Information on data
Equality statistics help to measure disparities and identify areas for which specific groups of people may be disadvantaged. It is a so-called cross-cutting topic as data come from various statistical collections.
Equality dimensions
In the EU, 6 grounds for discrimination have been identified. These are sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, and sexual orientation.
Depending on the statistical indicator, Eurostat’s statistics are disaggregated by sex, age, disability (activity limitation), citizenship or foreign background. Many indicators are also available broken down by a combination of dimensions, which allows to analyse intersectionalities and multiple forms of discrimination.
Providing statistics, which are disaggregated into these dimensions, is at the core of Eurostat’s equality statistics. The disaggregated data allow a detailed and nuanced view of discrimination and disparities between population groups.
Data sources
Data come from
- population and hosuing censuses
- administrative sources, such as data on social protection, health, education, and crime
- household and individual surveys, such as the
Available indicators
Equality statistics offer:
- socio-economic indicators covering the following areas of life:
- demography
- education, training and skills
- labour market participation and earnings
- income and living conditions
- health
- access to services
- participation in society.
These indicators are disaggregated by 1 or multiple equality dimensions, such as age, sex, level of disability, country of citizenship, and foreign background.
- indicators on the personal experience of discrimination and security, which provide insights into the extent and nature of self-perceived discrimination, overall safety and security of different population groups.
On-going and future work
Within the European Statistical System (ESS), work is ongoing to enhance the quality and comprehensiveness of equality statistics. This includes efforts to ensure that data adequately reflect the experiences and needs of vulnerable groups.
Additional data sources
Further statistics are available from the following other organisations: