Romani people in Bulgaria

Romani people in Bulgaria
Циганите в България
Roma andi Bulgariya
Total population
325,343 (2011 Census; 4.4%)[1]


European Commission's average estimate: 750,000[2][3] (last updated 14 September 2010)[4]
unofficial estimates: 800,000[5]
Regions with significant populations
Nationwide, rural and urban. Centered in cities with the largest concentrations in Sliven, Sofia, and Pazardzhik.[6]
Languages
Religion
Part of a series on
Romani people
Flag of the Romani people
Romani people by sub-group
Romani diaspora by country
Romani wedding in Sofia, 1936
A Romani in wagon (Dolna Banya)
Romani ghetto in Filipovtsi, Sofia
Roma people in Sliven
Roma dancers

Romani people in Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Циганите в България, romanized: Ciganite v Bǎlgariya; Romani: Romane ando Bulgariya) constitute Europe's densest Roma minority. The Romani people in Bulgaria may speak Bulgarian, Turkish or Romani, depending on the region.[8]

According to the latest census in 2011, the number of the Romani is 325,343, constituting 4.4% of the total population, in which only one ethnic group could be opted as an answer and 10% of the total population did not respond to the question on ethnic group.[1] In a conclusive report of the census sent to Eurostat, the authors of the census (the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria) identified the census results on ethnicity as a "gross manipulation".[9] The former head of the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria, Reneta Indzhova claims to have been fired by the Bulgarian Prime Minister in 2014 for attempting to check the actual number of the Romani and implied that neither the census did enumerate the Romani, nor its statistics did provide the "real data".[10]

The previous 2001 census recorded 370,908 Romani (4.7% of the population). The preceding 1992 census recorded 313,396 Romani (3.7% of the population), while a secret backstage 1992 census ordered by the Ministry of Interior recorded a figure of 550,000 Romani (6.5% of the population); the Ministry of Interior ordered at least two other secret censuses to enumerate the Romani in denial, the one in 1980 recorded 523,519 Romani, while the one in 1989 recorded that the number of the Romani was 576,927 (6.5% of the population) and that over half of the Romani identified as Turks.[11] The majority of the estimated 200,000-400,000 Muslim Romani tend to identify themselves as ethnic Turks,[12] some deny their origin, or identify as Bulgarians.

The demographic collapse in Bulgaria that has affected most ethnic groups in the country has not had the same effect on the Romani.[13] According to data of the European Commission, to which Eurostat belongs, the Romani in Bulgaria number 750,000 and they constitute 10.33% of the population.[2][3] An NGO disputes this claim and estimates that the number of the Romani in Bulgaria is twice as high, stating their population grows by 35,000 a year.[14][15]

  1. ^ a b "2011 POPULATION CENSUS – MAIN RESULTS" (PDF). Nsi.bg. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Roma integration in Bulgaria". European Commission - European Commission. 13 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b "COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS". Brussels: EUROPEAN COMMISSION. April 2011. p. 15.
  4. ^ "Roma and Travellers Team. TOOLS AND TEXTS OF REFERENCE. Estimates on Roma population in European countries". Council of Europe Roma and Travellers Division.
  5. ^ Silverman, Carol (2011). Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199913350.
  6. ^ "Bulgarian Gypsies | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Преброяване 2021: Етнокултурна характеристика на населението" [2021 Census: Ethnocultural characteristics of the population] (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 November 2022. p.10
  8. ^ "Can Romas be part of Indian diaspora?". khaleejtimes.com. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  9. ^ Критичен доклад относно Преброяването на населението и жилищния фонд, проведено към 1 февруари 2011 година. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Бивш премиер без пенсия. Как живее Ренета Инджова?". БНТ (in Bulgarian).
  11. ^ Ilieva, Nadezhda (2012). NUMBER OF ROMA ETHNIC GROUP IN BULGARIA FROM THE LIBERATION TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY (BASED ON REGULAR CENSUSES) (Part 1) (PDF). Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. p. 75.
  12. ^ "WikiLeaks: Islam and Islamic Extremism in Bulgaria - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". Novinite.com. 14 July 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  13. ^ Roberts, Lance W.; Ferguson, Barry; Bös, Mathias (1 February 2013). Multicultural Variations: Social Incorporation in Europe and North America. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 9780773589056.
  14. ^ "Академик д-р Петър Иванов: България се обезбългарява, топим се с 9 души на час". dir.bg. 7 July 2018.
  15. ^ "Акад. Петър Иванов: Циганите у нас са 1,5 млн. души и главоломно се увеличават". Bulgarian Times (in Bulgarian). 16 August 2017. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2018.