Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T22:58:48.440Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Appendix 2 - The numbers game

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2022

Andrew Ryder
Affiliation:
Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem
Sarah Cemlyn
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
Get access

Summary

Demographic figures depend not only on who will identify themselves, but on whom the statisticians are prepared to count! In Eastern Europe poor, dark-skinned residents of Gypsy ghettos are more likely to be counted than nomads or light-skinned businessmen, while in England, until the 1980s only nomads living in tents or caravans were counted. Not until 2011 did the UK's Census include an ethnic question, inviting individuals to identify as ‘Gypsies or Travellers’, and about 58,000 did so, 24% of them living in caravans (ONS, 2014). Only 12% were born outside the UK, and it is probable that most of these were born in the Irish Republic. It is understandable that very few of the East European Roma who have migrated here since 1989 would have identified themselves, since most regard the word ‘Gypsy’ as a bad term. Although we are aware of small numbers of intermarriages between Roma and Romanichals over the past century, it is probably wisest to make separate estimates of ‘Roma’ and the numbers of ‘Gypsies and Travellers’ (that is, Romanichals, Kale, Nachins, Minceir, Pavees and caravan-dwelling New Travellers).

The only recent serious attempt to work from the Census and other public data to make a minimum estimate of the number of Gypsies and Travellers in England is that of the then Irish Traveller Movement (2013). It compared the Census with the numbers revealed by local authority Gypsy and Travellers Accommodation Assessments (GTAAs), which in turn take into account the Department for Communities and Local Government biannual caravan counts. Both of these were likely to undercount a little, since they could be used to help determine local authorities’ site provision. The English local authority biannual caravan counts have been going since 1979, rising from 8,000 caravans to around 21,000, a growth that reflects both an increasingly reliable methodology and a clear natural population growth. In principle, the forward-looking GTAAs, developed as part of the last Labour government's regional planning strategies, sought to count all those living in caravans now or recently, or possibly desirous of living in caravans.

Type
Chapter
Information
Hearing the Voices of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities
Inclusive Community Development
, pp. 243 - 248
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • The numbers game
  • Edited by Andrew Ryder, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Sarah Cemlyn, University of Bristol, Thomas Acton
  • Book: Hearing the Voices of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities
  • Online publication: 04 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.46692/9781447313588.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The numbers game
  • Edited by Andrew Ryder, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Sarah Cemlyn, University of Bristol, Thomas Acton
  • Book: Hearing the Voices of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities
  • Online publication: 04 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.46692/9781447313588.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The numbers game
  • Edited by Andrew Ryder, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Sarah Cemlyn, University of Bristol, Thomas Acton
  • Book: Hearing the Voices of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities
  • Online publication: 04 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.46692/9781447313588.015
Available formats
×