Geographic Distribution
Romani is the only Indo-Aryan language spoken almost exclusively in Europe (apart from emigrant populations).
The most concentrated areas of Romani speakers are found in southeastern and central Europe, in particular in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia. Although there are no reliable figures for the exact number of Romani speakers, it may be the largest minority language of the European Union.
The following table shows the distribution of Romani speakers in Europe according to Bakker et al. (2000). The last column shows the percentage of Romani speakers in the Romani population in each country.
| Country | Speakers | % |
|---|---|---|
| Albania | 90,000 | 95% |
| Austria | 20,000 | 80% |
| Belarus | 27,000 | 95% |
| Belgium | 10,000 | 80% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 40,000 | 90% |
| Bulgaria | 600,000 | 80% |
| Croatia | 28,000 | 80% |
| Czech Republic | 140,000 | 50% |
| Denmark | 1,500 | 90% |
| Estonia | 1,100 | 90% |
| Finland | 3,000 | 90% |
| France | 215,000 | 70% |
| Germany | 85,000 | 70% |
| Greece | 160,000 | 90% |
| Hungary | 260,000 | 50% |
| Italy | 42,000 | 90% |
| Latvia | 18,500 | 90% |
| Lithuania | 4,000 | 90% |
| Republic of Macedonia | 215,000 | 90% |
| Moldova | 56,000 | 90% |
| Montenegro | 30,000 | 90% |
| Netherlands | 7,000 | 90% |
| Poland | 4,000 | 90% |
| Romania | 1,030,000 | 80% |
| Russia | 405,000 | 80% |
| Serbia | 380,000 | 90% |
| Slovakia | 300,000 | 60% |
| Slovenia | 8,000 | 90% |
| Spain | 1,000 | 1% |
| Sweden | 9,500 | 90% |
| Turkey | 280,000 | 70% |
| Ukraine | 113,000 | 90% |
| United Kingdom | 1,000 | 0.5% |
Read more about this topic: Romani Language
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