Ethnic groups (2002 est.):
* Romanian 89.5%
* Hungarian 6.6%
* Roma 2.5%
* Ukrainian 0.3%
* German 0.3%
* Russian 0.2%
* Turkish 0.2%
* other 0.4%
Religions (2002 est.):
* Eastern Orthodox (including all sub-denominations) 87%
* Protestant 6.8%
* Catholic 5.6%
* other (mostly Muslim) 0.4%
* unaffiliated 0.2%
The official language is Romanian, a Romance language of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, which are also called Romanic, and are spoken by about 670 million people in many parts of the world, but mainly in Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
Sizeable minorities of Hungarian and German descent, mostly in Transylvania, also speak Hungarian and German. Other ethnic groups include Roma Gypsies and natives of Romania's neighbouring countries. The true size of the Roma population is unknown because it is undercounted in national censuses (for various reasons, some Gypsies choose to declare themselves as Romanians or Hungarians; usually the criterion is the language they speak). There is also small Polish minority (numbering a few thousand people) living in Suceava County.
Most Romanians are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is one of the churches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Catholicism (both Roman Catholic and Romanian Catholic) and Protestantism are also represented, mostly in the areas inhabited by population of Hungarian descent, mostly in the western part of the country.
In Dobrogea, the region lying on the shore of the Black Sea, there is a small Muslim minority (most of Turkish ethnicity), a remnant of the Ottoman colonization of that province in the past.
* Romanian 89.5%
* Hungarian 6.6%
* Roma 2.5%
* Ukrainian 0.3%
* German 0.3%
* Russian 0.2%
* Turkish 0.2%
* other 0.4%
Religions (2002 est.):
* Eastern Orthodox (including all sub-denominations) 87%
* Protestant 6.8%
* Catholic 5.6%
* other (mostly Muslim) 0.4%
* unaffiliated 0.2%
The official language is Romanian, a Romance language of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, which are also called Romanic, and are spoken by about 670 million people in many parts of the world, but mainly in Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
Sizeable minorities of Hungarian and German descent, mostly in Transylvania, also speak Hungarian and German. Other ethnic groups include Roma Gypsies and natives of Romania's neighbouring countries. The true size of the Roma population is unknown because it is undercounted in national censuses (for various reasons, some Gypsies choose to declare themselves as Romanians or Hungarians; usually the criterion is the language they speak). There is also small Polish minority (numbering a few thousand people) living in Suceava County.
Most Romanians are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is one of the churches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Catholicism (both Roman Catholic and Romanian Catholic) and Protestantism are also represented, mostly in the areas inhabited by population of Hungarian descent, mostly in the western part of the country.
In Dobrogea, the region lying on the shore of the Black Sea, there is a small Muslim minority (most of Turkish ethnicity), a remnant of the Ottoman colonization of that province in the past.
