Nearly half of Muslims from Sub-Saharan Africa living in Finland say that they have experienced discrimination during the past year. In Sweden one in three African Muslims have had similar experiences, and in France just one in four.
The information is from a report published on in the European Union office of fundamental rights concerning discrimination against Muslims in the EU.
In Finland, the study included Muslims from Sub-Saharan Africa, who endured more discrimination than the average for the EU.
Most of the Muslims interviewed for the study believe that the reason for the discrimination was more their national origin than their religion. Only one in ten said that religion was the only cause for the discrimination that they suffered.
Experiences of discrimination were most common at work – either when applying for a job, or at the workplace itself.
Few of those experiencing discrimination reported the problem to officials or organisations. The most common reason or not taking action was the belief that nothing would change anyway.
The report, which was published on Thursday, is part of a broader EU-MIDIS project investigating discrimination against minorities in all EU countries. The study involved responses from 23,500 people, who were divided into national subgroups of at least 500 each.
