by In 2021, as part of the general population census, the General Secretariat for Social Solidarity and the Fight against Poverty, of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, carried out a national survey of the socio-economic situation in the areas where Roma communities live.
The Peloponnese region has 7% of the country’s total Roma population with 8,800 permanent residents. However, when it comes to the percentage of all Roma living areas, the Peloponnese has 17%.
How many Roma are there in Greece and where do they live?
According to the survey data above, the Roma population of our country amounts to 117,495 permanent residents and constitutes 1.13% of the permanent population of Greece. It is found in all 13 regions of the country with higher concentration rates in the regions of Attica (25%), Eastern Macedonia – Thrace (17%), Thessaly (14%) and Western Greece (13%). ).
In the 142 municipalities with a high concentration of Roma populations, there are 462 living areas. Of these, 266 are type I, II and III settlements and 196 areas where they live scattered. Type I settlements are “very degraded areas”, where living conditions are unacceptable, with huts, shacks and the absence of basic infrastructure. Type II settlements are “mixed camps”, where there are makeshift structures, huts, tents/cabins, portable structures, i.e. containers, with permanent infrastructure, usually at use and partial (water supply, electricity, road construction) and are located on the outskirts of populated areas.
Type III agglomerations are “districts” for permanent use, often in degraded areas of the urban fabric (mainly houses, regular constructions – apartments or individual houses and some removable constructions, i.e. containers) . Finally, the “scattered” are, according to the research, a new category and refer to cases of living within institutions. 10% of Roma live in type I neighborhoods, 40% in type II neighborhoods, 30% in type II neighborhoods and finally 20% of Roma in Greece live in “sparse” neighborhoods.
The age distribution of Roma shows that 8.7% of the population is made up of people aged 0-3, 5.6% people aged 4-5, 20% people aged 6-15, 28.9% of people aged 16. 29.28.9% are between 30 and 64 years old, while only 7.9% are over 65, which proves the low life expectancy of Roma.
Roma education
In the field of education, research confirms the trend of dropping out of school after primary school and the gradual decline in participation at all levels of the educational process. Illiteracy among the Roma is very high and reaches 77.9%, especially among the elderly.
The number of Roma children aged 0-3 attending pre-school education (infants, nurseries and kindergartens) is only 412 (8%). The number of Roma children aged 4 to 15 attending compulsory education (nursery/elementary/high school) is 9,330 (66%).
Given that reasonable questions arise as to whether regions and municipalities take care of the access of Roma living in remote areas to schools, in the vast majority (85%) access to educational institutions is done without problem. On foot, when the schools are close to the Roma settlements, while in many cases the means of transport is the bus. There are also several cases where the means of transport is a taxi or another means of transport chartered by the Regions or the Communes.
“Early marriages” among the Roma
“Early marriages” are essentially marriages of Roma children or minors. This is the event of marriage or cohabitation, with at least one of the two “participating” persons being a minor, under the age of 18.
Despite the fact that international and national legislative provisions prohibit the phenomenon of early and forced marriages, “early” or Roma child marriages continue to be a constant practice in Greece, but also in Europe.
In a recent survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 2% of Roma girls aged 10 to 15 were in a “traditional ritual marriage” or cohabiting with a partner. According to the same European study, about 16% of Roma girls and boys aged 16-17 are legally or customarily married.
According to the answers to all the questionnaires in proportion to the population, “early marriages” exist at a rate of 97% in the total Roma population. This fact is observed “a lot” in 88%, “a little” in 9% and not observed in 3%.
Roma employment and unemployment
The main forms of Roma employment are:
- Collection and trade of recyclable materials: 30.2%
- Street trade: 25.6%
- Street market retailers: 13.4%
- Seasonal Agricultural Work: 13%
- Sole proprietorships: 5%
- Agricultural work: 4.7%
- Technical and construction work: 3.9%
- Livestock farms: 1.2%
- Social enterprises: (COINSEP): 0.9%
- Musicians: 0.7%
Finally, 1.1% declare begging (begging) as a profession! We remind you that in 2018 the qualification of begging as an offense was removed following the realization that a condition for an act to be qualified as a criminal offense must be abusive. From the above data for Roma, it follows that a large part is employed without the necessary job security conditions or tax obligations.
Roma employment varies from region to region. For example, in the Attica region, the Roma are mainly involved in the trading of recyclable items, street trading, while there are also many peddlers. In the region of Eastern Macedonia – Thrace, the main forms of Roma employment are seasonal agricultural work, peddlers in street markets and agricultural work. Finally, the percentage of Roma registered with the OAED – DYPA aged between 16 and 64 is 64%…
Roma from the European Union and third countries
In the last 30 years in particular, many Roma from the European Union and third countries have settled in the country. According to the survey we mentioned, 48% of foreign Roma in the country come from Albania. 29% from Bulgaria and 15% from Romania, two Balkan countries of the European Union.
There are Pakistani Roma (percentage of 4%) in the municipality of Sofades and Tyrnavos. Afghan Roma (percentage of 1% of the total) of foreign Roma combined with ethnic Albanian Roma live in the municipality of Patreon. Turkish Roma combined with ethnic Bulgarian Roma live in the municipality of Alexandroupolis. In the municipality of Athens live Turkish Roma, as well as Roma of Albanian, Romanian and Bulgarian origin. The percentage of Turkish Roma in the total number of Roma foreigners is 1%. The Indian Roma live in the municipality of Patreon (remember that India is the cradle of the Roma). The percentage of Indian Roma in the country is 1% of the total foreign Roma. Finally, Moldovan Roma in combination with ethnic Albanian Roma live in the municipality of Florina (percentage of 1%).
The figures above illustrate the estimated image of the municipal authorities. We do not know exactly how many foreign Roma there are in Greece, nor what is the legal status of residence in the country.
Why do Roma turn to municipal services?
The municipalities that participated in this research identified the reasons why Roma use services more. This particular question had multiple answers and offered the possibility of simultaneous multiple choice of answers and a free answer. According to the answers given, the main reasons why Roma visit municipal services are:
- Submission of applications for welfare and social inclusion programs such as the Minimum Guaranteed Income and the TEBA (99.8%).
- Help with issuing unemployment card renewals and filing an application for unemployment benefits (59.1%).
- Support for integration into OAED – DYPA training or employment programs (42.8%).
- Enrollment of children in schools (39.2%)
- Support for filing files with social structures and services, such as social tutoring, mental health structures and crèches (30.3%).
- Counseling for integration into the labor market and vocational guidance (21.9%)
- Counseling for psychosocial support (18.9%)
- Support for submitting applications for integration into the labor market (16.9%)
- Participation in information actions on preventive medicine and healthy living conditions (7.1%) and participation in creative employment actions and support for children’s learning (4.5%).
What is the reason for the difficulty of the Roma to integrate socially?
The main reason that hinders the integration of Roma is based on education. The municipal authorities believe that the low level of education and the high rate of illiteracy, school dropout and school dropout (54.1%) are the main reasons that delay the steps taken in this direction.
Also, according to the Municipalities, degraded living conditions, material deprivation of goods and services (45.6%) and low income tend in the opposite direction. The fifth reason in order is delinquency/crime (29.4%).
Another serious reason for the difficulty of social integration of the Roma is the impossibility of access to information and communication technologies, which makes it difficult to process their transactions with the State.
Source: “Register of Roma settlements and population at the national level (2021 years)”, from which the tables in the article are taken.
Edited by: General Secretariat for Social Solidarity and the Fight against Poverty, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
