Experts estimate 9.8M Roma in 32 European countries. Censuses find a fraction of them.
Roma — sometimes called Gypsies, a name many consider a slur — are Europe's largest ethnic minority. Where both numbers exist, expert estimates are 3.7 times what people declare on census forms. This page sets the two side by side, country by country, with every source.
- 9.8M
- Roma in 32 countries, by Council of Europe estimates
- 3.7×
- estimate vs census, in the 10 countries with both
- 10.3% · 9.7% · 9.0%
- estimated share in Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Slovakia
- 2.8M
- in Türkiye, the largest estimate of any country — its census does not ask
Map
Where Roma live
Switch between what experts estimate and what people declared in the latest census. The difference is the clearest picture of how many Roma do not, or cannot, say so.
The gap
Counted versus estimated
Each row runs from the census share (hollow) to the estimated share (solid). The longer the bar, the more Roma the census missed — or the more generous the estimate.
Every number
Country by country, with sources
| Country | Estimate | Share | Census | Share | What the census counts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Türkiye | 2,750,000 | 3.9% | 700,0002008 | – | Academic report for Turkey's National Security Council; the census does not record ethnicity. RCC |
| Romania Highest county shares in 2021: Mureș 9.7%, Sălaj 8.6%, Bihor 7.3%, Ialomița 7.2%; lowest Bucharest 0.8%. | 1,850,000 | 8.3% | 569,4772021 | 3.4% | Ethnicity, self-declared (share of people who answered). INS Romania, RPL 2021 |
| Bulgaria | 750,000 | 10.3% | 266,7202021 | 4.4% | Ethnic group, share of people who answered the question. NSI Bulgaria, Census 2021 |
| Spain | 725,000 | 1.6% | not asked | – | The census does not record ethnicity. |
| Hungary The 2022 count is down from about 315,000 in 2011, a fall usually put down to fewer people answering the ethnicity question. | 700,000 | 7.0% | ≈210,0002022 | 2.5% | Roma nationality (a voluntary question); KSH publishes the rounded figure. KSH, Census 2022 final data |
| Serbia | 600,000 | 8.3% | 131,9362022 | ≈2.0% | Ethnicity, self-declared. Statistical Office of Serbia, Census 2022 |
| Slovakia | 500,000 | 9.0% | 67,1792021 | 1.2% | Roma as first nationality. 156,164 counting Roma as first or second nationality; 100,526 gave Romani as mother tongue.. Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, SODB 2021 |
| France Most are French Travellers (gens du voyage), about 350,000–400,000; around 15,000–20,000 are Roma EU citizens, mainly from Romania and Bulgaria (European Commission). | 400,000 | 0.21% | not asked | – | The census does not record ethnicity. |
| Greece | 265,000 | 2.5% | not asked | – | The census does not record ethnicity. |
| Czechia | 250,000 | 1.9% | 21,6912021 | ≈0.21% | Roma nationality alone (4,458) or with another (17,233); 31.6% gave no nationality. Czech Statistical Office, Census 2021 |
| North Macedonia | 197,000 | 9.7% | 46,4332021 | 2.5% | Ethnicity, self-declared; a further 3,843 declared Egyptian. State Statistical Office census 2021 (as reported by Wikipedia) |
| Italy | 140,000 | 0.23% | not asked | – | The census does not record ethnicity. |
| Albania | 115,000 | 4.1% | 11,6692011 | 0.42% | Best official figure as given by the RCC. RCC, from Albania's 2011 census |
| Germany | 105,000 | 0.13% | not asked | – | The census does not record ethnicity. |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 76,000 | 2.0% | 16,7712010 | – | Needs assessment by the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees (not a census; the 2013 census published no Roma figure). RCC |
| Portugal | 40,000–70,000 | 0.52% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Sweden | 42,500 | 0.46% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Kosovo | 37,500 | 2.2% | 2024 | 0.55% | Roma only. Ashkali (1.02%) and Egyptians (0.67%) are counted separately. Kosovo Agency of Statistics, Census 2024 (as reported by Prishtina Insight) |
| Netherlands | 37,500 | 0.24% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Croatia | 30,000–40,000 | 1.0% | 17,9802021 | 0.46% | Ethnicity, self-declared; 15,269 gave Romani as first language. Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Census 2021 (as reported by Wikipedia) |
| Belgium | 30,000 | 0.29% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Austria | 25,000 | 0.30% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Montenegro | 20,000 | 3.2% | 8,3052011 | 1.3% | Ethnicity, self-declared. RCC, from Montenegro's 2011 census |
| Poland | 12,731 | 0.10% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Finland | 11,000 | 0.21% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Slovenia | 8,500 | 0.42% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Latvia | 5,600 | 0.30% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Denmark | 5,500 | 0.10% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Lithuania | 3,000 | 0.08% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Estonia | 1,250 | 0.10% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Cyprus | 1,250 | 0.16% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Luxembourg | 300 | 0.06% | – | – | No census count found. |
| Ireland | – | – | 16,0592022 | ≈0.31% | Roma ethnicity, asked for the first time in 2022. Irish Travellers (32,949) are a separate group. CSO Ireland, Census 2022 (as quoted by the European Commission) |
| Moldova | – | – | 2024 | 0.40% | First declared ethnicity (preliminary results). National Bureau of Statistics of Moldova, Census 2024 (as reported by Wikipedia) |
Italic figures are official numbers that are not census counts (see the last column). ≈ marks a census share computed from the count and World Bank population for that year, where the census office did not print one. Shares for estimates are as published, against the population at the time of the estimate.
Why the numbers disagree
Census counts are people who chose to declare Roma ethnicity or nationality. Answering is voluntary in most countries, many Roma decline for fear of discrimination, and several countries do not ask at all.
Council of Europe estimates (minimum–maximum compiled in 2012, mostly from Roma organisations and experts; the figure shown is the average or the range as published). EU countries as quoted on the European Commission's country pages; Western Balkans and Turkey from the Regional Cooperation Council's Roma Integration 2020 page, which reproduces the Council of Europe average.
“Roma” is also an umbrella term. The Council of Europe counts Sinti, Kale, Manouches, Travellers and others; France's figure is mostly French Travellers, and Ireland counts Irish Travellers separately from Roma. Comparisons between countries are therefore rough.