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The Ukrainians (Ukrainian: Українці, Romanian: Ucraineni) are the third-largest ethnic minority in Romania. According to the 2002 Romanian census they number 61,091 people, making up 0.3% of the total population. Ukrainians claim that the number is actually 250,000-300,000. [1] Ukrainians mainly live in northern Romania, in areas close to the Ukrainian border. More than half of all Romanian Ukrainians live in Maramureş County (34,027), where they make up 6.67% of the population. Sizeable populations of Ukrainians are also found in Suceava County (8506 people) and Timiş County (7261 people). Ukrainians make up a majority in the communes of Bistra, Maramureş, Poienile de sub Munte, Maramureş, Rona de Sus, Maramureş, Ştiuca, Timiş and Copăcele, Caraş-Severin.
A second group of Ukrainians in Romania live in the Dobruja region of the Danube Delta. These are descendents of Zaporozhian Cossacks who fled Russian rule in the 18th century. In 1830 they numbered 1,095 families [2]. Over the years they were joined by other peasants fleeing serfdom in the Russian Empire. In 1992 their descendents numbered four thousand people according to official Romanian statistics [3] while the local community claims to number 20,000 [2]. Known as Rusnaks [4] they continue to pursue the traditional Cossack lifestyle of hunting and fishing.
As an officially-recognised ethnic minority, Ukrainians have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies. Ştefan Tcaciuc held the seat from 1990 until his 2005 death, when he was replaced by Ştefan Buciuta.
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