Minorities in Scotland twice as likely to live in poverty

People from ethnic minority families in Scotland are nearly four times more likely to be born into an overcrowded household and around two times as likely to be in poverty.

The report found one in four Scottish pupils was aware of minority prejudice-based bullying. Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto

A new report into race equality commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission also finds those from ethnic minorities are twice as likely to be experiencing unemployment.

The report also uncovered evidence of those from minorities being bullied at school and failing to get into the top universities. The report notes that racially motivated hate crime should be of greater concern to governments following the Brexit vote. In Scotland, it found 11.8 per cent of ethnic minority households lived in overcrowded properties compared with 2.9 per cent of white households. In 2013-14 people from ethnic minorities were more than twice as likely to live in poverty than white-British people. After housing costs, 36 per cent of people from ethnic minorities were in poverty, compared with 17 per cent of white-British people.

The unemployment rates for people from ethnic minorities in 2013 stood at 13.2 per cent compared with 6.9 per cent for white British people. In 2013, only 57.4 per cent of people from ethnic minorities were in work compared with 73.8 per cent of white people.

On education, the report found that just 6 per cent of black school leavers from across Great Britain attended a Russell Group university, compared with 12 per cent of mixed and Asian school leavers and 11 per cent of white school leavers.

One in four Scottish pupils said they were aware of peers suffering prejudice-based bullying. Alastair Pringle, director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Scotland, said: “This report shows Scotland has unique challenges to address on race equality. Whilst we do not share the issues of racial disproportionality of stop and search or high ethnic minority prison populations that our report highlights elsewhere in Britain, ethnic minorities in Scotland still face real challenges in terms of poor housing, unemployment and poverty.”  

Cabinet Secretary for Equalities Angela Constance said: “It’s completely unacceptable that minority ethnic households should face any barriers to education, employment and housing. That is why we are leading the way across the UK, undertaking a wide-range of actions to address these inequalities.”