Demographic history of Romania

This article presents the demographic history of Romania through census results. See Demographics of Romania for a more detailed overview of the country's present-day demographics.

The 1930 census was the only one to cover Greater Romania. Censuses in 1948, 1956, 1966, 1977, 1992, 2002, and 2011 covered Romania's present-day territory,^[1] as does the current 2022 census.

All but the 1948 census, which asked about mother tongue, had a question on ethnicity. Moldavia and Wallachia each held a census in 1859. The Romanian Old Kingdom conducted statistical estimates in 1884, 1889, and 1894, and held censuses in 1899 and 1912. Ion Antonescu's regime also held two: a general one in April 1941, and one for those with "Jewish blood" in May, 1942.

1859–1860 census

Religion	number	%
Romanian Orthodox	4,198,862	94.89
Jewish	134,168	3.03
Roman Catholic	45,152	1.02
Protestant	28,903	0.65
Lipovans	8,375	0.19
Armenians	8,178	0.18
Muslim	1,323	0.03
Total[2][3][4]	4,424,961	100.0

1887 estimate

Ethnicity	number	%
Romanians	4,500,000	81.8
Jews	300,000	5.5
Romani	200,000	3.6
Bulgarians	100,000	1.8
Germans	50,000	0.9
Hungarians	50,000	0.9
Armenians	15,000	0.3
Others*	285,000	5.2
Total[5]	5,500,000	100.0

* Mainly in Dobruja (details)

December 1899 census

Persons in Romania by citizenship (1899 census)

Ethnicity	number	%
Romanians	5,489,296	92.2
Jews	256,588	4.3
Others	210,806	3.5
Total[6]	5,956,690	100.0

19 December 1912 census

	number	%
Total[7]	7,234,919	100.0

29 December 1930 census

Ethnic map (1930 census)^[8][9]

Postage stamp issued in 1930, marking the census that year.

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
Gagauz	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[10]	18,057,028	100.0

6 April 1941 census

Main article: 1941 Romanian census

Ethnic map (1941 census)

	number	%
Total[11]	13,535,757	100.0

25 January 1948 census

1948 census on a stamp

Mother tongue	number	%
Romanian	13,597,613	85.7
Hungarian	1,499,851	9.4
German	343,913	2.2
Yiddish	138,795	0.9
Romani	53,425	0.3
Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian	45,447	0.3
Russian	39,332	0.2
Ukrainian	37,582	0.2
Czech and Slovak	35,143	0.2
Turkish and Tatar	28,782	0.2
Bulgarian	13,408	0.1
Greek	8,696	0.1
Armenian	6,987	0.0
Polish	6,753	0.0
Albanian	735	0.0
Others	15,639	0.2
Undeclared	523	0.0
Total[12]	15,872,624	100.0

21 February 1956 census

1956 census on a pair of stamps

Ethnicity	number	%
Romanians	14,996,114	85.7
Hungarians	1,587,675	9.1
Germans	384,708	2.2
Jews	146,264	0.8
Romani	104,216	0.6
Ukrainians	60,479	0.4
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes	46,517	0.3
Russians	38,731	0.2
Slovaks	23,331	0.2
Tatars	20,469	0.2
Turks	14,329	0.1
Bulgarians	12,040	0.1
Czechs	11,821	0.0
Greeks	11,166	0.0
Poles	7,627	0.0
Armenians	6,441	0.0
Others	13,357	0.1
Undeclared	4,165	0.0
Total[12][13]	17,489,450	100.0

15 March 1966 census

Ethnicity	number	%
Romanians	16,746,510	87.7
Hungarians	1,619,592	8.5
Germans	382,595	2.0
Romani	64,197	0.3
Ukrainians	54,705	0.3
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes	44,236	0.3
Jews	42,888	0.2
Russians	39,483	0.2
Slovaks	22,221	0.1
Tatars	22,151	0.1
Turks	18,040	0.1
Bulgarians	11,193	0.1
Czechs	9,978	0.0
Greeks	9,088	0.0
Poles	5,860	0.0
Armenians	3,436	0.0
Others	4,681	0.0
Undeclared	2,309	0.0
Total[12][13]	19,103,163	100.0

5 January 1977 census

Ethnic map (1977 census)

Ethnicity	number	%
Romanians	18,999,565	88.1
Hungarians	1,713,928	7.9
Germans	359,109	1.6
Romani	227,398	1.05
Ukrainians	55,510	0.3
Serbs	34,429	0.2
Russians	32,696	0.2
Jews	24,667	0.1
Turks	23,422	0.1
Tatars	23,369	0.1
Slovaks	21,286	0.1
Bulgarians	10,372	0.0
Czechs	7,683	0.0
Croats	7,500	0.0
Greeks	6,262	0.0
Poles	4,641	0.0
Armenians	2,342	0.0
Others	5,279	0.0
Undeclared	452	0.0
Total[12][13]	21,559,910	100.0

7 January 1992 census

Ethnic map (1992 census)

1992 census on a stamp

Ethnicity	number	%
Romanians	20,408,542	89.5
Hungarians	1,624,959	7.1
Romani	401,087	1.8
Germans	119,462	0.5
Ukrainians	65,472	0.3
Russians	38,606	0.2
Turks	29,832	0.1
Serbs	29,408	0.1
Tatars	24,596	0.1
Slovaks	19,594	0.1
Bulgarians	9,851	0.1
Jews	8,955	0.0
Czechs	5,797	0.0
Poles	4,232	0.0
Croats	4,085	0.0
Greeks	3,940	0.0
Armenians	1,957	0.0
Others	8,894	0.0
Undeclared	766	0.0
Total[12][13]	22,810,035	100.0

