One in 17 EU residents feel discriminated against when looking for housing
Jakub Żerdzicki, Unsplash
According to Eurostat data for 2024, 5.9% of EU residents aged 16 and over reported feeling discriminated against when looking for housing. This is the highest level of discrimination among all areas of life studied - higher than when interacting with public authorities (5.2%), in public places (3.4%) and in the education system (2.6%).
The problem is particularly acute for people on the brink of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE). Among them, 10.1 per cent felt discriminated against when looking for housing, while among the better-off this figure was 4.7 per cent. Similar disparities are recorded in other areas: when applying to public services (9.2 per cent vs. 4.2 per cent), in public spaces (5.7 per cent vs. 2.8 per cent) and in education (4.4 per cent vs. 2.1 per cent).
It is important to note that this is self-perceived discrimination based on people's subjective feelings. Such data is collected on all grounds protected by EU law - gender, age, disability, religion, ethnic or racial origin, sexual orientation. While perceptions may vary from country to country, they serve as an indicator of hidden structural barriers that official statistics may be silent about.
The data raises the issue of informal exclusionary mechanisms faced by vulnerable groups in Europe, even despite legal guarantees of equality.
