Racism is an omnipresent topic in society and regularly gives rise to sometimes heated debates, including in Switzerland. On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March 2022, LINK conducted a representative survey of 1,220 people living in Switzerland. The survey asked, among other things, whether racism is perceived as a serious problem in Switzerland, how tolerant the Swiss people are and how many of them have already experienced racial discrimination. At the same time, YouGov, a global research institute of which LINK is a part, conducted the same representative survey in Germany among 2082 people.
A serious problem, but generally not requiring additional measures
Almost half of the Swiss (47%) consider racism to be a rather serious or very serious problem in Switzerland today. This opinion is particularly widespread among young people aged 15 to 29: 54% of respondents in this age group, i.e. more than half, share this opinion, compared with only 45% of those aged 30 to 44. Moreover, the problem seems to be more pronounced in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, where 55% of the respondents consider racism to be a rather serious or even very serious issue, while only 45% in the German-speaking part and 38% in the Italian-speaking part of the country share this opinion. In Germany, the population seems to be more concerned about the subject: 60% of the respondents consider racism to be a serious problem in their country.
While racism is a serious problem for many people, the majority of the population in Switzerland (57%) feels that there is no need to take further measures in this respect. Again, there is a difference between the generations: almost half (45%) of young people aged 15 to 29 consider the measures to combat racism in Switzerland to be insufficient, while this proportion is much lower among other age groups.
Racial discrimination: one in five concerned
Almost one fifth of the population (19%) had already personally experienced racial discrimination: in addition to the proposed grounds of discrimination (language/expression, skin colour/physical appearance or religion), the majority of those concerned mentioned other grounds, both for cases of racial discrimination in a private and professional context and on social networks. A large proportion of this discrimination was also related to grounds unknown to the data subjects, especially on social networks (68%). The share of people experiencing racial discrimination was similar in Germany (19%).
Of those who had already experienced racial discrimination, 33% had at least one nationality other than Swiss, and 45% were not of Swiss nationality.
A large majority of Swiss people, especially the younger ones, say that they do not feel embarrassed by differences.
Racism is mainly present on social networks: 59% of the population has already witnessed racial discrimination against others on this type of platform. This rate is lower in private (46%) and professional (44%) contexts, but is still close to half of the respondents.
However, the study was not limited to perceived racist opinions, but also, where relevant, to those shared by the respondents and those around them. On this point, a majority of people living in Switzerland said that they felt little or no discomfort towards people of a different skin color (96%), religion (93%), or language (91%). The 60-79 age group has the highest proportion of people who say they feel no discomfort towards people who speak another language (96%): in the youngest segment (15-29 years), by comparison, this rate is only 87%.
The Swiss consider themselves to be very tolerant and say that they do not make compromises, even in their romantic relationships.
When it comes to the degree of tolerance towards people with a different lifestyle or physical appearance, 70% of the Swiss consider themselves to be rather tolerant or even very tolerant. Furthermore, a large majority of the population (89%) considers it very important to be tolerant of people with a different lifestyle or physical appearance in the private sphere. Note that this seems slightly more important for women (93%) than for men (86%).
A large majority of the population also claims to be embarrassed when people around them make racist remarks or comments, especially if they are family members (84%) and friends (85%), but also colleagues (84%) and people on social networks (77%). In Switzerland, one in five people have cut ties or ended a relationship with someone because of that person’s racist views; in French-speaking Switzerland, this rate is as high as 29%, or one in four people. In addition, a very large majority of respondents (62%) said that they would end their relationship with someone if that person held racist views. Again, older people (aged 60-79) appear to be firmer than average on this issue, with 65% saying they would end a relationship with someone who held racist views, compared to 62% of 15-29-year-olds, 60% of 30-44-year-olds and 59% of 45-59-year-olds.
A clear commitment is expected from companies
A large proportion of the Swiss population (65%) reports having been racist, either deliberately or unintentionally. This is true both for people with only Swiss nationality and for those with (also) another nationality. In Germany, only 40% of respondents said that they had ever been racist.
However, only 12% of the Swiss population stated that they had already publicly committed themselves against racism, for example by participating in a demonstration. Young people are the most concerned by this point: almost a fifth of them (19%) say they have already publicly committed themselves against racism. Moreover, this rate is significantly higher among those who have already been victims of racial discrimination (22%) than among others (10%). In Germany, the proportion of the population who had already publicly committed themselves against racism was slightly higher (18%), but here too, a much higher proportion of young people aged 18-24 had already publicly committed themselves to this cause (35%).
Even though only a minority of the population has already made a public commitment against racism, the Swiss expect companies to take a clear stand against racism in the public sphere. Thus, 71% of the population wants companies to take a clear stand on social networks. The majority of respondents also expect companies to take a stance via posters, the company’s website, printed materials, television, and radio.
To receive a full summary of the survey results and key findings free of charge, please complete the form below. The results of the German survey are available on the YouGov website. If you have any questions or require further results or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Download the full results of the study:
Overview of the study
Method: an online survey of the LINK panel / YouGov panel in Germany
Population in Switzerland: 1220 linguistically assimilated persons aged 15 to 79 living in German-, French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland. The sample is based on a quota system with representative weighting according to age, gender, and region (according to current FSO population statistics).
Population in Germany: 2082 persons residing in Germany; weighted and representative of the population aged 18 and over
Survey period: 7-11 March 2022 (in Switzerland) and 8-10 March 2022 (in Germany)
