Observatory of discrimination against Muslims in France

At a time when the dumping of pigs’ heads in front of mosques in the Paris region has rekindled the question of the rise in anti-Muslim acts in France (+75% over the period from January to May 2025, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior), it seems more necessary than ever for observers to have reliable data on the scale of racist and discriminatory phenomena affecting Muslims in France. To this end, the Grande Mosquée de Paris and Ifop have set up an “observatory of discrimination against Muslims in France” to measure discriminatory practices against this minority in a more exhaustive way than the simple complaints or testimonies collected by associations or law enforcement agencies. Carried out on a nationally representative sample of a thousand Muslims, this victimization survey (a survey measuring exposure to discrimination or violence), conducted using a robust methodology combining telephone and self-administered approaches, reveals the extent of discriminatory phenomena affecting the French Muslim population.

KEY FIGURES

A population overexposed to anti-religious racism…

1. 66% of Muslims have been subjected to racist behavior over the past five years, a rate more than three times higher than that observed among the French population as a whole (20%) and among followers of other religions (18%).
2. And these racist acts are above all linked to their religious affiliation: 50% of Muslims who have recently been the victims of racism consider that their religion was above all the cause, compared with 15% of followers of other religions, confirming both the scale and the specifically denominational dimension of Muslimophobia[1] in France.
3. But this racism is not limited to the rejection of their faith. Confirming intersectionality as one of the discriminatory factors, an analysis of responses to the experience of some form of racism (all motives taken together) shows that their rejection is even stronger when they have, for example, a very pronounced accent (85%) or sub-Saharan origins (84%).

… and discriminatory practices of all kinds, including in public services

4. 66% of Muslims have already been the victim of at least one form of religious discrimination, four times more than followers of other religions (15%). And for many, it’s not just a distant experience, but something they’ve experienced recently: almost one Muslim in two (48%) has experienced at least one form of discrimination in the last five years.
5. But this overall rate masks significant differences according to the type of discrimination. Among those who have experienced such situations, the most widespread religious discrimination is that experienced when looking for work (51% ) or housing (46%), and during police checks (51%), in each case 5 to 6 times more widespread than for other religions (6% to 8%).
6. Far from being a “safe space” for this religious minority, public services are also areas of discrimination , judging by the proportion of Muslims who have experienced discriminatory practices by public officials (36%), health professionals (29%) or school teachers (38%).

Muslims also very much affected by discrimination in hiring and according to where they live

7. One Muslim in two who has looked for a job reports having already been discriminated against on the grounds of their “real or supposed religious beliefs” (50%) or their “ethnic or cultural origins” (53%), five times more than the figure for the French population as a whole (9% to 13%).
8. What with the commune or neighborhood of origin also being a factor in over-discrimination in hiring for Muslims (at 39%, against an average of 11%), the feeling of being treated worse than others for no good reason because of one’s neighborhood is shared by almost one Muslim in two (44%), particularly those living in a priority neighborhood (53%).

A widespread climate of hatred towards Islam, a source of anxiety for the Muslim population

9. The Muslim population’s exposure to such discrimination generates collective anxiety among most of those surveyed: 82% of Muslims believe that hatred towards Muslims is a widespread phenomenon in France, and 81% see it as a trend that has worsened over the past 10 years
10. This collective anxiety goes hand in hand with more personal fears, such as the fear of restrictions on their religious freedom (64%) or of being attacked because of their religion (51%), with these rates reaching very high levels among people whose religion is the most visible: 81% and 66% respectively among veiled women.

Distrust of institutions, support for religious associations in this area

11. In the event of discrimination, only 66% of Muslims would file a complaint with the police, and even fewer of those who have already been discriminated against because of their religion (58%) would do so. Even fewer would turn to an anti-racist association (53%) or a religious association (36%), which are still poorly identified as useful bodies in this field.
12. Faced with the failure of the public authorities, Muslims nonetheless overwhelmingly support the involvement of their religious institutions in the fight against discrimination against Muslims in France: 81% of Muslims would like the Grande Mosquée de Paris to fight against forms of hatred and discrimination against Muslims in France

Ifop’s view: In the light of these results, Muslimophobia appears more than ever as a multidimensional discriminatory system that structures the social experience of French Muslims in all areas of their lives. And while it is difficult to measure the exact weight of religion in these discriminatory phenomena, the intersectionality of Muslimophobic discrimination is quite clear, signalling a discriminatory continuum where factors – generational, socio-economic, geographical, identity-based… – reinforce each other. In this respect, geographical analysis highlights the cumulative territorial and denominational handicaps they face in accessing opportunities. And while belonging to Islam is one of the most discriminating markers in the private sector (e.g.: access to employment, access to housing…), the study also shows that discrimination is becoming commonplace in public services, despite the fact that they are supposed to embody state neutrality… The persistence, scale and frequency of such discrimination therefore represent a major challenge for social cohesion, particularly for all those wishing to stem the tide of worrying community fragmentation.

[1] Less polemical than the notion of “Islamophobia”, which equates hostility towards Islam (a religion) with hostility towards people practicing this religion (believers), the notion of “Muslimophobia” seems to us a more appropriate term to designate forms of hostility towards Muslims, insofar as it refers to the rejection of Muslims as individuals, and not to opposition to “Islam” as an ideological-religious corpus. In this report, the notion of “Muslimophobia” therefore refers to all hateful or discriminatory behavior towards Muslims – real or imagined – as individuals.