Afro-Romanians are

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

who are of African descent. Afro-Romanian populations are mostly concentrated in major cities of Romania. Africans have been immigrating to Romania since the

Communist Era A communist era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

. The majority of African-Romanians are of mixed ancestry, usually being the children of a Romanian parent and an African student who came to Romania.

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

had a plan to educate the African elites. Most Africans who studied in Romania during the Ceaușescu era came from Sub-Saharan African countries such as

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

DRC The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

, and other states, primarily from

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

and

Equatorial Africa Equatorial Africa is an ambiguous term that sometimes is used to refer to the equatorial region of sub-Saharan Africa traversed by the Equator, more broadly to tropical Africa, or in a biological and geo-environmental sense to the intra-tropic ...

, with which Ceaușescu developed close relations, as well as from

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

(see Arabs in Romania). Since the early 60s, young people from around the world came to study in the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...

. The communist state leadership wanted to link mutual friendship with different countries. It is estimated that during the communist era, about 10,000 Sudanese young people studied in Romania. After the fall of the communism, the numbers of Afro-Romanians increased. Currently, in Romania, most Africans are students, refugees, guest workers or children from mixed-families of a Romanian parent and an African student or worker who came to Romania. In 2020, asylum applicants from

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

and

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

represented the 6th and 9th highest numbers among asylum applicants in Romania.

Demographics and areas

In Bucharest, although Afro-Romanians live in all parts of the city, most of them are concentrated in the Giurgiului and Baicului areas. The number of individuals with African ancestry is unknown, as Romania does not keep statistics on race. According to mid-2020 UN estimates, most immigrants to Romania from the continent of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

originate from

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, with the most common countries being Tunisia (2,000), Morocco (1,000), Algeria (1,000) and Egypt (1,000). (these are the only African countries listed in that study). In addition, there are also 1,000 Brazilians in Romania and they may have (partial) African ancestry. The origins of Romanians whose ancestry is from

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

are varied. During the Ceaușescu era, the sub-Saharan African students who came to study in Romania were primarily from areas of

Francophone Africa African French () is the umbrella grouping of varieties of the French language spoken throughout Francophone Africa. Used mainly as a secondary language or ''lingua franca'', it is spoken by an estimated 320 million people across 34 coun ...

and

Northeast Africa Northeast Africa, or Northeastern Africa, or Northern East Africa as it was known in the past, encompasses the countries of Africa situated in and around the Red Sea. The region is intermediate between North Africa and East Africa, and encompasses ...

(especially Sudan), as Ceaușescu had formed diplomatic relations with the leaders of some of those countries. More recently, the African population has diversified, coming from a variety of countries. The highest numbers of asylum applicants from Africa are from Somalia and Eritrea (as of 2021).

Notable people

Fashion designers

* Joseph Seroussi

Modelling

* Agnès Matoko

Music

* Kamara Ghedi * Veronika Tecaru * Julie Mayaya * Tobi Ibitoye

Politicians

* Gaston Bienvenu Mboumba Bakabana

Sports

Nana Falemi Ngassam Nana Falemi (born 5 May 1974) is a Romanian-born Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Nana Falemi was born on 5 May 1974 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level foo ...

- Footballer * Jean-Claude Bozga - Footballer * Calvin Tolmbaye - Footballer * Baudoin Kanda - Footballer * Yasin Hamed - Footballer * Karim Adeyemi - Footballer * Benjamin Adegbuyi - Kickboxer * Stephen Hihetah - Rugby player * Giordan Watson - Basketball player * Uchechukwu Iheadindu - Basketball player * Annemarie Părău - Basketball player * Chike Onyejekwe - Handball player * Nneka Onyejekwe - Volleyball player * Elizabet Inneh - Volleyball player

Television

* Cabral Ibacka * Laura Nureldin * Nadine Voindrouh * Désirée Malonga * Florina Fernandes

References

{{Portal bar, Romania, Africa African diaspora in Europe Ethnic groups in Romania