Almost half of all Roma in Slovakia are integrated, others live without sewerage
News server Romovia.sme.sk reports that currently almost half of the roughly 402 000 Romani people in Slovakia live in integrated neighborhoods among the majority population. More than 95 000 Romani people reside on the outskirts of municipalities, 74 000 in segregated settlements, and roughly 46 000 in ghettos on the territory of towns or villages.
The number of Romani settlements has fallen by almost 50 in less than 10 years. Those are the findings of the Atlas of Romani Communities recently published by the Slovak Social Affairs Ministry and the University of Prešov.
The ministry commissioned the report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at a cost of EUR 890 000, together with other analyses of research into the Romani minority. The Atlas alone cost EUR 70 000 and is intended for use by bureaucrats, NGOs and professionals.
The results have also been used in a report on the level of poverty in Slovakia: Up to 42 % of the Romani settlements lack sewerage and 14 of them have no infrastructure or access to electricity, gas, or running water. As many as 7.2 % of the dwellings in the segregated Romani settlemetns have no access to potable water.
People in such circumstances haul water to their homes from natural sources, from fire hydrants, or from their neighbors who live some distance away. The Atlas shows that 31 000 Romani people live in hovels, with about one-third of the land in the Romani ghettos and settlements unsettled in terms of ownership.
By the numbers:
- The Atlas counted 402 000 Romani people total in Slovakia
- 37 % of municipalities throughout the country have more than 30 Romani residents
- 803 000 ghettos and settlements are home to 53.5 % of Romani people in Slovakia, with the rest living among the majority
- 18 162 Romani people live in Košice (the town with the biggest Romani population)
- The municipality of Lomnička is 100 % Romani.
