Monitoring report of the National Discrimination and Racism Monitor
The report examines three central questions:
- How have racist attitudes developed in German society?
- And what experiences do people marked by racism have in their everyday lives?
- What effects do experiences of discrimination have?
Between 2022 and 2024, NaDiRa.panels was used to collect data on racist attitudes and experiences of discrimination, psychological stress and trust in society and institutions from various population groups. Around 20,000 people were surveyed in the first wave of the survey (June to November 2022) and around 9,500 people (with and without a migration background) in the fifth wave (August 2024 to January 2025).
"More than 60% of Muslim women and Black people increasingly experience subtle forms of discrimination. Experiences of discrimination are not random, but mostly based on racist attributions. The figures make it clear: for many people in Germany, racism is not the exception, but the rule."
The study
The task of NaDiRa is to systematically investigate the causes, extent and consequences of discrimination and racism. In order to be able to record the extent of racism, a systematic and continuous recording and investigation of attitudes and experiences is required. The monitoring report thus closes an existing gap, as there are no quantitative surveys on racism in Germany. In NaDiRa's empirical research, particular emphasis is placed on the experiences of those affected by racism in these social (threatening) situations so that these experiences are not trivialized as personal anecdotes.
Between 2022 and 2024, the NaDiRa.panel was used to collect data on racist attitudes and experiences of discrimination, psychological stress and trust in society and institutions from various population groups. Around 20,000 people were surveyed in the first wave (June to November 2022) and around 9,500 people (with and without a migration background) in the fifth wave (August 2024 to January 2025).
The NaDiRa monitoring report is published annually and provides a scientifically sound basis for the political and social debate on racism and discrimination in Germany.
"Racist discrimination takes place in almost all areas of society. This illustrates the structural dimensions of racism. It is important to continuously record these trends in order to reveal the acute need for action. As a state party to the ICERD, Germany is obliged to protect those affected from discrimination and to take measures to ensure equal rights. With the monitoring report, which is now published annually, we are providing a sound basis for targeted political measures to meet these obligations."
More than a fifth of the German population as a whole has strong racist attitudes. 22% of all respondents believe that ethnic and religious minorities have benefited economically more than they deserve in recent years.
23% are of the opinion that ethnic and religious minorities make too many demands for equal rights. These findings show that racist prejudices are widespread and will persist within the population as a whole over the period 2022-2024.
54% of racially marked people experience everyday discrimination:
More than one in two racially marked people (54%) experience discrimination at least once a month - compared to 32% of people who are not racially marked. Muslim (61%) and Black women (63%) as well as Black men (62%) are particularly affected by subtle forms of discrimination. Skin color is the most common reason for discrimination for Black people (up to 84%) and Asian people (up to 52%), while Muslim people primarily cite their religion (up to 51%). In addition, up to 55% of Asian respondents and up to 51% of Muslim respondents report being perceived as "not German" and being discriminated against. The figures show: Experiences of discrimination are not random, but occur on the basis of racist attributions.
42% of Black men and 38% of Muslim women experience discrimination primarily in public spaces:
Racially labeled people experience discrimination in public spaces, in public offices, authorities, leisure activities as well as in the police and justice system. Unequal treatment occurs most frequently in public spaces: 42% of Black men and 38% of Muslim women report regular negative experiences. Black men (36%), Black women (30%), Muslims (24%) and Asians (23%) are also affected more than average in restaurants, stores and at events. Muslim (37%) and Black women (29%) in particular experience discrimination in public offices and authorities. Discrimination by the police is a central problem: 19% of Muslim men and 18% of Black men report negative experiences.
Discrimination is associatedwith an increased risk of psychological stress:
People who experience discrimination at least once a month are significantly more likely to report symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders than those without such experiences. Muslim and Asian people are particularly affected: One in three people who frequently experience discrimination suffers from moderate to severe symptoms - compared to around 10% of those not affected.
Trust in state institutions is falling, particularly among those affected by discrimination:
Trust in state institutions has fallen since 2022, particularly among those affected by discrimination. During this period, trust in the federal government has fallen by up to 20 percentage points, especially among Muslim and Asian people. Trust in the police and justice system is also declining, especially among people who have experienced discrimination. For example, 87% of Muslim people trust the police if they have not experienced discrimination - but only 19% if they have been frequently discriminated against by them. Among Asian people, trust falls from 86% to 4% if they have frequently experienced discrimination by the police.
