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Romanies

Romani people
Flag of the Romani people.svg
Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted by the 1971 World Romani Congress
Total population
2–20 million
Regions with significant populations
 United States 1,000,000 estimated with Romani heritage
(5,400 per 2000 census)
 Brazil 800,000
 Turkey 700,000–5,000,000
/≈2,750,000/
 Spain 650,000–1,500,000
 Romania 621,573–2,000,000
 France 350,000–500,000
 Bulgaria 325,343–800,000
 Hungary 315,583–990,000
 Greece 300,000–350,000
 United Kingdom 90,000–300,000
/≈225,000/
 Russia 182,766–1,200,000
 Serbia 147,604–500,000
/≈250,000/
 Italy 120,000–180,000
 Germany 120,000–140,000
 Slovakia 105,738–600,000
 Macedonia 53,879
 Sweden 50,000–100,000
 Ukraine 47,587–400,000
 Czech Republic 40,370 (Romani speakers)–300,000
 Argentina ≈300,000
 Portugal 40,000–70,000
 Kosovo 40,000
 Netherlands 32,000–48,000
 Poland 15,000–60,000
 Moldova 12,778–200,000
 Croatia 16,975–40,000
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 8,864–60,000
 Albania 8,301–150,000
 Kazakhstan 6,000
 Canada 5,255–80,000
 Finland 11,000–50,000
 Australia 5,000–25,000
 Mexico 15,850
 Colombia ≈8,000
 Slovenia 2,300
 Lithuania <3,000
Languages
Romani language, Para-Romani varieties, languages of native regions
Religion
Of the religious predominantly Christianity
Islam
Shaktism branch of Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Dom, Lom, Domba; other Indo-Aryans

The Romani (also spelled Romany; /ˈrməni/, /ˈrɒ-/), or Roma, are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group, living mostly in Europe and the Americas and originating from the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, presumably from where the states Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab exist today. The Romani are widely known among English-speaking people by the exonym "Gypsies" (or "Gipsies"), which some people consider pejorative due to its connotations of illegality and irregularity.

Romani are dispersed, with their concentrated populations in Europe – especially Central, Eastern and Southern Europe including Turkey, Spain and Southern France. They originated in Northern India and arrived in Mid-West Asia, then Europe, around 1,000 years ago, either separating from the Dom people or, at least, having a similar history; the ancestors of both the Romani and the Dom left North India sometime between the sixth and eleventh century.


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Wikipedia

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