When the 2022 Scotland Census results were released, one number stood out as baffling: over 1,200 people born in Italy had checked the box for "White: Roma" — an ethnic group historically rooted in Eastern Europe and northern India. The twist? Many of them were likely just from Rome. In Italian, the city’s name is Roma. And on a form with no context, a simple misunderstanding turned into a statistical anomaly that’s now reshaping how Scotland interprets its ethnic data.

The Mistake That Skewed the Numbers

The National Records of Scotland (NRS), the government body responsible for the census, recorded 3,218 people identifying as Roma in 2022 — just 0.06% of Scotland’s population. But here’s the odd part: 36.5% of them, roughly 1,200 people, were born in Italy. That’s more than double the number born in Romania, the traditional heartland of Roma communities in Europe. Only 19.1% — about 615 people — came from Romania. The rest were scattered across Bulgaria, Slovakia, and other Eastern European nations. To demographers, it didn’t add up.

"We knew something was off," said an NRS internal memo obtained by journalists. "The Roma population in Scotland has never been large, and Italians from Rome weren’t part of any known migration pattern." The clue came during quality checks. NRS analysts noticed a sharp spike in responses where "Italy" was listed as birthplace alongside "Roma" as ethnicity. The pattern was too clean to be coincidence. The only common thread? The word Roma.

Why the Confusion Happened

This was the first time Scotland’s census included a dedicated "White: Roma" tick box. In 2011, the only option was "Gypsy/Traveller," a category many Roma people felt didn’t reflect their identity. So in 2022, after consultations with Roma advocacy groups, NRS added the new box — a well-intentioned step toward better representation. But the form didn’t explain that "Roma" here referred to an ethnic minority, not a place. For Italian migrants, especially those from Rome, it was an easy mistake. One respondent told NRS researchers: "I just saw "Roma" and thought it meant where I’m from. I didn’t know it was a people."

The NRS report acknowledged: "We cannot conclusively determine what proportion of individuals may have inadvertently ticked the wrong ethnicity, as some are likely to be people who would be considered part of the Roma ethnic group." That’s the tricky part. There are Roma communities in Italy — estimated at 150,000 to 200,000 — and some have migrated to Scotland. But those are not the same as Italians from Rome. The data doesn’t distinguish between the two. And that’s the problem.

How the Government Responded

The Scottish Government didn’t ignore the issue. They published a detailed analysis titled "Roma people in Scotland: an analysis of Scotland’s Census 2022" — and deliberately excluded all responses where Italy was listed as birthplace and Roma as ethnicity. The move wasn’t about erasing data; it was about accuracy. Public services — schools, housing, healthcare — rely on these numbers to allocate funding. If the data is distorted, communities in real need might miss out.

"We have to make sure the resources we spend on Roma communities go to the people who need them," said a spokesperson for the Scottish Government’s Equalities Directorate. "If we base policy on flawed data, we risk failing the very groups we’re trying to support."

The Bigger Picture: Why This Matters

This isn’t just a clerical error. It’s a window into how census design can unintentionally mislead. The 2022 census was meant to be more inclusive. But inclusivity without clarity can backfire. Similar issues have popped up elsewhere. In the UK’s 2011 census, some people from Pakistan listed "Pakistani" as their religion instead of their ethnicity. In Canada, "Arab" was confused with "Middle Eastern" by respondents unfamiliar with the categories.

For Scotland, the lesson is clear: census forms need more than checkboxes. They need context. A short explanation next to "White: Roma" — "This refers to people of Roma ethnicity, not the city of Rome" — could have prevented most of the confusion. The NRS admits they didn’t anticipate the linguistic trap. "We thought the term was widely understood," said one official. "Turns out, it’s not."

What Comes Next?

NRS has pledged to revise the 2031 census forms with clearer language, possibly adding a dropdown or tooltip for sensitive categories. They’re also exploring partnerships with community organizations to pre-test forms with diverse groups before launch. Meanwhile, the 1,200 misplaced responses remain in the public dataset — flagged, but not removed. "Transparency matters," said NRS. "We want users to know what they’re working with."

For Roma communities in Scotland, the mix-up has been frustrating. Many feel their identity is being diluted by a mistake. "We’ve spent decades fighting to be seen," said Maria Ionescu, a Roma activist in Glasgow. "Now, someone from Rome checks a box and suddenly we’re 30% bigger? It feels like our struggle is being erased by a typo."

Behind the Numbers

The true Roma population in Scotland is likely closer to 800–1,000 people — based on community surveys and NGO estimates. That’s still a small number, but it’s significant. Many face barriers to housing, education, and employment. The 2022 census was supposed to help fix that. Instead, it created noise. And noise, in data, can be just as dangerous as silence.