Changing racist attitudes
- Modern Racism Scale
The development of the Modern Racism Scale (1986) in research can be understood as an attempt to capture the complexity and adaptability of racist attitudes. It was developed to measure subtle racist attitudes and dynamics that are not expressed openly or directly,
but are hidden and rationalized and can therefore evade social criticism.
In the NaDiRa.panel, the scale was translated for the German-speaking context in order to enable a differentiated analysis of racist attitudes and their subtle manifestations.
The scale, which has been adapted to German-speaking countries, comprises six attitude items for which respondents were able to express their level of agreement on a five-point scale:
Denial of ongoing discrimination
- "It is understandable that members of ethnic and religious minorities in Germany are angry."
- "Discrimination against members of ethnic or religious minorities is no longer a problem in Germany.
Perceptions of excessive demands
- "Members of ethnic and religious minorities should not interfere in
public life and politics." - "Ethnic and religious minorities make too many demands for
equality."
Unearned benefits
- "In recent years, ethnic and religious minorities in
Germany have benefited economically more than they deserve." - "In recent years, the state and media have shown more consideration for ethnic
and religious minorities than they deserve."
The Modern Racism Scale measures attitudes that correlate with conservative ideologies and racist prejudices This correlation is analytically significant, as conservative
ideas of justice and racist arguments that reject measures for equality often have similar patterns of justification. Thus, the rejection of equality and anti-discrimination policies can be based both on a meritocratic principle of achievement and on racist motives that regard existing inequalities as legitimate or natural.
Figure shows the frequency of agreement with the attitude items of the Modern Racism Scale for 2024, differentiated by gender and age.
"Frequent agreement" is when people agree with more than half of the statements, while "rare to medium agreement" includes one to three statements and
"no agreement" includes no clear agreement at all.
On average, men have a higher level of racist attitudes than women: The proportion of men who frequently agree with racist attitudes is 12% in 2024, compared to 8% of women.
Agreement with the attitude items of the adapted Modern Racism Scale also increases with age (frequent agreement:
25-34 years: 8%; 55-64 years: 13%).
A comparison over time shows a slight increase in racist attitudes among people not marked as racist: The proportion of those who do not agree with any statement on the Modern
Racism Scale is lower in 2024 (39%) than in 2022 (43%), while the proportion of people with frequent agreement is higher in 2024 (14% compared to 12% in 2022). The
average approval ratings for this group are therefore at a similar, slightly higher level than in 2022. For Muslims, on the other hand,
shows an opposite trend: the proportion of those who do not agree with racist attitudes is higher in 2024 (51%) than in 2022 (43%).
The fact that groups affected by racism also agree with the scale points to the complexity of racist ideologies. On the one hand, internalized social hierarchies can lead those affected to subscribe to existing patterns of interpretation. On the other hand, this shows that conservative ideas of justice can be applied to various social groups - regardless of their own experience of discrimination.
An everyday experience
- Discrimination and its racist connotations
Modern racist attitudes are a breeding ground for social exclusion. Therefore, in addition to modern racist attitudes, the NaDiRa.panel also records
subjective experiences of discrimination. Discrimination includes, for example, disadvantages based on characteristics such as age, disability, gender, religion,
sexual identity, ethnic origin - or on racial grounds.
As certain forms of discrimination are often hidden, conceptualizing and measuring them from a social science perspective remains a challenge. The Everyday Discrimination Scale is an established and widely used instrument for measuring everyday discrimination. Based on this scale, the NaDiRa.panel has developed a
measuring instrument that depicts both subtle and overt experiences of discrimination in everyday life.
Overt experiences of discrimination include verbal abuse, harassment, threats and physical attacks.
In the area of subtle forms, respondents were asked whether they were treated unkindly, not taken seriously, ignored or stared at, or whether other people gave them the feeling that they were afraid of them.
The figure shows the results of the two discrimination indices. The results are shown both separately by gender and differentiated for all group affiliations included in the
NaDiRa.panel.
There are differences between the various groups for both subtle and overt experiences of discrimination. Women report subtle forms more frequently than men.
Black (63%), Muslim (61%), Eastern European (55%) and Asian women (45%) are particularly affected. Among men, it is Black (62%), Asian (47%) and Muslim men (52%) who report subtle discrimination more frequently. Overt discrimination also occurs more frequently in certain groups. Muslim women (21%) and men (16%) as well as Black women (21%) and men (25%) are more likely than average to have experienced such discrimination. Eastern European women (23%) and men
(15%) also report an above-average frequency of overt discrimination.
