Romanians in the United Kingdom

A map showing the distribution of Romanian passport holders in Greater London in 2021. Over 30% of Romanian citizens in the UK live in London.

  0.0%-0.99%

  1%-2.99%

  3%-5.99%

  6%-9.99%

  10%-14.99%

  15% and greater

White Romanian population pyramid in 2021 (in England and Wales)

The small number of Romanians that first arrived in Britain were primarily Jews fleeing persecution during the Second World War.[3] The activities of the Romanian exiles started in 1941, through the effort of individuals such as Ambassador Viorel Tilea, Major George Emil Iliescu, and legal counselor Ecaterina Iliescu. They founded the Anglo-Romanian Refugee Committee (ARRC) in 1948. The Free Romanian Orthodox Church was active in parallel to the ARRC between 1950 and 1955, under the leadership of Father Gildau, with a Parish Committee chaired by Mihai Carciog. This later transformed into the 'Romanian Orthodox Women's Association in the UK', which, in turn, became in 1956 the British-Romanian Association - also known under its Romanian name of ACARDA ("Asociația Culturală a Românilor din Anglia") - through the initiative of a representative group of individuals from the small Romanian community, including Ion Rațiu, Horia Georgescu, George Ross, and Leonard Kirschen, Marie-Jeanne Livezeanu, Gladys Wilson, Sanda Cârciog, and Mihai Cârciog.[4][5]

Ion Rațiu was the President of the British-Romanian Association between 1965 and 1985,[6] followed by Iolanda Costide between 1985 and 1996.[7] Rațiu became honorary president of the organisation in 1985.[6]

At the time of the 2001 Census, 7,631 Romanian-born people were residing in the UK.[8] In the 2011 Census, the Romanian-born population grew to 83,168 people throughout the UK, with 79,687 in England & Wales,[9] 2,387 in Scotland,[10] and 1,094 in Northern Ireland.[11] The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that, in 2012, 101,000 Romanian-born people were resident in the UK.[12] By 2019, this estimate had risen to 427,000.[13] This estimate fell to 345,000 in 2020.[14]

As of 2021, approximately 1,350,640 Romanians had applied to the UK government's post-Brexit European Union Settlement Scheme, with 670,560 receiving pre-settled status and 435,720 receiving settled status.[15][16] However, the ONS notes that not all applicants to the EUSS will be resident in the UK.[17]

A particularly concentrated community exists in the Edgware-London suburb of Burnt Oak which has gained the nickname "Little Romania".[18]. Large communities also exist in the London Boroughs of Brent and Newham.

Evolution of the number of Romanian nationals living in the UK (2010–2017)[20]

Most Romanians belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church religion and there are several Romanian Orthodox churches throughout the UK, such as those in Aberdeen, Ballymena, Birmingham, Boston, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Caterham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Luton, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, or Poole.[21]

Around 75 per cent of women trafficked to the UK are from Romania, with the majority being victims of sexual exploitation.[22] In October 2020, an online summit was held to discuss the problem. Ahead of the event, the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on commercial sexual exploitation, Dame Diana Johnson, argued that "The industrial-scale sexual exploitation of Romanian women by UK men is a national scandal".[23]

Romanians in the UK have faced discrimination and xenophobic abuse, and were targets of some hate crimes following the Brexit referendum.[24] In the autumn of 2019, the Romanian government launched an advertising campaign to attract emigrants back to Romania, suggesting that a million jobs awaited them.[25] In October 2019, Minister of Labour and Social Justice (Romanian: Ministrul Muncii și Justiției Sociale)[26] at the time Marius-Constantin Budăi told the ITV that he wished for all overseas Romanians to come home as soon as possible.[25]

• 
  The Embassy of Romania in London.
• 
  The Romanian Cultural Institute in Belgrave Square, London.
• 
  Romanian Cultural Institute, Open House London 2015.

• Romania–United Kingdom relations
• Romanian Americans

• The Romanian Cultural Centre in London (website)
• The Romanian Cultural Institute in London (website)
• BBC Romania 1939–2008 (in Romanian)