Ethnic Groups
Before World War II, minorities represented more than 28% of the total population. During the war that percentage was halved, largely by the loss of the border areas of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (to the former Soviet Union, now Moldova and Ukraine) and southern Dobrudja (to Bulgaria). Two-thirds of the ethnic German population either left or were deported after World War II, leaving behind a population of 60,000 ethnic Germans in Romania today. Of a total population of over half a million Jews before World War II, about half were killed during the Holocaust. Mass emigration, mostly to Israel and United States, has reduced the surviving Jewish community to less than 6,000 in 2002.
Hungarians (Székely and other Magyars; see Hungarians in Romania), especially in Harghita, Covasna, and Mureş counties, and the Roma are the principal minorities, with a declining German population (Banat Swabians in Timiş; Transylvanian Saxons in Sibiu, Braşov and elsewhere), and smaller numbers of Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Chinese, Croats, and Banat Bulgarians (in Banat), Ukrainians (especially in Maramureş and Bukovina), Greeks of Romania (especially in Brăila and Constanţa), Turks and Tatars (mainly in Constanţa), Armenians, Russians (Lipovans, Old Believers in Tulcea), Jews and others. Since the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Bucharest has again become an increasingly cosmopolitan city, including identifiable Chinese and Irish presences. Minority populations are greatest in Transylvania and the Banat, areas in the north and west of the country, which were possessions of the Habsburg Empire (after 1867 the Austro-Hungarian Empire) until World War I. Even before the union with Romania, ethnic Romanians comprised the overall majority in Transylvania. However, ethnic Hungarians and Germans were the dominant urban population until relatively recently, while Hungarians still constitute the majority in Harghita and Covasna counties.
| Ethnicity | number | % |
|---|---|---|
| Romanians | 12,981,324 | 71.9 |
| Hungarians | 1,425,507 | 7.9 |
| Germans | 745,421 | 4.1 |
| Jews | 728,115 | 4.0 |
| Ruthenians and Ukrainians | 582,115 | 3.2 |
| Russians | 409,150 | 2.3 |
| Bulgarians | 366,384 | 2.0 |
| Romani | 262,501 | 1.5 |
| Turks | 154,772 | 0.9 |
| Gagauzians | 105,750 | 0.6 |
| Czechs and Slovaks | 51,842 | 0.3 |
| Serbs, Croats and Slovenes | 51,062 | 0.3 |
| Poles | 48,310 | 0.3 |
| Greeks | 26,495 | 0.1 |
| Tatars | 22,141 | 0.1 |
| Armenians | 15,544 | 0.0 |
| Hutsuls | 12,456 | 0.0 |
| Albanians | 4,670 | 0.0 |
| Others | 56,355 | 0.3 |
| Undeclared | 7,114 | 0.0 |
| Total | 18,057,028 | 100.0 |
| Ethnic group |
census 19481 | census 19562 | census 19663 | census 19774 | census 19925 | census 20026 | census 20117 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Romanians | 13,597,613 | 85.7 | 14,996,114 | 85.7 | 16,746,510 | 87.7 | 18,999,565 | 88.1 | 20,408,542 | 89.5 | 19,409,400 | 89.5 | 16,869,816 | 88,6 |
