Based on a survey of first- and second-generation Black immigrants in 13 EU countries published on 25 October 2023, racism towards Black people is growing in Europe, with Germany, Austria and Finland showing the highest rates of discrimination and harassment, found.
According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), in the space of six years since the previous study, the proportion of respondents who had felt racially discriminated against in the past 12 months had risen by 10 percentage points to 34%.
In Austria and Germany the proportion was 64%; almost twice the previous level of 33% in Germany and a significant increase from the 42% recorded in Austria six years earlier. The next worst was Finland with 54%.
The poll was a sweeping survey of 16,124 immigrants and descendants of immigrants across 15 countries from which several FRA reports will be produced on other ethnic minorities and Muslims. It was conducted between October 2021 and September 2022.
The program focuses on 6,752 people born in sub-Saharan Africa or with at least one parent born there living in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
The FRA report included a series of recommendations for EU member states such as properly enforcing anti-discrimination legislation and considering a motivation based on racial bias as an aggravating circumstance when setting penalties for crimes.