According to the results of the study on the living conditions, origin and trajectory of the resident population in Portugal (ICOT), published this Monday, more than half of people of Roma origin said that they had already been discriminated against in Portugal.
A survey carried out between January and August 2023 by the National Statistical Institute (INE) on the occasion of National Roma Day shows that 51.3% of people who identified themselves as Roma have already experienced discrimination, a figure much higher than in the total The population is registered at 16.1%.
“Among the causes of this discrimination are essentially a combination of factors including skin colour, territory of origin and ethnic group, identified by 95.0% of people of this ethnic group who have been discriminated against (a proportion that is more than twice that of the general of the population subject to discrimination – 40.1%),” says the INE survey report.
According to ICOT, approximately 47,500 people aged 18 to 74 living in Portugal for at least one year “self-identified as a Romani ethnic group.”
“More than four-fifths (82.8%) said that discrimination exists in the country, and about three-quarters (74.3%) believe that discrimination based on ethnicity is common or very common (48.8% of the total population ). More than half of the population of this ethnic group (52.7%) have witnessed situations of discrimination (35.9% of the total population),” the document says.
The basis of discrimination, according to ICOT, “is mainly based on a set of factors already identified in the discrimination experienced, that is, skin color, territory of origin and ethnic group (91.2%), as well as socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, education and economic status (70.6%).”
In addition, more than half of Roma (52.7%) say that they have witnessed situations of discrimination, which exceeds 35.9% of the total population.
The survey also shows that among people who identified themselves as Roma, there was a “higher proportion of women (56.6% compared to 51.7% of the total population)”, recording a difference of 13.2 percentage points between the sexes in this ethnic group.
The Roma population also had a younger age structure (35% were aged 18 to 34) than the general population (25%), but was less educated.
ICOT also states that nine out of ten people of Roma origin had no personal or family immigration trajectories.
“It is observed that 88.1% of people who call themselves Roma are of non-immigration origin, that is, they are people born in Portugal whose parents or grandparents were also born in Portugal, which is higher than in the general population. population (81.5%),” he emphasizes.
The survey shows that “almost the majority of the Roma population (95.3%) was born in Portugal, comparable to 87.5% of the country’s total population, and 96.7% also have Portuguese citizenship (95.2%). ), which was obtained primarily by birth (95.1%, comparable to 89.9% for the overall population).”
According to the survey, people of Roma ethnicity prefer closer places, such as a district (57.7%), a town or city (63.2%) or the region in which they live (66.3%), compared to the general population , according to the survey.
In the labor market, the Roma population had a lower share of assets (61.3% compared to 70.8% of the total population), positioning themselves mainly in the first quintile of the income distribution, that is, 20% of the population. with lower incomes (72.6%).
Roma overall rated their health as very good or good (62.0%), although they reported a higher proportion of chronic diseases.
This population group also provided values significantly below the national average for assets (30.6% versus 70.8% of the total population) and thermal comfort of housing (46.8% versus 72.3%), as well as for Internet access (74.2% vs. 91.8). %) and automobile (55.1% versus 75.6%).
The ICOT was conducted throughout the country with a sample of 35,035 housing units, representing the largest sample of household surveys conducted by INE. Only one person per property was interviewed, selected using the property’s last birthday method, resulting in 21,608 complete interviews.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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