FIMITIC

On Monday 9 November 2009, the European Commission published its third Eurobarometer survey which aims to track perceptions of people in Europe towards different forms of discrimination and diversity.

This survey was carried out with a sample of 26,756 people interviewed in 30 countries (the three Candidate Countries: Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey were included for the first time).

Discrimination on ethnic grounds (61%) is considered the most widespread form of discrimination in the EU, followed by discrimination based on age (58%) and disability (53%). While perceptions of ethnic discrimination remain stable, there has been a significant increase in the number of people who consider the most widespread to be discrimination based on age (+16% points since 2008) and disability (+8% points since 2008).

According to the survey, the economic recession strongly influences the perception of discrimination. For instance, in addition to age discrimination, a majority of Europeans also expects the crisis to lead to higher levels of discrimination on the grounds of disability (56%) and ethnic origin (57%) on the job market. There is also an expectation that the crisis is likely to have a generally negative effect on action to tackle discrimination in terms of political and financial priority given by governments.

The Special Eurobarometer survey on discrimination – summary, reportand national Factsheets.
 

Source: EU Press Release