Romanians are broadly young, educated and the most economically active European migrant community in England and Wales. But, according to a recent YouGov poll, they are the least-wanted European immigrants in the UK. So why hasn’t public opinion kept pace with the reality of what this group contributes?
A decade after Brexit, a disconnect remains between people’s perceptions and the available evidence on Romanians’ contributions to society – and indeed, the personal experiences of many in the UK. After all, Romanians are the fourth largest foreign-born community in the country.
Part of this gap may reflect narratives about eastern Europe that predate large-scale Romanian migration to the UK. US historian Larry Wolff argued that eastern Europe was constructed in western European thought as Europe’s “dark twin”. In his book Inventing Eastern Europe, he shows how 18th-century travellers’ accounts blended real observation with conjured darkness. He argued that this produced a template of backwardness and danger, juxtaposed to western European Enlightenment.
Similar attitudes persisted into the 20th century. According to public historian Tessa Dunlop, Queen Marie of Romania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, struggled with her early apprenticeship as princess in this eastern European “backwater”. The cold war, Ceaușescu’s dictatorship, and grim images of orphanages followed. Post-communist Romania embarked on decades of rebranding attempts, which included transforming Gothic projections like Bram Stoker’s Dracula into a tourist attraction.
But negative associations accompanied Romania’s accession to the EU in 2007. BBC Panorama asked whether a “crime wave” was to be expected after the 2014 lifting of work restrictions. The Guardian reported that ministers were considering a “You won’t like it here” campaign to discourage Romanians and Bulgarians from coming to the UK. This inspired a Romanian counter-campaign called “We might not like Britain, but you will love Romania. Why don’t you come over?” in an attempt to fight discrimination with humour.
Channel 4’s The Romanians Are Coming promised to show “the truth behind the headlines” but was criticised for reproducing the stereotypes it claimed to investigate. More recently, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed that migrants were eating swans, and a Telegraph investigation reported widespread Romanian student loan fraud.
What the data says
Yet according to the ONS census from 2021, Romanians are now one of the most economically active European migrant groups in the UK. Around one third hold university degrees, while almost 80% are of working age. Most Romanian students in Britain are also in employment.
Economic data challenges common assumptions even further. HMRC figures show substantial growth in earnings among Romanian workers since 2014, with median pay now approaching the UK’s national average. In general, EU migrants in Britain contribute considerably more in taxes than they receive in public services and benefits.
But the scale of Romanian contributions extends well beyond taxation, contradicting the stereotypes of Romanians as a burden to the UK taxpayer. A report we led shows that in little over a decade, the Romanian community – estimated at around 1.3 million people – has quietly become an important part of Britain’s economic and social infrastructure.
These findings suggest that public understanding of this community in the UK may not have kept pace with its growth and contribution. At the height of the COVID pandemic, Romanian workers helped to keep essential services and supply chains functioning – things like agricultural food products and transport, for example.
As a young population, Romanians also help to sustain the UK’s ageing demographic, both with their taxes and by addressing critical skills shortages. They rank fifth among EU nationalities and ninth among all non-British nationalities in the NHS England workforce.
And in construction – an industry that’s vital to the government’s growth plans but facing huge skills shortages – Romanians are the largest foreign national group in the country. They make up 6% of the workforce nationally, and 37% of EU construction workers in London. Beyond the trades, Romanian entrepreneurs are driving growth, including in robotics, AI, fintech, cybersecurity, energy, and research-intensive start-ups.
Romanians are increasingly civically and politically engaged. More than 60 people with Romanian heritage, spanning parties and professions, stood in the 2026 local elections across England, with ten elected. Alisa Russell became the first Romanian citizen to hold the office of mayor in the UK, when she was appointed in Bicester in Oxfordshire for 2025-26.
On the ground, Romanian voluntary and community sector organisations are doing the less visible work. This includes programmes and projects to improve education, offering immigration advice, food provision, and mental health support. This all fills gaps that mainstream services leave open.
But many of these contributions remain absent from debates about migration, compounding decades of stereotyping. Our report is an attempt to make these contributions more visible, providing some of the facts about the Romanian community in the UK today.