factors (ethnicity, religion and language) of Csángó identity. As far as ethnic identification is concerned, in the census of 2002, 4,317 declared themselves Hungarians and 796 declared themselves Csángó in Bacău County, reaching a total of 5,794 out of the county's total population of 706,623. The report of the Council of Europe estimates a Csángó population ranging from 20,000 to as many as 260,000, based in the total Catholic population in the area, which is a clear exaggeration as there also are Catholic ethnic Romanians. One plausible explanation for this discrepancy is that many Csángó hide or disguise their true ethnicity. The Council of Europe had in 2001 estimates that put the total number of Csángó-speaking people between 60,000 and 70,000. According to the most recent research executed between 2008 and 2010 by Vilmos Tánczos, famous Hungarian folklorist, there has been a sharp decline in the total number of Csángó-speaking people in Eastern Romania. Tánczos set their number to roughly 43,000 people. Moreover, he found out that the most archaic version of Csángó language, the Northern Csángó was known and regularly used by only some 4,000 people, exclusively the older generation above the age of 50. It can be said, therefore, that the Csángó Hungarian dialect is in high risk of extinction. In fact, when applying the UNESCO Framework to measure language vitality, this dialect fits the category of "Severely Endangered". See also Csángó Land Székelys References External links Situation of the Csángó dialect in Romania Homepage of the Hungarian Csángós "Dumitru Mărtinaș" Roman-Catholic Association Association of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia Ceangaii, the Roman Catholic from Moldavia Council of Europe Recommendation 1521 (2001) on the Csango minority culture in Romania Song of the Csangos — National Geographic Magazine Fundaţia culturală Siret Comunitatile catolice din Moldova Romanians Roman-Catholics Museum (csángó museum) Csangos Ethnic groups in Romania Hungarians in Romania Csangos