Topic 1 Statistics
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights is the ‘independent center of reference and excellence for promoting and protecting human rights in the EU’. Among the fundamental rights they promote is the right of freedom of religion and belief. (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights website)
They employ a number of tools the most relevant of which for PROSECUW are:
- The Database on anti-Muslim hatred (2012-2020) (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, FRA, n.d. a )
- The Compendium of Practices on Improving Reporting and Recording of Hate Crime in the EU (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, FRA, n.d. b).
Indicative statistics
In Chart 3 you can find the FRA Survey on Minorities and Discrimination in EU (2016) for the following question:
In your opinion, how rare or widespread is discrimination on the basis of religion or religious belief in your country?
Chart 3: Description / perception of level of discrimination on the basis of religion or religious belief in country
Statistics available at: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, FRA (n.d.), https://fra.europa.eu/en
Between 2007 to 2017, government restrictions on religious beliefs and social hostilities involving religion (violence, harassment and practices) have risen markedly around the world. Here is the case of Europe:
Table 2: Religious restrictions index scores by region
| Europe (45 countries) | Baseline year ending June 2007 | Previous year, ending December 2016 | Latest year, ending December 2017 | |||
| COUNTRY | GRI | SHI | GRI | SHI | GRI | SHI |
| Albania | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 0.1 |
| Andora | 0.9 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 0.0 |
| Austria | 2.6 | 1.1 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 3.2 |
| Belarus | 5.9 | 1.4 | 6.4 | 2.0 | 6.4 | 1.4 |
| Belgium | 4.0 | 0.9 | 4.0 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 2.2 |
| Bosnia – Herzegovina | 1.5 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
| Bulgaria | 4.0 | 2.2 | 5.7 | 2.7 | 5.3 | 4.2 |
| Croatia | 0.7 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 0.4 |
| Czech Republic | 1.0 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 2.6 |
| Denmark | 2.5 | 1.2 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 4.4 |
| Estonia | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| Finland | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 1.7 |
| France | 3.3 | 3.4 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 4.9 | 6.0 |
| Georgia | 2.2 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.1 |
| Germany | 3.1 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 6.8 | 3.2 | 7.1 |
| Greece | 5.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 5.1 |
| Hungary | 0.3 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 3.7 |
| Iceland | 2.6 | 0.4 | 3.7 | 0.1 | 3.7 | 0.1 |
| Ireland | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| Italy | 2.0 | 1.9 | 3.0 | 5.1 | 2.9 | 5.0 |
| Kosovo | 1.9 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 4.4 |
| Latvia | 2.3 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 1.2 |
| Liechtenstein | 1.3 | 0.1 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 0.8 |
| Lithuania | 1.7 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 0.6 |
| Luxembourg | 0.8 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 0.8 |
| Malta | 1.2 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 0.8 |
| Moldova | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 5.0 | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| Monaco | 2.5 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 2.8 | 0.0 |
| Montenegro | 0.9 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 1.1 |
| Netherlands | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 2.8 |
| North Macedonia | 2.2 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
| Norway | 1.5 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 2.6 |
| Poland | 1.0 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 2.2 |
| Portugal | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0. | 1.0 | 0.3 |
| Romania | 4.8 | 5.5 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 3.7 |
| San Marino | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Serbia | 3.1 | 1.5 | 3.1 | 1.8 | 4.2 | 1.1 |
| Slovakia | 2.8 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
| Slovenia | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
| Spain | 2.0 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Sweden | 1.2 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 4.5 |
| Switzerland | 1.2 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 4.6 |
| Ukraine | 2.6 | 1.9 | 4.2 | 6.8 | 3.8 | 7.1 |
| United Kingdom | 1.6 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 6.6 | 2.6 | 6.8 |
Source: Scores in the table below express the levels of religious restrictions according to Pew Research Center’s Government Restrictions Index (GRI) and Social Hostilities Index (SHI) (Pew Research Center, 2019)