According to the study, 76 percent of respondents said they had been discriminated against in the past five years because of their skin colour, origin or religion, the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in Vienna announced on Wednesday. 

This is the highest proportion among the 13 EU countries in which people with African roots were surveyed on racism and discrimination. German-speaking Austria had similarly poor scores, according to the study.

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On average, 45 percent of the nearly 7,000 study participants in Europe experienced racial discrimination in recent years. According to the FRA report, the problem has grown significantly. In a previous study from 2016, when the average share was 39 percent. 

FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty described the trend as “shocking”.

It must be ensured “that people of African origin can also exercise their rights – without racism and discrimination,” he said. 

Among other things, the FRA called on EU states to collect more accurate data on racist incidents and to impose harsher punishments for racially-motivated crimes. They also said that better anti-discrimination rules should be written into hiring practices.

According to the survey, Germany is also among the top countries for racially-motivated assaults. There, 54 percent of respondents experienced harassment – the highest proportion among the 13 countries. 

In addition, nine percent of respondents in Germany reported personal experiences of violence. This figure was only surpassed by Finland with 11 percent. 

More than half of the black respondents in Germany felt discriminated against when seeking employment. The average among the 13 countries surveyed was about one third. 

When asked in which areas of everyday life they felt discriminated against, most respondents (34 percent) said they had felt disadvantaged when looking for a job, while 31 percent spoke of being the target of discrimination at work itself.

Just as many study participants felt discriminated against in the past five years when looking for a place to live.

According to the survey, almost 40 percent of black students in German schools are confronted with racist insults or threats, similar to Ireland, Finland and Austria.

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