Racism and racial discrimination

Key findingsRacism and racial discrimination shape the lives of ethnic minority groups in the UK: there are persistent experiences of racial discrimination both before and during the pandemic, across a wide range of settings.• The Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) enables an assessment of racism and racial discrimination experienced in the period before the start of the pandemic, and during its first year.• Almost one in six ethnic minority people reported having experienced a racist physical assault.Over half of respondents from the Gypsy/ Traveller, Jewish and Other Black ethnic groups reported such an experience.• Close to a third of ethnic minority people reported experiencing racial discrimination in education, with a similar proportion reporting racial discrimination in employment.• Around a fifth of ethnic minority people (19%) reported experiences of racial discrimination when seeking housing.• The prevalence of experienced racial discrimination from the police prior to the pandemic is particularly high for some ethnic groups.For example, 42.7% of Black Caribbean, 42% of Any other Black, 36.4% of Roma and 34.6% of Gypsy/ Traveller people reported racial discrimination from the police.• On average, close to a third of ethnic minority people reported experiencing racial discrimination in public settings prior to the pandemic.Gypsy/ Traveller people reported the highest prevalence (49.4%).People in the Black Caribbean (49.3%),Any Other Black (44.4%) and White and Black Caribbean (40.7%) ethnic groups also reported a very high prevalence of racial discrimination experienced in public settings.• 47% of ethnic minority people have experienced racial discrimination in at least one setting.Over 10% have experienced racial discrimination in five or more different settings.People from Roma, Mixed White and Black African, Gypsy/ Traveller, Any Other Black and Arab ethnic groups reported the highest number of different forms of racial discrimination in the pre-pandemic period.• During the first year of the pandemic, on average 14% of ethnic minority people reported a racist assault (verbal, physical and damage to property), with several ethnic Unauthenticated | Downloaded 08/11/23 03:23 PM UTC Racism and racial discrimination 55 minority groups having a prevalence figure of over 15%.The Gypsy/ Traveller (41%) and Jewish (31%) groups had the highest figures.High prevalence of assault was also reported by people from the Black Caribbean group and the Mixed White and Black African groups (both 19%), and people from the Any Other Black group and White and Black Caribbean groups (both 18%).• Men generally experienced a higher prevalence of different forms of racial discrimination than women.However, in some settings, and for some ethnic minority groups, the prevalence for women was higher than that for men.For example, in relation to unfair treatment in education and employment, women from the Black Caribbean and the White and Black African ethnic groups reported a higher prevalence of discrimination in the pre-pandemic period than men in the same ethnic group.• Comparing the experiences of the period before the pandemic and the pandemic year, Chinese, Other Asian and Eastern European people experienced increases in experiences of racial discrimination relative to other ethnic minority groups during the pandemic year.• During the pandemic, people from Roma, Gypsy/ Traveller and Chinese ethnic groups reported the highest perception of increased police activity, and the highest rate of stops by the police.