# Romanians in the United Kingdom

Romanians in the United Kingdom (Romanian: Românii din Regatul Unit) refers to Romanian immigrants in the United Kingdom, both citizens and non-citizens, along with British citizens of Romanian ancestry. The number of Romanian-born people resident in the UK has risen from 83,168 at the time of the 2011 United Kingdom census to 557,554 at the time of the 2021 United Kingdom census.
Romanians constitute the fourth largest group of immigrants in England and Wales as of 2021, only behind those from Pakistan, Poland, and India. The decadal growth of 576% was the highest of any immigrant group and was driven by the relaxation of work restrictions. Furthermore, as of late 2022, given the big rise of Romanian immigrants to the United Kingdom, the Romanian language became the third most spoken language in the UK after English and Polish.

## History, population, and settlement

The small number of Romanians that first arrived in Britain were primarily Jews fleeing persecution during the Second World War. 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.
Ion Rațiu was the President of the British-Romanian Association between 1965 and 1985, followed by Iolanda Costide between 1985 and 1996. Rațiu became honorary president of the organisation in 1985.
At the time of the 2001 Census, 7,631 Romanian-born people were residing in the UK. In the 2011 Census, the Romanian-born population grew to 83,168 people throughout the UK, with 79,687 in England and Wales, 2,387 in Scotland, and 1,094 in Northern Ireland. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that, in 2012, 101,000 Romanian-born people were resident in the UK. By 2019, this estimate had risen to 427,000. This estimate fell to 345,000 in 2020.
The 2021 census recorded 530,320 Romanian-born people resident in England, 8,520 in Wales, and 6,612 in Northern Ireland.
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. However, the ONS notes that not all applicants to the EUSS will be resident in the UK.
A particularly concentrated community exists in the Edgware-London suburb of Burnt Oak which has gained the nickname "Little Romania". Large communities also exist in the London Boroughs of Brent and Newham and in Northampton outside of London.

## Culture

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.

## Social issues

Around 75 per cent of women trafficked to the UK are from Romania, with the majority being victims of sexual exploitation. 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".
Romanians in the UK have faced discrimination and xenophobic abuse, and were targets of some hate crimes following the Brexit referendum. 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. In October 2019, Minister of Labour and Social Justice (Romanian: Ministrul Muncii și Justiției Sociale) at the time Marius-Constantin Budăi told the ITV that he wished for all overseas Romanians to come home as soon as possible.

## Notable Britons of Romanian descent

* Ikechi Anya, footballer
* Zeev Aram, furniture and interior designer (OBE)
* Alma Cogan, singer
* Jimmy Cornell, yachtsman, bestselling author of World Cruising Routes
* Steven Berkoff, actor and author
* John Bercow, politician
* Maria Björnson, theatre designer
* Octav Botnar, businessman
* Alexandra Bulat, academic and county councillor
* Alina Cojocaru, ballet dancer
* George Constantinescu, scientist, engineer and inventor
* Moses Gaster, scholar
* Miron Grindea, literary journalist (OBE)
* Rosemary Harris, actress
* Michael Howard, politician
* George Hurst, music conductor
* Sir George Iacobescu, chief executive of the Canary Wharf Group (CBE)
* Irina Lăzăreanu, model
* Jeff Leach, comedian
* Anamaria Marinca, actress
* Micachu, singer, songwriter and composer
* Nelly Miricioiu, opera singer
* David Mitrany, scholar
* Paul Neagu, artist
* Emma Raducanu, tennis player (MBE)
* Sir Roy Redgrave, army officer (KBE)
* Ion Raţiu, politician
* Solomon Schechter, rabbi
* Constantin Silvestri, music conductor
* Peter Solley, pianist
* Martin Sorrell, businessman
* Monty Sunshine, jazz clarinetist
* Viorel Tilea, diplomat (CBE)

## Gallery

* The Embassy of Romania in London.
* The Romanian Cultural Institute in Belgrave Square, London.
* Romanian Cultural Institute, Open House London 2015.
* Iconostasis in a chapel in St Dunstan-in-the-West, London, used by the Romanian Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom