TheRomanian diaspora is theethnically Romanian population outsideRomania andMoldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnicRomanians who live as natives in nearby states, chiefly those Romanians who live inUkraine,Hungary,Serbia, andBulgaria. Therefore, the number of all Romanians abroad is estimated at 4–12 million people, depending on one's definition of the term "Romanian" as well as the inclusion respectively exclusion of ethnicRomanians living in nearby countries where they are indigenous. The definition of "who is a Romanian?" may range from rigorous conservative estimates based onself-identification and official statistics to estimates that include people of Romanian ancestry born in their respective countries as well as people born to various ethnic-minorities from Romania. As of 2015/16, over 97% of Romanian emigrants resided in OECD countries; and about 90% of Romanian emigrants in OECD countries lived inEurope, with the most common country of residence beingItaly.^[1] The vast majority of Romanian emigrants are based in just ten countries, with the most common countries being Italy, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Hungary, France and Canada.^[1]

Over one million Romanianslive in Italy. Large Romanian populations exist inSpain, theUK andGermany, with the latter including manyGermans of Romania.

After theRomanian Revolution of 1989, emigration was liberalized and during the 1990s the main destination countries for Romanian emigrants were Germany, Hungary, Israel, the United States and Canada.^[1] After further liberalization in 1999, 2002 and especially after Romania entered theEuropean Union in 2007, Italy, Spain, the UK and other EU countries became major destinations.^[1][2]

In 2006, the Romanian diaspora was estimated at 8 million people by thenPresident of Romania,Traian Băsescu, most of them living in theWestern Europe (esp.Italy,Spain,Germany,United Kingdom,France, andAustria),North America (Canada and theUnited States),South America, andAustralia.^[3] Nonetheless, it is unclear if Băsescu included the indigenousRomanians living in the immediate surroundings of theRomanian state, which are those inMoldova,Bulgaria,Hungary,Serbia andUkraine.

In December 2013, Cristian David, the government minister for theDepartment for Romanians Everywhere, declared that a new reality illustrates that between 6–8 million Romanians live outside Romania's borders. This includes 2–3 million indigenous Romanians living in neighbouring states such as Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, theBalkans and especially theRepublic of Moldova. The number also includes circa 2.7–3.5 million Romanians in Western Europe.^[4]

Furthermore, the Romanian diaspora emerged as a powerful political force in elections since2009.^[5][6] For the2014 presidential election, voting in the diaspora was poorly organized and resulted in protests in several major European cities. The diaspora vote played a key role in the final result.^[6] 5 years later, in the2019 presidential election, then center-right candidate and incumbent PresidentKlaus Iohannis was once again overwhelmingly voted for by Romanian diaspora from all over the world.

Below is a list of self-declared ethnicRomanians in the countries where they live, excluding those who live inRomania andMoldova but including those who live inUkraine,Serbia,Hungary, andBulgaria.

The numbers are based on official statistical data in the respective states where suchRomanians reside or – wherever such data is unavailable – based on official estimates made by the Romanian department for Romanians abroad (figures for Spain, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden,Portugal, and Turkey are forRomanian citizens, and may include individuals of any ethnicity).

Ethnic Romanians are primarily present inEurope andNorth America. However, there are ethnic Romanian enclaves inTurkey, both in theAsian andEuropean parts of the country, who are descendants ofWallachian settlers invited by theOttoman Empire from the early fourteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. Furthermore, there are about 2,000 Romanian immigrants inJapan since the late twentieth century.^[7]

