Rights of Roma and Travellers in 13 European countries - Perspectives from the Roma Survey 2024

Despite some improvements, most EU countries are not likely to achieve EU-level goals set out in the EU Roma Strategic Framework by 2030:

• Discrimination: no country is likely to achieve EU-level goals by 2030
• Poverty: only Bulgaria and Hungary are likely to achieve EU-level goals by 2030
• Participation: no country is likely to achieve EU-level goals by 2030
• Education: only Bulgaria and Italy are likely to achieve EU-level goals by 2030
• Employment: Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy and Romania are likely to achieve EU-level goals by 2030
• Health: no country is likely to achieve EU-level goals by 2030
• Housing: Czechia, Greece, Spain and Italy are likely to achieve EU-level goals by 2030

• Target: The EU-level goal is to ensure that fewer than 13% of Roma experience discrimination by 2030.
• Discrimination: 1 in 3 Roma and Travellers (31%) face discrimination because of their ethnic origin – similar to 2016 (26%). The rates are highest in Ireland (75%), Portugal (63%) and Italy (60%), the lowest in Bulgaria and Hungary (19%).
• Harassment: 1 in 5 Roma and travellers (19%) experience hate motivated harassment, a decrease since 2016 (30%). The rates are highest in Ireland (50%), Portugal (48%) and Italy (44%) the lowest in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania (9%).

• Target: The EU-level goal is to halve the poverty gap between Roma and the general population and ensure that most Roma escape poverty by 2030.
• Poverty: 3 in 4 Roma and Travellers (70%) live in poverty, compared to 2016 (80%). They are still four times more likely to struggle with poverty than the general population. Poverty rates are highest in Ireland (96%), Spain (94%) and Portugal (93%), the lowest in Hungary (49%), Czech Republic (52%) and Bulgaria (53%).
• Children poverty: 4 in 5 Roma and Traveller children (77%) are at risk of poverty, a decrease compared to 2016 (85%). However, it is still four times the rate of children in the EU generally. Child poverty rates are highest in Ireland (97%), Spain and France (96%), and Italy and Portugal (95%). The lowest rates are in Bulgaria (61%) and Hungary (58%).
• Severe material deprivation: Over 1 in 3 Roma and Travellers (37%) live in severe material deprivation, an improvement compared to 2016 (62%), but still significantly higher than the general population (6%). The rates are highest in Greece (52%), Portugal (49%) and Romania (45%). The lowest rates are in Czech Republic (25%), Spain (25%) and France (24%).

• Target: The EU-level goal is to ensure that by 2030 at least 30% of victims report incidents of discrimination.
• Reporting: Even though many Roma and Travellers (46%) are now aware of an equality body in their country, discrimination remains largely invisible. Only 6% of Roma and Travellers report discrimination, a significant decrease compared to 2016 (16%). The lowest rates are in Portugal and Greece where almost no one reports discrimination.
• Trust: 1 in 2 Roma and Travellers (49%) trust the police in their country, an improvement since 2016 (37%). However, it is still much less than the rate among the general population (73%). The lowest levels of trust are in Italy (18%) and Ireland (23%), the highest in Romania (64%) and Hungary (62%).

• Target: The EU-level goal is to ensure that 70% of Roma children are in preschool, the majority of Roma complete at least upper-secondary education and fewer than 20% of Roma attend schools where most or all of the other pupils are also Roma.
• Preschool: 1 in 2 Roma and Traveller children (53%) attend early childhood education, an improvement since 2016 (42%). But it is still only about half of the rate of children in the EU generally (95%). The highest rates are in Spain (78%) and Hungary (73%), the lowest in Greece (22%).
• Secondary education: Only 1 in 3 Roma and Travellers (32%) completed at least upper-secondary education, no real change compared to 2016 (28%). The general population rate is 84%. The highest rates are in Hungary (43%) and Bulgaria (42%), the lowest in Greece (2%).
• School segregation: 1 in 2 Roma and Traveller children (46%) are educated in a school where all or most other pupils are also Roma/Travellers, no significant change compared to 2016 (44%). The highest rates are in Bulgaria (70%) and Hungary (62%) and the lowest in Ireland (7%) and Italy (6%).
• Discrimination: 1 in 6 (14%) felt discriminated against when in contact with school, double the rate in 2016 (7%). The highest rates are in Ireland (46%) and Italy (43%) and the lowest in Greece (3%).