18 March 2002 census

Ethnic map (2002 census)

Promotional poster for the 2002 census

Ethnicity	number	%
Romanians	19,399,597	89.5
Hungarians	1,431,807	6.6
Romani	535,140	2.5
Ukrainians	61,098	0.3
Germans	59,764	0.3
Lipovan Russians	35,791	0.2
Turks	32,098	0.2
Tatars	23,935	0.1
Serbs	22,561	0.1
Slovaks	17,226	0.1
Bulgarians	8,025	0.0
Croats	6,807	0.0
Greeks	6,472	0.0
Jews	5,785	0.0
Czechs	3,941	0.0
Poles	3,559	0.0
Italians	3,288	0.0
Chinese	2,243	0.0
Armenians	1,780	0.0
Csángó	1,266	0.0
Macedonians	695	0.0
Albanians	477	0.0
Rusyns	257	0.0
Krashovani	206	0.0
Slovenes	202	0.0
Others	15,013	0.1
Undeclared	1,941	0.0
Total[14][15]	21,680,974	100.0

• 
  Ethnicity by county and number of inhabitants
• 
  Ethnicity by county and percentage

20 October 2011 census

Main article: 2011 Romanian census

Ethnic map by county (2011 census)

Ethnic map by commune (2011 census)

Ethnicity	number	%
Romanians	16,792,868	88.9
Hungarians	1,227,623	6.5
Romani	621,573	3.3
Ukrainians	50,920	0.3
Germans	36,042	0.2
Turks	27,698	0.1
Lipovan Russians	23,487	0.1
Tatars	20,282	0.1
Serbs	18,076	0.1
Slovaks	13,654	0.1
Bulgarians	7,336	0.0
Croatians	5,408	0.0
Greeks	3,668	0.0
Jews	3,271	0.0
Italians	3,203	0.0
Poles	2,543	0.0
Czechs	2,477	0.0
Chinese	2,017	0.0
Csángó	1,536	0.0
Armenians	1,361	0.0
Macedonians	1,264	0.0
Others	18,524	0.1
Data unavailable	1,236,810	6.1
Total[16]	20,121,641	100.0

Ethnic figures for 2011 are given as a percentage of individuals for whom data is available, while the "data unavailable" cohort is given as a percentage of the total population.

1 December 2021 census

Main article: 2021 Romanian census

The 2021 Romanian census (RPL2021), with the reference day for the census data set at 1 December 2021,^[17] was held between February and July 2022, being postponed from its original scheduled year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania.^[18] The first provisional results of the RPL2021 published at the end of 2022 show a resident population of Romania of 19,053,815 people.^[17]

References

1. "Lista recensămintelor populaţiei din România". Institutul Naţional de Statistică. 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
2. Leonida Colescu, director of the Romanian Statistics Service between 1899 and 1922, conjectured that the number of people was overestimated in the census conducted in 1859-1860 and calculated that the real figure was 3,864,848 people. Colescu, Leonida (1944). Analiza rezultatelor recensãmântului general al populației României din 1899 (PDF). Institutul Național de Statistică. p. 7-8; 19.
3. Parliamentary Reports. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1867. p. 153.
4. Statul si cultele religioase Archived 30 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine (in Romanian)
5. The Statesman's Year-Book. St. Martin's Press. 1889. p. 407.
6. New International Yearbook. Dodd, Mead and Company. 1915. p. 612.
7. The Statesman's Year-book. St. Martin's Press. 1918. p. 1198.
8. Recensământul populaţiei din 1930 (in Romanian). Institutul Central de Statistică. p. L. Retrieved 8 June 2014. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
9. Recensământul populaţiei din 1930 (in Romanian). Institutul Central de Statistică. p. LI. Retrieved 8 June 2014. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
10. Recensământul populaţiei din 1930 (in Romanian). Institutul Central de Statistică. p. XXIV. Retrieved 8 June 2014. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
11. Recensămintele României: 1899–1992 (in Romanian). Editura Meronia. 2002. p. 358. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
12. "Hungarians in Transylvania between 1870 and 1995". Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
13. "Populaţia după etnie la recensămintele din perioada 1930–2002, pe judeţe" (PDF) (in Romanian). Institutul Naţional de Statistică. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
14. "Populaţia după etnie" (PDF) (in Romanian). Institutul Naţional de Statistică. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
15. "Date naţionale" (in Romanian). Erdélyi Magyar Adatbank. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
16. "Rezultatele finale ale Recensământului din 2011 - Tab8. Populaţia stabilă după etnie – judeţe, municipii, oraşe, comune" (in Romanian). National Institute of Statistics (Romania). 5 July 2013. Archived from the original on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
17. "Population and housing census, 2021 - provisional results". insse.ro. 30 December 2022.
18. Marina, Georgiana (6 January 2021). "Recensământul populației nu va mai avea loc în 2021. A fost amânat pentru 2022, iar datele vor fi colectate și online". Digi24 (in Romanian).

External links

• 2011 Romanian census site from the National Institute of Statistics