30 Years of British Social Attitudes – Self-Reported Racial Prejudice Data
NatCen Social Research / British Social Attitudes Survey
Source: https://bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/38110/selfreported-racial-prejudice-datafinal.pdf
Related: https://stagingnatweb.natcen.ac.uk/our-research/research/racial-prejudice-in-britain-today/

PUBLISHED FINDINGS (NatCen / Runnymede Trust, 2017 edition):
"New research reveals one in four people in Britain admit to being prejudiced towards people of other races."

KEY TIMELINE DATA (British Social Attitudes Survey — self-reported racial prejudice):
Year | % saying "very" or "a little" prejudiced against people of other races
1983: ~35%
1987: 38–39% (PEAK)
2001: 25% (ALL-TIME LOW)
2011: 37% (secondary peak)
2013: ~30% (BBC reported "nearly a third")
2014: ~30% (Guardian: "one in four to one in three")
2017: ~26% (NatCen/Runnymede: "one in four")

LONG-TERM TREND:
"Over this 34-year period there was a net decrease in the share of respondents saying that they were, at least to some extent, prejudiced when it came to people of other races." (Statista, citing BSA data)

"The long run trend of social liberalisation identified by NatCen's British Social Attitudes Survey, which saw attitudes soften towards same sex couples, sex outside of marriage, and abortion, has extended to race." (Runnymede Trust)

KEY CONTEXT:
- The BSA self-report measure (asking people if they admit prejudice) is a different question from the WVS "would not want different-race neighbour" measure
- BSA self-reported prejudice (~25-30%) is much higher than the WVS neighbour preference measure (2%)
- This is likely because admitting prejudice in principle differs from explicit behavioural preference
- Both measures show a long-term declining trend in Britain
- The 2022 WVS Wave 7 (with UK at 2% on racial neighbour question) is the most recent comparative global data

COMPARISON NOTE:
The BSA "admits prejudice" measure at ~25% would still place the UK far below countries where 40-70% of the population explicitly states they don't want a different-race neighbour (Bangladesh 71.7%, Hong Kong 71.8%, Jordan 51.4%, India 43.5%).