Europe is often portrayed as a continent of liberal democracy, human rights and equality. But for people of African descent living there, the experience can be very different. A major European Union survey found that racial discrimination is widespread—and in some countries, extraordinarily high.
When people talk about racism in Europe, the conversation often becomes a battle of anecdotes.
One person will say they have lived in Europe for decades without experiencing racism.
Another will describe being followed in a shop, stopped by police, rejected by a landlord, insulted in public or treated differently at work because of the colour of their skin.
So which account better reflects reality?
A major survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) provides perhaps the clearest answer available.
And the findings are uncomfortable.
The agency surveyed almost 6,800 people of African descent across 13 European Union countries, asking about their experiences of racial discrimination, racist harassment, violence, employment, housing, education and interactions with police.
The results showed that racism against Black people remains widespread—and in several countries, the reported levels are remarkably high.
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Germany and Austria stand out
If the question is which countries recorded the highest levels of reported racial discrimination among Black respondents, Germany and Austria are at the top.
In the FRA’s 2022 survey, 77% of respondents in Germany said they had experienced racial discrimination during the previous five years.
Austria followed at 76%.
That means roughly three out of every four Black respondents surveyed in these two countries said they had experienced racial discrimination during that period.
The figures are considerably higher than the overall picture across the countries surveyed.
Germany’s result is particularly striking because the figure had risen substantially compared with the previous survey.
The FRA reported that racial discrimination had increased across the EU since its earlier research, with discrimination becoming more prevalent in areas including employment, housing and education.
The one-year picture is also troubling
Looking only at experiences during the 12 months preceding the survey, Germany and Austria again recorded the highest levels, with approximately 64% of Black respondents in each country reporting racial discrimination.
Finland followed at approximately 54%.
This does not mean that 64% of all Germans or Austrians are racist.
That would be an incorrect interpretation of the data.
The survey asked people of African descent about their experiences.
It therefore measures the prevalence of reported discrimination experienced by Black people—not the percentage of the population holding racist beliefs.
That distinction is important.
Finland has another disturbing distinction
Finland also stands out.
Although Germany and Austria recorded the highest overall discrimination figures, Finland had particularly high levels of racist harassment and racist violence.
The FRA’s findings showed significant differences between countries depending on what form of racism was being measured.
That illustrates why simply asking “Which country is the most racist?” can be misleading.
A country can perform relatively better on one measure while performing badly on another.
For example, police interactions, employment discrimination, housing discrimination, verbal harassment and physical violence are different phenomena.
The FRA therefore examined them separately.
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The workplace can become a racial barrier
One of the most revealing parts of the research concerns employment.
Imagine two people with comparable qualifications applying for a job.
One is white.
The other is Black.
If the second person repeatedly discovers that their chances are lower because of their name, appearance, origin or skin colour, racism becomes more than an insult.
It becomes an economic force.
The FRA found substantial racial discrimination affecting people of African descent when looking for work.
Austria recorded particularly high levels, with around 59% of respondents reporting discrimination when looking for employment over the previous five years.
Germany followed at approximately 56%.
This matters because employment discrimination can have consequences that extend far beyond the workplace.
A person who cannot obtain a job matching their qualifications may earn less.
Lower earnings affect housing.
Housing affects education.
Education affects the next generation.
In this way, discrimination can reproduce inequality across decades.
Housing is another major problem
Finding somewhere to live can also become a racial lottery.
The FRA found that racial discrimination in the housing market had increased dramatically compared with its earlier survey.
Across the countries surveyed, the proportion reporting racial discrimination in housing during the previous year rose from 6% in 2016 to 28% in 2022.
That is a remarkable increase.
For someone moving to Europe from Africa, the experience may therefore extend beyond immigration paperwork and finding employment.
They may discover that their skin colour affects where they can rent or how landlords respond to them.
And because housing is one of the foundations of economic stability, discrimination in this area can have profound consequences.
Then there is the police
Perhaps one of the most sensitive findings concerns encounters with law enforcement.
A police stop is not automatically racist.
Police officers have legitimate reasons to stop people.
But the question is whether people are being stopped because of what they have done—or because of what they look like.
The FRA found substantial concerns about racial profiling among people of African descent.
Germany was particularly notable.
A significant proportion of Black respondents who had been stopped by police believed that their latest encounter involved racial profiling.
That finding matters because trust in law enforcement depends heavily on whether citizens believe they are being treated fairly.
If a community believes that the police see its members as suspects before they have done anything wrong, cooperation between that community and law enforcement can deteriorate.
But there is a surprising side to the data
The story becomes more complicated when countries at the other end of the table are examined.
In the FRA survey, Poland recorded the lowest five-year racial-discrimination rate among the 13 countries surveyed, at around 21%.
Portugal and Sweden also recorded relatively low figures compared with Germany and Austria.
This does not mean that Poland, Portugal or Sweden are “racism-free”.
Nor does it prove that their populations are inherently less prejudiced.