| Hungarians | 1,499,851 | 9.4 | 1,587,675 | 9.1 | 1,619,592 | 8.5 | 1,713,928 | 7.9 | 1,624,959 | 7.1 | 1,434,377 | 6.6 | 1,237,746 | 6.5 |
| Romani | 53,425 | 0.3 | 104,216 | 0.6 | 64,197 | 0.3 | 227,398 | 1.05 | 401,087 | 1.8 | 535,250 | 2.5 | 619,007 | 3.2 |
| Ukrainians | 37,582 | 0.2 | 60,479 | 0.4 | 54,705 | 0.3 | 55,510 | 0.3 | 65,764 | 0.3 | 61,091 | 0.3 | 51,703 | 0.2 |
| Germans | 343,913 | 2.2 | 384,708 | 2.2 | 382,595 | 2.0 | 359,109 | 1.6 | 119,462 | 0.5 | 60,088 | 0.3 | 36,884 | 0.2 |
| Russians | 39,332 | 0.2 | 38,731 | 0.2 | 39,483 | 0.2 | 21,206 | 0.2 | 7,983 | 0.1 | 36,397 | 0.2 | ||
| Lipovans | 11,090 | 0.1 | 30,623 | 0.2 | 23,864 | 0.1 | ||||||||
| Turks | 28,782 | 0.2 | 14,329 | 0.2 | 18,040 | 0.1 | 23,422 | 0.1 | 29,832 | 0.1 | 32,596 | 0.2 | 28,226 | 0.2 |
| Tatars | 20,469 | 0.2 | 22,151 | 0.1 | 23,369 | 0.1 | 24,596 | 0.1 | 24,137 | 0.1 | 20,464 | 0.1 | ||
| Serbs | 45,447 | 0.3 | 46,517 | 0.3 | 44,236 | 0.3 | 34,429 | 0.2 | 29,408 | 0.1 | 22,518 | 0.1 | ||
| Croats | 7,500 | 0.0 | 4,085 | 0.0 | 6,786 | 0.0 | ||||||||
| Slovenes | 175 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||
| Slovaks | 35,143 | 0.2 | 23,331 | 0.2 | 22,151 | 0.1 | 21,286 | 0.1 | 19,594 | 0.1 | 17,199 | 0.2 | ||
| Czechs | 11,821 | 0.0 | 9,978 | 0.0 | 7,683 | 0.0 | 5,797 | 0.0 | 3,938 | 0.0 | ||||
| Bulgarians | 13,408 | 0.1 | 12,040 | 0.1 | 11,193 | 0.1 | 10,372 | 0.0 | 9,851 | 0.1 | 8,092 | 0.0 | ||
| Greeks | 8,696 | 0.1 | 11,166 | 0.0 | 9,088 | 0.0 | 6,262 | 0.0 | 3,940 | 0.0 | 6,513 | 0.0 | ||
| Jews | 138,795 | 0.9 | 146,264 | 0.8 | 42,888 | 0.2 | 24,667 | 0.1 | 8,955 | 0.0 | 5,870 | 0.0 | ||
| Poles | 6,753 | 0.0 | 7,627 | 0.0 | 5,860 | 0.0 | 4,641 | 0.0 | 4,232 | 0.0 | 3,671 | 0.0 | ||
| Armenians | 6,987 | 0.0 | 6,441 | 0.0 | 3,436 | 0.0 | 2,342 | 0.0 | 1,957 | 0.0 | 1,780 | 0.0 | ||
| Macedonians | 1,176 | 0.0 | 6,867 | 0.0 | 731 | 0.0 | ||||||||
| Aromanians | 982 | 0.0 | 21,736 | 0.1 | ||||||||||
| Others/undeclared | 15,897 | 0.1 | 17,522 | 0.1 | 6,990 | 0.0 | 5,731 | 0.0 | 9,368 | 0.0 | 28,303 | 0.1 | ||
| Total | 15,872,624 | 17,489,450 | 19,103,163 | 21,559,910 | 22,810,035 | 21,698,181 | 19,042,936 | |||||||
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Romania
Famous quotes containing the words ethnic and/or groups:
“Caprice, independence and rebellion, which are opposed to the social order, are essential to the good health of an ethnic group. We shall measure the good health of this group by the number of its delinquents. Nothing is more immobilizing than the spirit of deference.”
—Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)
“Belonging to a group can provide the child with a variety of resources that an individual friendship often cannot—a sense of collective participation, experience with organizational roles, and group support in the enterprise of growing up. Groups also pose for the child some of the most acute problems of social life—of inclusion and exclusion, conformity and independence.”
—Zick Rubin (20th century)