Country	Year	Population	Origin, notes
Italy	2023	1,053,042[8]	Citizens(additional 102.667Moldovans)
Germany	2023	909,795 Romanian citizens (as of 2023).[9] 1,146,000 people with Romanian ancestry (as of 2023).[10] The figures includeRomanian-Germans.	CitizensAccording to German statistics, in 2023, the number of Romanian citizens in Germany was 909,795.[9] The number of people with Romanian ancestry in 2023 (defined as all persons who migrated to the present area of the Federal Republic of Germany after 1949, plus all foreign nationals born in Germany and all persons born in Germany as German nationals with at least one parent who migrated to Germany or was born in Germany as a foreign national) was 1,146,000.[11] (the overall number of people withRomanian ancestry in Germany includes manyRomanian-Germans as well) (additional 37.542 Moldovans)
Spain	2022/2023	620,463 (Romanian citizens, as of January 2024)[12] 539,418 (residents of Spain who were born in Romania as of 2022)[13]	Immigrants and Romanian citizens of all ethnic groups. The first number includes all Romanians in Spain, thus taking into account second and third generation Romanians or nationalized ones that count as Spanish in the census. The second number takes into account just Romanian citizens. The third number represents Romanian born residents in Spain.(additional 17,868Moldovans)
United Kingdom	2021	538,840 citizens inEngland and Wales were born in Romania in 2021;[14] additional Romanians in Scotland (12.102 as of 2022) and Northern Ireland (9.000 as of 2021); there are also naturalized second and third generation Romanians in the UK	Immigrants (additional 12,000 Moldovans)[citation needed]
United States	2023	According to the 2023American Community Survey, 425,738 Americans indicated Romanian as their first or second ancestry,[15] however other sources provide higher estimates, for example, the Romanian-American Network supplies a rough estimate of 1.2 million who are fully or partially of Romanian ethnicity.[16] There is also a significant number of people of Romanian Jewish ancestry, estimated at 225,000.[17] According to the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 160,205 people born in Romania.[18]	Immigrants
Canada	2021	215,885 (ancestry)[19] 86,770 (born in Romania).[19]	According to the2021 Census, there were 215,885 Canadian residents declaring themselves of Romanian origin;[19]Romanian language was the mother tongue of 93,160 of Canadian residents.[19] There were 86,770 Canadian residents who were born in Romania.[19]
Austria	2025	155,700[20]	Citizens(additional 6.800Moldovans)
Ukraine	2001	150,989[21]	Indigenous toZakarpattia Oblast,Odesa Oblast, andChernivtsi Oblast(additional 258,619Moldovans)
France	2019	133,000[22]	Immigrants
Belgium	2020	105,358[23]	Immigrants
Israel	2020	86,200[24]	Immigrants (mostlyRomanian Jews)
Netherlands	2022	48,563[25]	Immigrants(additional 986Moldovans)
Greece	2020	44,600[26]	Immigrants(additional 10,391Moldovans). There are also 209,000Aromanians[27] and 3,000Megleno-Romanians[28] in Greece; however, they are not considered an ethnic but a linguistic/cultural minority.
Denmark	2022	43,312[29]	Immigrants(additional 2,236Moldovans)
Ireland	2022	42,460[30]	Immigrants
Sweden	2023	36,738[31]	Immigrants(additional 1,573Moldovans)
Hungary	2011	30,924[32]	Indigenous and immigrants
Switzerland	2022	27,299[33]	Immigrants
Cyprus	2011	24,376[34]	Immigrants
Portugal	2023	23,393[35]	There are 23,393 Romanian citizens in Portugal as of 2023.[35] According toEurostat as many as 7,000 Romanians haveacquired Portuguese citizenship since 2008, thus are excluded from the number of Romanian nationals in Portugal.[36][37](additional 5,243Moldovan foreigners as of 2022; since 2008 more than 20,000 Moldovans becamePortuguese citizens)[37]
Serbia	2022	23,044[38]	Indigenous toVojvodina and theTimok Valley(additional 21,013Vlachs and 327Aromanians)
Norway	2022	18,877[39]	Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents
Australia	2021	15,268 (by birth) 28,103 (by ancestry)	According toABS (2021 census) figures, there are 15,268 people in Australia who were born in Romania[40] and 28,103 people with Romanian ancestry in Australia.[41]
Czechia	2018	14,684[42]	Immigrants(additionally 5,811Moldovans)
Kazakhstan	2009	14,666[43]	Displaced and deported during World War II(includingMoldovans)
Turkey		14,000[44]	Immigrants
Japan		10,000[45]	Immigrants
Slovakia	2017	8,474[46]	Immigrants
Brazil		7,393[47]	Immigrants and Brazilians with Romanian ancestry
United Arab Emirates		6,444[48]	Immigrants
Finland	2021	5,628[49]	Immigrants(additional 778Moldovans)
Luxembourg	2019	5,209[50]	Immigrants
Jordan		4,000[48]	Immigrants
Russia	2010	3,201[51]	Immigrants/displaced during World War II(additional 586,122Moldovans)
South Africa		3,000	Immigrants
Iceland	2022	2,505[52]	Immigrants
Qatar		2,000[48]	Immigrants
New Zealand	2018	1,485[53]	Immigrants
China		1,320[48]	Immigrants
Malta	2016	1,262[54]	Immigrants
Uruguay		1,000[48]	Immigrants
Chile		1,000[48]	Immigrants
Bulgaria	2011	891[55]	Indigenous toVidin Province and parts of northern Bulgaria(additional 3,684 "Vlachs")
Palestine		850[48]	Immigrants
Kuwait		696[48]	Immigrants
South Korea		634[48]	Immigrants
Mexico		600[48]	Immigrants
Ethiopia		485	Immigrants
India		400[48]	Immigrants
Singapore		400[48]	Immigrants
Paraguay		398[48]	Immigrants
Argentina	2021	392 Romanian citizens living in Argentina.[56] Additional people in Argentina with Romanian ancestry, including Romanian Jews and Romanian Roma.[57]	Citizens and decedents
Oman		382[48]	Immigrants
Colombia		350[48]	Immigrants
San Marino	2018	283[58]	Immigrants
Monaco		250[48]	Immigrants
Philippines	2019	209[59]	Immigrants
Uruguay		200[48]	Immigrants
Peru		174[48]	Immigrants
Indonesia		155[48]	Immigrants
Venezuela	2020	150[48]	Immigrants
Thailand		106[48]	Immigrants
Cuba		100[48]	Immigrants
North Macedonia		100[48]	Immigrants(additional 9,900Aromanians[60] and 2,100Megleno-Romanians)[61]
Vietnam		100[48]	Immigrants
Lithuania	2011	77[62]	Immigrants
Pakistan		75[48]	Immigrants
Latvia	2011	63[63]	Immigrants(additional 1,919Moldovans)
Dominican Republic		30[48]	Immigrants
Liechtenstein		15[48]	Immigrants
Albania			There live up to 300,000 indigenousAromanians, but Albanian authorities do not recognize them as Romanian minority.[64]
Total		4,321,496	The estimate is the sum of the countrywide estimates listed. To this are added 1,618,650 people belonging to ethnic groups Romanian authorities claim to be part of the Romanian population (e.g.,Moldovans,Aromanians,Megleno-Romanians,Istro-Romanians). The total estimate is roughly5.9 million.

• Aromanian diaspora
• Moldovan diaspora

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1.Păstrarea identității culturale românești în diaspora: un ghid practic

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