It simply means that Black respondents in this particular survey reported lower levels of racial discrimination than respondents in the countries at the top of the ranking.
That distinction is crucial.
So, is Germany the most racist country in Europe?
Not necessarily.
What we can say from the FRA data is much more precise:
Germany recorded the highest five-year rate of reported racial discrimination among Black respondents in the 13 EU countries included in the survey.
Austria was extremely close behind.
Germany also recorded very high levels of racist harassment.
Finland stood out in some measures of racist harassment and violence.
But there is no scientifically defensible single number called “the racism score of a country.”
Different studies measure different things.
One study might examine people’s attitudes.
Another might conduct experiments in which identical job applications are submitted using different names.
Another might measure hate crimes.
Another might ask minorities about their experiences.
These can produce different rankings.
For example, a major academic meta-analysis of field experiments examining discrimination in employment found significant discrimination against non-white applicants across the countries it studied, with France recording the highest discrimination rate in that particular research.
That does not contradict the FRA findings.
The studies are measuring different things.
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Europe’s uncomfortable contradiction
This is perhaps the most important point.
Europe has some of the world’s strongest formal legal protections against racial discrimination.
The European Union has laws prohibiting racial discrimination.
European governments regularly condemn racism.
Universities have diversity policies.
Companies publish equality statements.
Yet the experiences reported by Black residents demonstrate that having anti-racism laws is not the same as eliminating racism.
The FRA described racism against people of African descent as widespread and entrenched and reported that overall racial discrimination had increased since the earlier survey.
The gap between law and lived experience is therefore one of Europe’s most important unresolved social questions.
And this brings us back to Jason Arday
The issue becomes particularly relevant in light of the recent controversy surrounding Jason Arday, the former Cambridge professor who was found dead shortly after resigning from the university amid intense scrutiny of allegations concerning his academic record.
Arday’s case has generated a difficult debate about race, academic accountability and public scrutiny.
There is a danger on both sides.
One danger is assuming that because a Black academic faces criticism, the criticism must be racist.
The other is assuming that because legitimate questions have been raised about an individual’s academic record, racism cannot possibly be part of the story.
Reality can be more complicated.
A Black person can be subjected to legitimate scrutiny and racism.
A person can make mistakes and experience racial abuse.
An institution can have legitimate reasons to investigate an individual and still have a responsibility to protect that person from racist harassment.
Those possibilities are not mutually exclusive.
The numbers should change the conversation
Perhaps the most important lesson from the FRA research is that the debate should move away from simplistic claims about whether Europeans are “racist”.
That question is too broad.
A better question is:
Where, when and how are Black people experiencing discrimination—and what are governments and institutions doing about it?
The data provide some uncomfortable answers.
In Germany and Austria, very large proportions of surveyed people of African descent reported racial discrimination.
Finland recorded troubling results in several areas of racist harassment and violence.
Across the EU countries surveyed, discrimination has increased rather than disappeared.
And housing, employment, education and policing remain important battlegrounds.
The bigger question for Africa
For Africans, there is another dimension to this story.
Europe remains an attractive destination for millions of Africans seeking education, employment, business opportunities and a better quality of life.
African professionals occupy European hospitals, universities, technology companies, financial institutions and public services.
African students fill European universities.
African entrepreneurs establish businesses across European cities.
But migration statistics tell only half the story.
The other half is what happens after the African arrives.
Does the person receive equal treatment?
Can they rent a home without discrimination?
Can their qualifications be recognised?
Can their children attend school without racial bullying?
Can they walk down the street without being subjected to racist abuse?
Can they interact with police without feeling that their skin colour has made them suspicious?
Those are the questions that determine whether integration is real.
Europe is not one country
It would also be unfair to turn these findings into a blanket condemnation of Europeans.
Europe is not a single society.
Germany is different from Portugal.
Austria is different from Poland.
Finland is different from France.
Their histories, immigration patterns, colonial experiences, political cultures and minority populations differ considerably.
And within every country there are millions of people who actively oppose racism.
The FRA findings are therefore not a verdict on entire populations.
They are a warning about the experiences of a particular population group.
That may actually be the more useful way to understand the data.
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The uncomfortable conclusion
So, which European country is the “most racist”?
The honest answer is:
There is no scientifically established single winner.
But if the question is narrowed to reported racial discrimination experienced by people of African descent in the FRA’s 2022 survey, Germany comes out on top over the previous five years, at 77%, followed closely by Austria at 76%.
And that is an extraordinary statistic.
It means that the European conversation about racism cannot simply be about whether racist laws exist.
The more difficult question is whether Black people actually experience equality in everyday life.
The evidence suggests that, in parts of Europe, they still do not.
And perhaps that is the conversation Europe needs to have—not about whether it is a “racist continent”, but about why a continent with some of the world’s strongest equality laws can still produce such high levels of reported racial discrimination.
Source: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, “Being Black in the EU – Experiences of people of African descent”, based on its 2022 survey of almost 6,800 people of African descent in 13 EU Member States.
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