Romanians in Bulgaria

Romanians in Bulgaria
Total population
891 (2011 census; restricted exclusively to those who declared Romanian ethnicity)
Over 300,000 (2010 estimate)[1][a]
Regions with significant populations
Northern Bulgaria, primarily along the Danube
Languages
Romanian (native), Bulgarian
Religion
Eastern Orthodoxy (Bulgarian Orthodox Church and Romanian Orthodox Church)
Ethnic map of the Balkans prior to the First Balkan War by Paul Vidal de la Blache
Ethnic map of Bulgaria according to census results from 1892 (blue denotes regions with a Romanian minority)

The Romanians in Bulgaria (Romanian: români or rumâni; Bulgarian: румънци, rumŭntsi, or власи, vlasi), are a Romanian ethnic minority in Bulgaria. In the country, Romanians live in several northern regions, mostly along the Danube. This includes a region between the city of Vidin and the Timok river; these Romanians form a continuous community with the Romanian community in the Timok Valley of Serbia. Another region with a high density of Romanians is located between the towns of Oryahovo and Svishtov. Another goes from Tutrakan to the Bulgaria–Romania border at Northern Dobruja. There also are scattered groups of Romanians within the interior of Bulgaria, such as in Pleven or around Vratsa. The Romanians in Bulgaria are not recognized as a national minority, and they lack minority rights such as schools or churches in their own Romanian language. Many are subject to assimilation.[2]

In Bulgaria, indigenous Romanians are commonly referred to as "Vlachs". This term is also applied to the Aromanians of the country,[3] as well as to Romanian-speaking Boyash Gypsies.[4]

The Romanians of Bulgaria have several organizations of their own, one of them being the AVE Union of Romanian Ethnicities of Bulgaria (AVE Uniunea Etnicilor Români din Bulgaria), presided by Ivo Gheorghiev, which often organizes cultural events.[5] One example are celebrations for the Romanian Language Day organized in Vidin by this organization.[6]

The following are historical census results showing the presence of Romanians in Bulgaria:

 
Year 		"Vlachs" Romanians
1881 49,063[7]a  
1905 73,773[2]
1910 79,429
1926 69,080
1937 16,405
2001 10,566 b 1,088
2011 3,684[8] 891

^a This number shows those who identified their native language as "Vlach"; the 1881 census did not have a question about ethnicity.
^b The 2001 census recorded 10,566 "Vlachs", most of whom are Romanian-speakers, but the figure includes some Aromanian-speakers as well.

Out of 3,598 self-identified Vlachs, 165 declared their mother tongue as Bulgarian, 1,462 as Vlach, 1,964 as Romanian and 4 as "other" in 2011.[9] Out of 866 self-identified Romanians, 37 declared their mother tongue as Bulgarian, 3 as Vlach, and 822 as Romanian in 2011.[10]

According to a comprehensive demographic study[3] from 2008, number of Romanians per provinces in 2021, was as follows:

Vidin - 37,700

Vratsa - 21,200

Pleven - 15,700

Veliko Tarnovo - 14,200

Silistra - 11,400

Montana - 8,700

Sofia - 8,400

Varna - 7,700

Ruse - 4,700

Rest of Bulgaria - 28,600

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Figure obtained by Romanian researcher Emil Țîrcomnicu considering results from previous Bulgarian censuses, estimates from other researchers and natural population growth.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Românii din nordul Bulgariei – considerente istorice, sociologice și etnografice
  2. ^ a b CERCETĂRI ETNOGRAFICE LA ROMÂNII DINTRE KOZLODUI ȘI ȘIȘTOV
  3. ^ a b Popescu, Adam (15 January 2007). "Oltenii din Bulgaria". Evenimentul Zilei (in Romanian).
  4. ^ Sorescu Marinković, Annemarie (2021). ""What language do we speak?" The Bayash in the Balkans and mother tongue education". In Sorescu Marinković, Annemarie; Dragnea, Mihai; Kahl, Thede; Nyagulov, Blagovest; Dyer, Donald L.; Costanzo, Angelo (eds.). The Romance-speaking Balkans: Language and the Politics of Identity. Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture. Vol. 29. Brill Publishers. pp. 207–232. doi:10.1163/9789004456174_010. ISBN 9789004452770. S2CID 242757808.
  5. ^ Uniunea Etnicilor Români din Bulgaria AVE a organizat la Vidin lansarea cărții "Călătorii identitare: Românii megieși".
  6. ^ Ungureanu, Raluca (24 August 2016). "Ziua Limbii Române, sărbătorită în Vidin, Bulgaria". Agenția de presă RADOR (in Romanian).
  7. ^ General results of the population census of 1 January 1881, Statistics of the Principality of Bulgaria, p.11[permanent dead link] (in Bulgarian and French)
  8. ^ "Census Bulgaria 2011". Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  9. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20151219105400/http://censusresults.nsi.bg/Census/Reports/2/2/R9.aspx
  10. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20151219105400/http://censusresults.nsi.bg/Census/Reports/2/2/R9.aspx
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