Annexes

• Author: Meyer, Stefan; Fresno, José-Manuel; Bain, Skye
• Pages: 103-112

Target Group Discussion Paper Children living in precarious family situations

103

Annexes

Estimation of size of Roma population

It is not possible to establish any rigorous number for the size of the Roma population.260

First of all, the very concept of ‘Roma’ is a construct, which is often determined by majority

society. It also does not reflect the diversity within the Roma population. Much criticism

has been raised against the methodologies to estimate overall figures of Roma and

establish ranges of population sizes.261 However, and considering the severity of all

disclaimers, the following Table 6 might give a rough orientation about the population sizes

of Roma in Europe. Furthermore, the size of the minority in relation to the mainstream

population is calculated.

Table 6: Estimated sizes of Roma populations per country

Country

Official

number (last

census)

Estimated figures

Average

estimate

Proportion of

population

Romania

535,140 (2002)

1,200,000 to 2,500,000

1,850,000

8.8%

Spain

No data

available

600,000 to 800,000

700,000

1.6%

Bulgaria

370,908 (2001)

500,000 to 800,000

650,000

8.6%

Hungary

190,046 (2001)

400,000 to 800,000

600,000

6.0%

Slovak

Republic

89,920 (2001)

320,000 to 520,000

420,000

7.8%

France

No data

available

300,000 to 500,000

400,000

0.6%

United

Kingdom

4,096 (2001)

Up to 300,000

300,000

0.5%

Czech

Republic

11,718 (2001)

150,000 to 300,000

225,000

2.2%

Greece

No data

available

80,000 to 350,000

215,000

1.9%

Italy

No data

available

120,000 to 160,000

140,000

0.2%

Germany

No data

available

70,000 to 130,000

100,000

0.1%

Portugal

No data

available

40,000 to 50,000

45,000

0.4%

Sweden

No data

available

40,000 to 50,000

45,000

0.5%

Poland

12,731(2002)

20,000 to 60,000

40,000

0.1%

Ireland

24,000 (2002)

32,000 to 38,5006

35,250

0.8%

Croatia

9,463 (2001)

30,000 to 40,000

35,000

0.8%

Belgium

No data

available

20,000 to 30,000

25,000

0.2%

Austria

No data

available

20,000 to 25,000

22,500

0.3%

Netherlands

No data

available

5,000 to 40,000

22,500

0.1%

260 Farkas 2017 and Till-Tentschert et al. 2016 discuss the options for collection of ethnic data in a coherent and

comprehensive manner. Similarly, SDG targets 10.3 and 16.b call for a measurement of discriminatory

practices.

261 Surdu, Mihai, and Kovats 2015; Acton et al. 2016.