Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Roman ...

in Spain ( ro, Românii din Spania; es, Rumanos en España, ca, Romanesos a Espanya) form the second largest group of foreigners in the country, after

Moroccans Moroccans (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who are of Moroccan nationality, s ...

. , there were 623,097 Romanians in Spain. Most of the

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

took place given economic reasons. The linguistic similarities between

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, as well as Romanians' Latin identity, are also a reason for the country's attractiveness to Romanians. Currently the number of Romanians in Spain is decreasing. In 2012, there were 897,203 Romanians living in Spain, in 2021 their number decreased to 556,204.

Background

After the December, 1989

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

, emigration was liberalized, but for the next few years, emigration to Spain was modest. It started to increase slowly during the late 1990s, and exploded after 2002. Emigration was further facilitated by the entry of Romania in the EU in 2007. By 2011, it reached a peak of nearly 900,000 people, after which the Romanian population has been steadily decreasing as a result of emigration from Spain since 2012 due to the economic problems and unemployment in the country, falling to 623,097 by 2022. Because of this, the diaspora in Italy, which has continued to increase, is now considerably larger than that in Spain.

Population

Romanian diaspora The Romanian diaspora is the ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in nearby states, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine, Hungary, ...

in Spain is today the second Romanian diaspora in the EU, after that of Italy. In recent years, emigration to

Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alba ...

has started to slow down, with many Romanians now preferring Northern European countries such as Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. 2015-04-08 09

Notable individuals

* Alexandru Buligan (b. 1960) – handball player and coach * Mihaela Ciobanu (b. 1973) – handball player *

Cosmin Contra Cosmin Marius Contra (; born 15 December 1975) is a Romanian football manager and former player. Primarily an attacking-minded right-back, he was also deployed as a midfielder. He played professionally in three countries his own notwithstanding, ...

(b. 1975) – footballer and coach *

Gheorghe Craioveanu Gheorghe "Gică" Craioveanu (born 14 February 1968) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his professional career in Spain–11 years out of 18–with Real Sociedad, Villarreal and Getafe, respectively, am ...

(b. 1968) – footballer * Alexandru Dedu (b. 1971) – handball player *

Constantin Gâlcă Constantin Gâlcă (born 8 March 1972) is a Romanian former footballer, and a manager, who was most recently manager of Saudi Professional League club Al-Hazem. Equally at ease as a defensive or central midfielder and possessing an accurate lo ...

(b. 1972) – footballer and coach * Cristian Ganea (b. 1992) – footballer *

Adrian Ilie Bucurel Adrian “The Cobra” Ilie (born 20 April 1974) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented the Romania national team in one World Cup and two European Championships. Club career Ilie began h ...

(b. 1974) – footballer * Valeriu Lazarov (1935–2009) – television producer, director of Spanish channel

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...

Gheorghe Popescu Gheorghe "Gică" Popescu (; born 9 October 1967) is a Romanian former professional football who played as a defender. He notably played in La Liga where he is a former captain of FC Barcelona. He played for a string of European clubs in tha ...

(b. 1967) – footballer *

Roxana Popa Roxana Daniela Popa Nedelcu (born June 2, 1997 in Constanța) is a Romanian-born Spanish artistic gymnast who has represented Spain in all her international competitions. Popa first came into contact with gymnastics in her native Romania, where ...

(b. 1997) – artistic gymnast * Virgil Popa (b. 1975) – conductor *

Marcela Topor Marcela Topor (born 8 September 1976) They married in 2000. Topor is the editor of '' Catalonia Today'', an English-language magazine and website based in Girona. She also hosts the television programme ''Catalan Connections'', which features int ...

(b. 1976) – journalist * (b. 1981), activist

References

Sources

* * * {{Portal bar, Romania, Spain

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Ethnic groups in Spain Romanian minorities in Europe Romanian emigrants to Spain

Background

Population

Notable individuals

See also

References

Sources