Italians in Scotland mistakenly recorded as Roma in census

Italians born in Rome who now live in Scotland may have been inadvertently identified as belonging to the Roma ethnic group in Scotland’s most recent census.

The 2022 Scotland Census recorded data on Roma communities – populations that typically migrate from Eastern European countries such as Romania – for the first time.

However, the National Records of Scotland (NRS) analysis revealed a higher than expected number of people born in Italy who identify as Roma.

Officials believe that some respondents from Rome, known as Roma in Italian, may have mistakenly selected the Roma ethnicity option.

In total, 3,218 people identified as Roma in the census, representing 0.06% of Scotland’s population.

Of these, 36.5% reported Italy as their country of birth, compared with 19.1% from Romania, the next most common origin. This means around 1,200 individuals born in Italy were counted within Scotland’s Roma population.

NRS officials stressed they cannot say with certainty how many Italians misclassified themselves, noting that some people born in Italy may genuinely identify as part of the Roma ethnic group.

A National Records of Scotland spokesperson said: “Following feedback from stakeholders, Scotland’s Census 2022 included a tick box for the ethnicity ‘White: Roma’.

“During our robust quality assurance process, we found a higher proportion of individuals born in Italy identifying as Roma than expected. In total, this amounted to 1,200 people born in Italy out of the total 3,200 Roma population.

“The most common country of birth for the Roma population was also Italy in the England and Wales 2021 Census.

“We believe the box may have been ticked in error by individuals born in Rome, Italy and recommend that users of census data consider this when interpreting results for the Roma population.”