The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group and traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide with significant concentrations in the Americas.
In the English language the Romani people are widely known by the exonym Gypsies (or Gipsies), which is considered pejorative by some Romani people due to its connotations of illegality and irregularity as well as its historical use as a racial slur. For versions (some of which are cognates) of the word in many other languages (e.g., Greek: Γύφτος or Τσιγγάνος, French: Tzigane or gitan, Spanish: gitano, Italian: zingaro, Portuguese: cigano, Romanian: țigan and German: Zigeuner) this perception is either very small or non-existent.[73][74] At the first World Romani Congress in 1971, its attendees unanimously voted to reject the use of all exonyms for the Romani people, including Gypsy, due to their aforementioned negative and stereotypical connotations.
For a variety of reasons many Romanis choose not to register their ethnic identity in official censuses. There are an estimated 10 million Romani people in Europe (as of 2019), although some Romani organizations give estimates as high as 14 million. Significant Romani populations are found in the Balkans, in some Central European states, in Spain, France, Russia and Ukraine. In the European Union, there are an estimated 6 million Romanis.Several million more Romanis may live outside Europe, in particular in the Middle East and in the Americas.