Mental stress
- more than an individual problem
Experiences of discrimination rarely remain merely situational events in the everyday lives of those affected. They leave physical traces that have an impact beyond the moment
and can have a lasting effect on individual well-being (Krieger 2005). Mental illness is not just an individual burden,
but also have far-reaching social consequences.
The PHQ- 4 scale (Löwe et al. 2010) - an established screening instrument for measuring psychological stress - was used to record the psychological stress of the respondents in the NaDiRa.panel. Participants answered the following question:
“Over the course of the last two weeks, how often did you feel affected by the following complaints?
affected by the following complaints?”
- Little interest or pleasure in your activities
- Dejection, melancholy or hopelessness
- Nervousness, anxiety or tension
- Not being able to stop or control worries
The answer options ranged from “not at all” (0) to “on some days” (1) and “more than half of the days” (2) to “almost every day” (3). On the basis of the
four items, an overall score was calculated, which is the sum of the responses and can have values between 0 and 12.
The figure shows the average, group-specific PHQ-4 values broken down by gender and the measurement dates of the 1st wave (2022) and 5th wave (2024).
The results show that the average psychological stress values are low overall over the observed period. This means that for
the majority of respondents, no to mild symptoms can be identified.
Nevertheless, relevant differences between the groups are discernible: people marked as racist consistently show a higher level of psychological stress than people not marked as racist. This difference remains stable across both survey dates.
Within the racially marked groups, however, no significant differences in average stress levels can be identified. In terms of gender,
women tend to have higher stress levels than men in all groups.
However, the gender difference is only statistically significant in the group of people not racially marked. With regard to the development over time, the general level of psychological stress remains largely the same.
However, a slight increase in psychological distress over time can be observed in some racially marked groups, with the exception of Black women, whose values decrease slightly over time.
However, this finding should be interpreted with caution, as the small number of cases in this group does not allow any reliable conclusions to be drawn and no generally valid
statements to be made.
Racism and health
Also interesting: Last Schwerpunktbericht des NaDiRa revealed that racially marked people are (racially) discriminated against when accessing healthcare in Germany (DeZIM 2023).
Trust as a social resource
The findings on experiences of discrimination make it clear that exclusion goes far beyond individual incidents and is structurally anchored. These experiences not only have
These experiences not only have a direct impact on the well-being of those affected, but also shape their trust in society and institutions. Trust is a key social resource,
that holds societies together - both in interpersonal relationships and in relation to state institutions.
Against this background, the monitoring report examines the development of institutional and generalized trust over the past two years as well as the underlying social dynamics.
To measure generalized trust, the NaDiRa.panel developed a survey instrument based on Yamagishi and Yamagishi (1994). The participants were asked: “Generally speaking: Do you believe that most people can be trusted, or that you cannot be careful enough when dealing with other people? be careful enough?” They could indicate their assessment on a seven-point scale, ranging from 1 (“most people can be trusted”) to 4 (“partly/partly”) to 7 (“you can't be careful enough”). be careful enough").
Figure 11 shows the distribution of generalized trust according to group affiliation and gender. In order to describe the results, the answers that signal
high trust (5 to 7) are summarized for a better overview. People who are not racially marked show the highest proportion of people
with high trust at over 40% - regardless of gender. In contrast, black and Muslim people show lower levels of trust (maximum 26%).
While there is hardly any difference in trust between men and women among people who are not racially marked, there are moderate differences in some racially marked
groups: women tend to express less trust and more skepticism than men. This difference is particularly clear among Muslim
and black people as well as Germans with a migrant background. In addition, there are some
clear differences between non-racist and racist groups, which are evident for both genders.
Recommendations for action
The results show that racism is not an individual problem, but is deeply embedded in social structures. Targeted measures are needed to promote equal participation and trust in institutions. NaDiRa monitoring provides valuable data, analyses and recommendations for action in this regard
Education & awareness-raising
- Raising awareness of modern forms of racism
- Deepening awareness of discrimination
- Racism-critical education and training for teachers, police and administration
- Strengthen public discourse against racist narratives
Protection & advice
- Set up easily accessible anti-discrimination centers
- Capacity building for counselors
- Create independent complaints offices for police & authorities
Mental health
- Promote multilingual & culturally sensitive therapy services
- Ensure discrimination-sensitive healthcare
- Expand psychosocial support services
Trust in institutions
- More representation of marginalized groups in politics & administration
- Establish internal control mechanisms
- Stricter sanctions for discrimination by authorities
Research & data
- Ensure regular surveys of experiences of racism
- Actively involve those affected in research. Make racism research participatory and ethical.