A research institute in Germany found that racially motivated prejudices are high, saying that one in three people espouse openly racist views. The survey found that this is particularly affecting levels of trust in government institutions. Interestingly, the survey did not only examine the attitudes of native Germans towards non-Germans but also looked at the mood among various immigrant groups, finding similar patterns of discrimination at similar rates.
The German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) reported that according to a recent survey it conducted, racist views are more widespread than previously assumed, with immigrant groups in Germany holding roughly the same types of discriminating views at about the same rates as people born in Germany.
More than 36 percent of all people who took part in the survey agreed with the statement that human "races" exist. However, this particular view on human evolution has long been scientifically debunked.
Meanwhile, 48 percent of those surveyed said they believed that certain races were by default "more hard-working" than others, and two-thirds espoused the view that some cultures were by default "more progressive" and therefore "superior" to others.
A quarter of all respondents agreed with the idea that ethnic and religious minorities made "too many demands for equality."
These attitudes were reportedly found across all groups that took part in the survey — including people with immigrant backgrounds.
Foreigners and native Germans 'unite' in discriminatory attitudes
The survey looked broadly at attitudes towards minorities in Germany, with over one in ten respondents saying that they either fully or somewhat agreed that discrimination against members of ethnic or religious minorities was not a problem.
Specifically within that cohort of people agreeing with discrimination being acceptable, about one in five people said they agreed with that statement only in part, while over 60 percent said they supported it "fully" or "somewhat."
Interestingly, people with a foreign background also agreed with that view in similar levels, with DeZim highlighting that across all their survey questions, the views of native Germans and those of people living in Germany with migration in their background held similar opinions to the same extent and proportion.
The findings therefore showed that discrimination is not limited to the race or religion of people who had come to Germany as immigrants, but that people of all backgrounds in Germany could become subject to discrimination, including white individuals.
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Racism lowers trust in government institutions
Researchers involved in the study categorized discriminatory experiences into two different types:
Overt incidents included direct insults, harassment, threats, or physical attacks, while more subtle forms of discrimination encompassed such behaviors as receiving hostile looks, being treated with little respect, or experiencing social exclusion.
Across both categories, Black and Muslim individuals reported that they had suffered disproportionately high levels of negative experiences, particularly when interacting with public institutions and government authorities.
The study also revealed that individuals who experienced racism tended to have lower levels of trust in state institutions and political systems.
One of the co-authors of the study, Tae Jun Kim, explained that therefore discrimination is not merely a matter of personal perception and that rather it poses a tangible threat to the legitimacy of public institutions while thus also undermining social cohesion in the long term.
Last year's edition of the same study highlighted the far-reaching impact of racism and discrimination in the midst of German society in a more specific way: "Every third family in Germany is linked to a history of migration," said Naika Foroutan, head of DeZIM, at that time, to highlight the wide-reaching implications.
"Discriminatory experiences therefore affect a large segment of society."
Further evidence for 'institutional' discrimination in Germany
DeZIM's findings come just one month after researchers at Leipzig's Research Institute for Social Cohesion (FGZ) published their findings on institutional racism in public agencies:
After a three-year review of attitudes observed at job centers, immigration offices, police and customs departments, various courts, health facilities, youth and public order agencies, and social work institutions, they found that racism is often embedded in institutional routine and culture in German public authorities.
The study found evidence of racist discrimination being held across all major institutions, while the survey also discovered that the level of discriminatory attitudes and practices in public authorities was no higher than that in the general population.
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Anti-discrimination commissioner not impressed by results
Germany's Federal Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Ferda Ataman meanwhile responded to the latest DeZIM findings, saying that she found them to be overly simplistic, and therefore, ultimately inaccurate.
She said that the idea of dividing people into a binary of perpetrators and victims — or rather people who perpetuate discriminating views and those on the receiving end of those views — was not a representation of the complex realities of German society.
She pointed out that the idea of individuals who are negatively affected by prejudice holding problematic beliefs themselves should not be a surprise in a complex world — including the scientifically unfounded notion that humanity can be divided into distinct "races."
Ataman also stressed that levels of education also appeared to play a role in shaping such attitudes: She said that in general, discriminatory beliefs tended to decline as educational level increased.
Ataman maintained however that in everyday life, where social factors like education levels cannot be controlled, many people continued to suffer discrimination as well as threatening or demeaning behavior, such as being told they should be sent "back home."
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A meticulously planned and procured methodology
The DeZIM study has been running since 2022, with its first report (published in 2023) already underscoring the fact that "racism and discrimination are not marginal phenomena; rather, they affect a large portion of the population, either directly or indirectly."
The latest wave of data for the survey was collected from responses given by 8,171 individuals living in Germany, aged between 18 and 74, who took part in an online questionnaire conducted between October 2025 and January 2026.
Participants were given the opportunity to self-identify across a range of categories — including Germans without a migrant background, Germans with a migrant background, those identifying as white (non-German), as well as people who viewed themselves as Black, Asian, Muslim, and Eastern European individuals.
To ensure a comprehensive understanding of discrimination today, the study intentionally included a higher proportion of participants from groups that were deemed to be more likely to be affected by racism and discrimination.
However, the authors of the report said that the data was carefully weighted to reflect the broader population, allowing researchers to draw conclusions that are representative of society in Germany as a whole.
The findings come as Germany, along with much of the European Union, is tightening immigration controls and asylum laws, trying to mitigate the effects of roughly a decade of less controlled immigration into the bloc amid a steep rise in support for far-right parties and anti-migrant sentiment, which is often reflected at the polls.
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