Genetik
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Genetik/Peoples/Romanians

Romanians

Румыны · Q485150

language area per Glottologcensus counts
14,801,442
Romania, census 2021 (ethnicity / nationality)
15,284,816
sum of censuses in 15 countries, 2001-2022
Indo-European
language family (Glottolog)

In brief

The largest documented number lives in Romania: 14,801,442 people in the 2021 census.

Official figures exist for 15 countries; together they add up to 15,284,816. This is not an estimate of the world total: the censuses were held in different years (2001-2022) and define belonging differently, and countries without such data are not counted.

In Russia's 2020 census (reference date 1 October 2021), 1,850 people identified with the nationality "Румыны" (Romanians)1. That is less than 0.01% of the 130,587,364 residents who stated a nationality.

Main language: Romanian. Glottolog classifies it in the Indo-European family.

Where they live: census figures

Each figure comes from the country's official census. Censuses define belonging differently (self-identification, citizenship, mother tongue, ancestry); the type is given on each row.

Romania2021 · ethnicity / nationality · «Romanian» · [2]
14,801,442
Moldova, Republic of2014 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [3]
192,800
Ukraine2001 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [4]
150,989
Belgium2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [5]
110,917
Serbia2022 · ethnicity / nationality · «Rumuni» · [6]
23,044
Russia2021 · ethnicity / nationality · «Румыны» · [1]
1,850
Slovakia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [7]
1,354
Kazakhstan2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [8]
696
Estonia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [9]
517
Latvia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [10]
480
Croatia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [11]
337
North Macedonia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [12]
126
Slovenia2002 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [13]
122
Belarus2019 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [14]
74
Lithuania2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «Romanian» · [15]
68
Sum across 15 countries15,284,816

In detail: Russia, 2021 census

Sex, urban and rural, Russian regions

Sex

Men 968 · 52.3%Women 882 · 47.7%

Urban and rural

Urban 1,251 · 67.6%Rural 599 · 32.4%

Where: the 10 regions with the largest numbers

Moscow (city)
242
Moscow Oblast
146
Krasnodar Krai
125
Rostov Oblast
93
Saint Petersburg (city)
77
Republic of Crimea (as listed by Rosstat)
76
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra
68
Stavropol Krai
60
Sverdlovsk Oblast
48
Sakha (Yakutia) Republic
45

Source [1]: Rosstat, 2020 census, vol. 5, table 1

Languages and their lineage

Romanian

  1. Indo-Europeanindo1319
  2. Classical Indo-Europeanclas1257
  3. Italicital1284
  4. Latino-Faliscanlati1262
  5. Latiniclati1263
  6. Imperial Latinimpe1234
  7. Romanceroma1334
  8. Eastern Romanceeast2714
  9. Northern Romaniannort3361
  10. Eastern Romanianeast2865
  11. Romanianroma1327

People-to-language links: Wikidata (properties P103 and P2936), checked against ISO 639-3 codes. Language classification: Glottolog 5.3.

Peoples of the same language family

PakistanisRussiansMarathiGermansSpaniardsMexicansUkrainiansEnglishIrishAmericansItaliansNepali (Khas-Arya)DutchBelarusiansTajiksCzechsScotsSerbsBulgariansSlovaksArmeniansCubansLithuaniansAlbanians

Sources

  1. Rosstat. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation. Results of the 2020 All-Russian Population Census (reference date 1 October 2021), vol. 5, table 1. Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx (archived copy)
  2. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Geographia (peer-reviewed; data of Institutul Național de Statistică, Romania). Tofan G.B., Niță A. 'The National Structure of the Romanian Population at the 1st December 2021 Census', Studia UBB Geographia LXX(1), 2025, pp. 39-64, Table 2 (reproduces INS final census data, stable population). https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbgeographia/article/download/9437/9118/2767…
  3. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Republic of Moldova, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  4. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Ukraine, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  5. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Belgium, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  6. Републички завод за статистику / Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. Коначни резултати Пописа становништва, домаћинстава и станова 2022 (Final results of the 2022 Census), 28.04.2023; Book 1 'Национална припадност' https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2023/Pdf/G20234001.pdf. https://www.stat.gov.rs/vesti/20230428-konacnirezpopisa/
  7. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Slovakia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  8. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Kazakhstan, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  9. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Estonia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  10. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Latvia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  11. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Croatia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  12. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. North Macedonia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  13. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Slovenia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  14. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Belarus, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  15. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Lithuania, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  16. Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)