While most Maltese believe discrimination based on skin colour is widespread, more than two out of five said they would not be comfortable with their child dating a Muslim or transgender person, according to a recent Eurobarometer survey.
When asked how prevalent discrimination based on skin colour was, 70% said it was widespread in the country, the sixth highest in the EU.
This was 11 percentage points higher than the last time the survey was carried out in 2019 and, alongside Cyprus, was the second-highest rise in the bloc.
The countries where people believe discrimination based on skin colour to be the most widespread were France and the Netherlands (both 78%), while respondents in Latvia (22%) and Lithuania (25%) said it was the least widespread.
Meanwhile, more than two out of five Maltese said they wouldn’t be comfortable with their child being in a romantic relationship with a Muslim or transgender person (43 and 44 per cent respectively). These were both above the EU average by 19 and 12 percentage points respectively.
And while three out of four people in Malta said they believed a transgender person should be able to change their official documents to match their identified gender, this was less than in 2019 by nine percentage points, the biggest drop in support seen across the EU.
More people in Malta also said they had been victims of discrimination in the last 12 months compared to 2019.
With 22% saying they had suffered discrimination, this reflected an increase of 14 percentage points from 2019 but was only one percentage point ahead of the EU average.
Overall picture
According to the survey, discrimination across the EU is far from being eradicated.
“The majority of respondents say there is widespread discrimination, on the basis of being Roma, skin colour, ethnic origin, gender identity (being transgender) and sexual orientation,” the survey said.
“More than six in 10 say discrimination on the basis of skin colour is widespread in their country (61%), while six in 10 say discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin is widespread (60%).”
Public spaces and the workplace are also the main places where discrimination or harassment takes place, the survey said.
And while respondents in Malta said there was widespread discrimination, only one in three believed that efforts to combat it were effective.
Meanwhile, the proportion of those who said efforts were “not effective” had risen by a staggering 20 percentage points to reach 37%.
However, only 2% admitted to having discriminated against someone, whether deliberately or unconsciously.
Job interviews
Malta was the only country where ‘disability’ was identified as the leading factor that could affect whether someone gets a job.
Respondents were asked which criteria could put a candidate at a disadvantage when a company has a choice between two people with equal skills and qualifications.
With 65% saying disability could put a candidate at a disadvantage when applying for a job, this reflected a rise of 38 percentage points since 2019 – the biggest increase across the EU – and was 50% more than the European average.
Malta also saw the second-highest share of people who said that skin colour could negatively affect whether someone got a job (57%) and the third-highest share of those who said that ethnicity could impact on someone’s chance of being hired (50%).
Skin colour, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and someone’s home address were all mentioned more frequently by respondents compared to 2019, with most of them seeing the biggest rises across the EU.
The Eurobarometer survey is a comprehensive public opinion study designed to gather information about attitudes to social and political issues across the union. The survey is conducted twice per year, from April to May and October to November.
For this survey, a total of 514 Maltese participants were consulted in face-to-face and remote interviews this spring.
In total, 26,399 participants were interviewed across the EU.