Lajtai_Matyas_Ciganyosszeirasok

The Size and Social Characteristics of the Roma Population in Eighteenth-Century Census Records

Abstract

This study examines the population size and social status of the Roma population in Hungary based on census records conducted between 1782 and 1785. It presents an overview of earlier literature on the population size of the Roma in the late eighteenth century, which is followed by the analysis of primary sources. The findings substantiate that the Roma population was larger than previously assumed. The Roma population within the territory of the Kingdom of Hun- gary, including Croatia, was estimated to be around 65,000, while their number in the entire country may have been approximately 130,000. A territorial comparison between the late eighteenth-century Roma registers and the results of the 1893 census, which is considered modern, indicates that the spatial distribution of the Roma population in the Kingdom of Hungary remained consistent between the two time periods. Finally, the study presents the findings of the eighteenth-century Roma censuses, which suggest that the Roma population appear to have been mostly settled and integrated into local society at the time.