• Target: The EU-level goal is to ensure that 60% of Roma overall and at least 45% of Roma women are in paid work by 2030, and fewer than 1 in 3 young Roma are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
• Paid work: 1 in 2 Roma and Travellers (54%) have paid work – an improvement compared to 2016 (43%) – but employment levels are still far behind the general population (75%).  The highest rates are in Hungary (69%) and Bulgaria (62%) and the lowest in Ireland (22%) and Portugal (21%).
• Gender gap: only 2 in 5 Roma and Traveller women (38%) are in paid work, compared to 2 in 3 Roma and Traveller men (69%). Overall, gender gap has increased by four percentage points since 2016. The biggest gender gap is in Greece (60 points) and France (47 points), the smallest in Spain (19 points) and Czechia (20 points).
• NEET rates: 1 in 2 young Roma and Travellers (47%) are not in education, employment or training, a large decrease compared to 2016 (62%) but still five times higher than the general population rate (9%). The highest rates are in Ireland (65%) and Spain (58%), the lowest in Hungary (36%).
• Discrimination: 1 in 3 Roma and Travellers (36%) felt discriminated against when looking for work - more than double the rate from 2016 (16%). The highest rates are in Ireland (84%) and Portugal (70%), the lowest in Bulgaria (26%) and Romania (27%).

• Target: The EU-level goal is to reduce life expectancy gap between Roma and the general population and ensure that Roma live at least 5 years longer by 2030.
• Life expectancy: Roma and Travellers live 8 years (men) and 7.4 years (women) less than people generally in the survey countries. This is only a small improvement compared to 2017 (8.5 for man and 8.0 for women).
• Discrimination in healthcare: 1 in 6 Roma and Travellers (16%) have experienced discrimination when accessing healthcare, double the date compared to 2016 (8%). The highest rates are in Italy (41%), Ireland (39%) and Portugal (37%), the lowest in Hungary (11%) and Spain (9%).

• Target: The EU-level goal is to reduce the gap between Roma and the general population by a third when it comes to housing deprivation and by half when it comes to overcrowding. They should also ensure that 95% of Roma have access to tap water.
• Housing deprivation: 1 in 2 Roma and Travellers (47%) live in damp, dark homes or housing without proper sanitation. This is lower than in 2016 (61%), but far from the EU population average (18%). The highest rates are in Portugal (78%) and France (71%), the lowest in Czechia (27%).
• Overcrowding: 4 in 5 Roma and Travellers (83%) live in households without enough rooms, no significant change compared to 2016 (78%). For the general population the rate is 17%. The highest rates are in Hungary and Greece (93%) and Ireland (92% for Roma), the lowest in Ireland (63% for Travellers).
• Tap water access: 1 in 5 Roma and Travellers do not have access to tap, a clear improvement compared to 2016 (30%). But only 2% of the general population face this issue. Access to tap water is an issue mainly in Romania (28%), Hungary (18%) and Bulgaria (18%).
• Discrimination on the housing market: 1 in 3 Roma and Travellers (35%) experienced discrimination when looking for housing, only a small improvement compared to 2016 (41%). The highest rates are in Ireland (74%) and Italy (70%), the lowest in Romania (23%).

EU countries should use the survey results to develop more targeted measures to improve the situation of Roma and Travellers on the ground. 

The greatest challenges are in fighting antigypsyism and discrimination, reducing poverty and overcrowded housing, improving education and ending school segregation, and creating fair job opportunities for women. 

Concrete examples of what could be done include: 

• Anti-discrimination enforcement: Strengthen legal protections and ensure equality bodies are accessible and trusted.
• Inclusive education: Address segregation and ensure Roma children have equal opportunities to succeed, do not leave the education early.
• Targeted employment strategies: Close the gender gap and support Roma youth through tailored activation measures.
• Adequate housing and infrastructure: Invest in desegregated housing of sufficient size and ensure access to essential services.
• Health equity: Improve access to healthcare and address discrimination in service delivery.

Despite many improvements for Roma/Travellers, the starting point when setting the targets was very low. The survey findings reveal that EU countries struggle the most with closing the gap between Roma/Travellers and general population. This indicates that those targets were very ambitious given the centuries of exclusion and deprivation experienced by Roma and Travellers across the EU. More efforts are needed from EU countries to close the gap and ensure that Roma and Travellers can fully enjoy their fundamental rights.

Slovakia and Croatia planned to implement their own national Roma surveys at the same time as FRA’s Roma survey 2024. Slovakia completed the data collection in spring 2025, but the final results are not available yet. The data collection in Croatia is delayed as well.

With this survey, we aim to show the trend since 2016. Moreover, even though the data for 2021 were collected using the same methodology as in 2016 and 2024, the situation in 2021 was atypical as Roma and Travellers were disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and government measures to tackle the pandemic. However, 2021 results are presented in the graphs for illustrative purposes.