanian Times

Romania's population is falling but the number of gypsies is increasing despite massive emigration according to new census statistics.

It showed an increase of Roma people as the first provisional figures were published by the National Statistics Institute from the census carried out in Romania last autumn.

A number of 619,000 persons declared themselves as gypsy, which is 3.2 per cent of the total population. At the last census, they made up 2.5 per cent of the population.

Most Roma who declared their ethnic origin are in Mures county, where they form 8.8 per cent of the population, followed by Calarasi, Salaj and Bihor counties.

Romania's population dropped by more than 2.6 million, from 21,680,974 in 2002 to 19,042,936 persons now.

The census in October 2011 shows that there are 19,043,000 people in Romania, out of whom  659,000 are officially living abroad.

A Roma-rights protection non-governmental organisation has launched an appeal to the requirement for Roma to have to disclose their ethnic identity.

Romani Criss said last year it feared Roma would avoid to declare their ethnic origin and this could lead to the under-unrepresentation of Roma in the official statistics.

In the 2002 census, there were officially 535,250 Roma, which is 2.5 per cent of the country's population.

Roma avoid declaring their gypsy origin due to the fear of being stigmatised, due to bad memories regarding historic persecutions, among others.

There are believed to be 1.5 million Roma in Romania, although the last census only recorded 500,000.

Roma slavery was abolished on 20 February 1856 but the discrimination against the group persists. Many Roma live in poverty and are uneducated.

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