Romanian diaspora

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Romanian diaspora" is a term that encompasses the total ethnic Romanian population located outside Romania. The term does not usually count those ethnic Romanians living as natives in the states surrounding Romania, chiefly Moldova, Ukraine and Serbia. The numbers of the diaspora also counts people of Romanian ancestry born in the respective country. The number of all Romanians abroad is estimated at about 8- 12 million people, depending on one's definition of the term "Romanian". A Google search will show that most English searches will reveal a number of 8 million, while a Romanian search will display a number slightly higher, anywhere from 8 to 12 million.

In 2006, the Romanian diaspora was estimated at about 8 million people by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu, most of them living in Western Europe, North America, South America and Australia. [5] It is unclear if Băsescu included the Romanians living in the immediate surroundings of the Romanian state. It is also unclear if Băsescu counted Jewish-Romanians and Transylvanian Saxons as Romanians when he made his estimate, as well as third-generation individuals in the United States and Canada.

Bellow is a list of ethnic Romanians living throughout the world, excluding those who live in states around Romania, where the figures are estimated to be around 4 million people.

Country Romanian Population
Spain 321,000 (2006)[1]
USA 367,000 (2000)[2][3] - 1,100,000 [6]
Italy 297,570[4][5]
Brazil 233,280 (est.)
Commonwealth of Independent States 200,000[citation needed]
Canada 131,320 [6] - 400,000[7]
France 100,000 
Germany 73,365 (500,000 Transylvanian Saxons and Swabians)[7]
Israel 50,000 (450,000 Romanian Jews)[8]
Turkey 30,000 [9]
Greece 29,000
Austria 23,000 [9]
United Kingdom 20,000
Sweden 13,000 [9]
Australia 10,000-20,000[10]
Venezuela 10,000–12,000 [9]

[8]

Argentina 10,000 [9]
Slovakia 9,000 [9]
New Zealand 5,000
Japan 2,000
TOTAL 3,700,000

[edit] References

  1. ^ Instituto Nacional de Estadística: Avance del Padrón Municipal a 1 de enero de 2006. Datos provisionales. [1]. According to FEDROM – Federaţia Asociaţiilor Româneşti din Spania, the total number of Romanians living in Spain could be well over 500,000 people.
  2. ^ 2000 U.S. Census, ancestry responses
  3. ^ Depending on how one counts who is Romanian, the number in the U.S. may be considerably higher. A study by ro-am.net counts 1.2 million in the U.S. who understand Romanian; their numbers are a bit vague, but (once one discounts Jews, Armenians, etc.) seem to suggest a figure of about 900,000 ethnic Romanians.
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3] Almost 300.000 Romanians in Italy at the end of 2005, according to the Statistical Institute of Italy
  6. ^ Statistics Canada, Canada 2001 Census. [4], discussed further at List of Canadians by ethnicity
  7. ^ Foreign-born population by country of origin, 2004, German Statistical Office. The number for Germany does not count some half million ethnic Swabians whose families historically lived in Transylvania, and who relocated to Germany at various times in the 20th century.
  8. ^ The number for Israel does not count 450,000 Jews of Romanian origin.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Românii din diaspora" ("Romanians in diaspora") on the site of The Foundation for Romanians from All Over the World, retrieved December 24, 2004.
  10. ^ ABS 2001 Census figures report 10-20,000 respondents indicating Romanian ancestry; 12,950 reported as Romanian-born (but not necessarily of Romanian ethnicity).