The Romanians in Bulgaria ( ro, români or ; bg, румънци, ''rumŭntsi'', or , ''vlasi''), are a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

ethnic minority in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...

. In the country, Romanians live in several northern regions, mostly along the Danube. This includes a region between the city of Vidin and the Timok river; these Romanians form a continuous community with the Romanian community in the Timok Valley of Serbia. Another region with a high density of Romanians is located between the towns of

Oryahovo Oryahovo ( bg, Оряхово ) is a port city in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Vratsa Province. It is located in a hilly area on the right bank of the Danube, just east of the mouth of the river Ogosta, a few more kilometres downstream from ...

and Svishtov. Another goes from

Tutrakan Tutrakan ( bg, Тутракан , ro, Тurtucaia, tr, Turtukaya) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of the homonymous municipality, part of Silistra Province. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube opposite t ...

to the

Bulgaria–Romania border The Bulgaria–Romania border ( bg, Граница между България и Румъния, translit=Granitsa mezhdu Bŭlgariya i Rumŭniya, ro, Frontiera între Bulgaria și România) is the state border between Bulgaria and Romania. For ...

at Northern Dobruja. There also are scattered groups of Romanians within the interior of Bulgaria, such as in Pleven or around

Vratsa Vratsa ( bg, Враца ) is the largest city in northwestern Bulgaria and the administrative and economic centre of the municipality of Vratsa and Vratsa district. It is located about 112 km north of Sofia, 40 km southeast of Montana. ...

. The Romanians in Bulgaria are not recognized as a national minority, and they lack minority rights such as schools or churches in their own Romanian language. Many are subject to

assimilation Assimilation may refer to: Culture * Cultural assimilation, the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs ** Language shift, also known as language assimilation, the prog ...

. In Bulgaria, indigenous Romanians are commonly referred to as "

Vlachs "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

". This term is also applied to the

Aromanians The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and c ...

of the country, as well as to Romanian-speaking

Boyash Boyash or ''Bayash'' (endonym: ''Bȯjáṡ'', Romanian: ''Băieși'', Hungarian: ''Beás'', Slovak: ''Bojáš'', South Slavic: ''Bojaši'') refers to a Romani ethnic group living in Romania, southern Hungary, northeastern and northwester ...

Gypsies. The Romanians of Bulgaria have several organizations of their own, one of them being the

AVE Union of Romanian Ethnicities of Bulgaria ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

(), presided by Ivo Gheorghiev, which often organizes cultural events. One example are celebrations for the

Romanian Language Day The Romanian Language Day ( ro, Ziua Limbii Române, ) is a public holiday of Romania celebrated every 31 August for the Romanian language. It is a Romance language, being part of the same linguistic family as the French, Italian, Portugues ...

organized in Vidin by this organization. The following are historical census results showing the presence of Romanians in Bulgaria:
Out of 3,598 self-identified Vlachs, 165 declared their mother tongue as Bulgarian, 1,462 as Vlach, 1,964 as Romanian and 4 as "other" in 2011. Out of 866 self-identified Romanians, 37 declared their mother tongue as Bulgarian, 3 as Vlach, and 822 as Romanian in 2011.https://web.archive.org/web/20151219105400/http://censusresults.nsi.bg/Census/Reports/2/2/R9.aspx

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References

{{Romanian diaspora

Ethnic groups in Bulgaria

See also

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