Black People in the EU Face Ever More Racism
EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), October 2023
Report title: "Being Black in the EU – Experiences of People of African Descent"
Source: https://fra.europa.eu/en/news/2023/black-people-eu-face-ever-more-racism
Full report: https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2023-being-black_in_the_eu_en.pdf
Summary sheet: https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/qa-2023-being-black-in-the-eu.pdf

SURVEY OVERVIEW:
- Survey of 6,752 people of African descent in 13 EU countries
- Countries covered: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden
- NOTE: The United Kingdom is NOT included (not an EU member state)
- Respondents were first or second generation immigrants of sub-Saharan African descent

KEY HEADLINE FINDINGS:
- 45% of respondents experienced racial discrimination in the 5 years before the survey
- This is an increase from 39% in FRA's previous survey (2016)
- 55% experienced discrimination more than 3 times in the 12 months before the survey
- Overall experiences of racial discrimination reached as high as 77% in some countries

COUNTRY-LEVEL BREAKDOWN:
Highest discrimination rates (in the past year):
- Germany: 64% (up from 33% in previous survey — nearly double)
- Austria: 64% (up from 33%)
- Finland: High rates
- Belgium: 44% experienced racial harassment
- Italy: 43% experienced racial harassment
- Austria: 49% experienced racial harassment

Lowest discrimination rates (some metrics):
- France: 5% for some specific measures
- Poland: 5%
- Portugal: 5%

CONTEXT FOR UK COMPARISON:
- "In Austria and Germany that figure was 64 percent, almost twice the previous level of 33 percent" (RFI)
- Germany and Austria exceeded 70% for some lifetime discrimination measures
- The UK's WVS racial tolerance score (2%) contrasts sharply with Germany and Austria's discrimination rates
- Al Jazeera: "46 percent of first and second-generation Black immigrants in 13 EU countries have experienced discrimination"
- JURIST: "Austria, Germany and Finland topping the list for the highest rates of discrimination and harassment"

QUOTE from FRA Director: "People of African descent face widespread and entrenched prejudice and exclusion. Racial discrimination and harassment are commonplace." Despite binding EU laws, no progress has been made.

BROADER IMPLICATIONS:
This data shows that several EU countries — particularly Germany and Austria — have significantly worse racism outcomes for Black residents than the UK. The UK's exclusion from this survey means we cannot directly compare using this dataset, but other data (WVS, BSA) consistently shows the UK performs better than most European and global comparators.