Estrategias migratorias de la población gitana búlgara en España

This article deals with the various migration strategies of Bulgarian Gypsies who currently live in Spain. I focus on two aspects of their way of life abroad: labour activities and cultural adaptation to the local health care system. Following the downfall of the socialist regime in Bulgaria (1944-1989) a social and economic crisis emerged. The life of the Roma/Gypsies changed dramatically and a great many of them remained jobless. Many people turned towards cross-border labour mobility as a new economic strategy. In the migration process they left their birth places either temporarily or permanently with the hope of providing better lives for their families. In the late 1990s Spain became one of the best preferred destinations for work abroad. Like the rest of the surrounding population the Gypsies joined the common migration flows towards that destination. Within the framework of the common migration flow different Gypsy groups preserve a certain differentiation as community (mostly on group or regional-residence) level, which remains once they have settled in the country.