Roma are the main poverty risk groups in many of the countries of central and eastern europe however information on their living conditions and the characteristics of their poverty is scarce fragmented and often anecdotal this paper analyzes data from a new cross country household survey conducted by the center for comparative research at yale university the survey is the first of its kind which addresses the ethnic dimension of poverty across countries covering roma in hungary . Follow world bank publications on facebook twitter or linked in francais beta english espanol beta francais beta . Roma in an expanding europe breaking the poverty cycle english abstract increasingly severe poverty among roma in central and eastern europe has been one of the most striking developments in the region since the transition from socialism began in 1989 while roma have historically been among the poorest people in europe . Roma in an expanding europe breaking the poverty cycle directions in development europe central asia and the world bank other world bank bks world bank e library authors dena ringold mitchell. Roma in an expanding europe breaking the poverty cycle by dena ringold mitchell a orenstein erika wilkens the world bank this report draws from both quantitative and qualitative methods to paint a fuller picture of roma living conditions both approaches have distinctive benefits and drawbacks quantitative methods are useful for illustrating where roma stand relative to non roma