![]() Map depicting the distribution of ethnic Germans in Romania (according to the 2002 census) | |
Total population | |
c. 22,900 (as per the 2021 Romanian census)[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
![]() Mainly in | |
Languages | |
Mainly German (i.e. Hochdeutsch and dialects) but also Romanian and Hungarian
Dialects | |
Religion | |
Majority Roman Catholics (12,495), but also Evangelical Lutherans (Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania), Romanian Orthodox and other confessions[2] | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Mainly Germans and Austrians |
The Germans of Romania (German: Rumäniendeutsche; Romanian: Germanii din România or germani-români; Hungarian: romániai németek) represent one of the most significant historical ethnic minorities of Romania from the modern period onwards.
Throughout the interwar period, the total number of ethnic Germans in this country amounted to as much as c. 800,000 (according to some sources and estimates dating to 1939, just on the verge of World War II),[3][4][5] a figure which has subsequently drastically fallen to c. 36,000 (according to the 2011 census) and dropped even more to c. 22,900 (as per the 2021 Romanian census, postponed one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted in 2022).
Following the decreasing trend of the overall population of Romania, the German community of the country is expected to continue shrinking in numbers as well, as it has already been officially reported by the partial results of the 2021 census.