Europeans fear age discrimination: poll
(BRUSSELS) - Around one in six Europeans claims to have been discriminated against over the last year, most due to the economic crisis and based on their age, according to a European Commission survey Monday.
Sixteen percent of Europeans claimed in the Eurobarometer poll to have been discriminated against, six percent due to their age, three percent based on their sex, two percent due to ethnic origin and one percent sexual orientation.
"Discrimination remains a problem across Europe," Equal Opportunities Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said in a statement. "One area of concern is the perceived rise in age discrimination as a result of the recession."
"These results show that despite progress, we still have a long way to go in making people more aware of their rights to equal treatment," he added.
The poll, conducted from May 29 to June 15 and involving 26,756 people in 30 European countries, also found that 64 percent of respondents are concerned that the economic crisis will exacerbate age discrimination in the job market.
It showed that age is considered the biggest obstacle to getting a job.
Special Eurobarometer survey on discrimination – summary, report and national factsheets
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