In the Albanian territory, side by side with the Albanians, live other ethnic groups as well, such as: Greeks, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Vlacs, Romas and Gypsies. The Census of the Albanian Population of 1989, showed that non-Albanian ethnic groups used to represent approximately 2 percent of the population (Annual Report 1990, Tirana, 1991). The later independent researches supported the idea that these groups represented 5 percent of the population in Albania (B?rxolli A., Minorities in Albania, Tirana 2005, p. 19-24). The last national Census in 2011 has shown that the total number of the Roma community in the country is 8301 persons or 0.30 percent of the population.
As the history has witnessed, the Proclamation of the Independence of Albania in 1912 was followed with a relatively good treatment of Roma community (ERRC, Roma in Albania, An Unknown Case, 1997, p.56), although the social gap between Romas and non-Romas continued to exist (Koinova M., Minorities in Southeast Europe, 1999, p.135).