Black people living in Britain are more than twice as likely to be murdered as white people, a new study has found, underscoring the widening social gap in one of the world’s most developed countries.
The study, which was released by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on Thursday, also found that the UK police treated blacks unfairly and were three times as likely to arrest them.
The report, which is the biggest ever review of race equality in Britain, warned that the life chances for young people who belong to various ethnic minorities in the UK have hit their worst level over the past five years.
The research examined education, employment, housing, pay, health and criminal justice and warned about an “alarming picture” of racial inequality in the UK.
According to the study, long-term unemployment among 16- to 24-year-olds from ethnic minority communities has seen a whopping 49 percent increase since 2010. This is while the same age bracket in white communities has enjoyed a 2 percent drop in employment.
In terms of income, the study showed that the average black worker with an educational degree earns at least 23 percent less than his or her white counterpart.
When it comes to housing, the report found that 31 percent of Pakistani/Bangladeshi adults and 26.8 percent of black adults were living in overcrowded homes, while the figure was far less for white people at 8.3 percent.
Another significant finding of the study was the high mortality rate among black women, which was estimated to be four times higher than white women.
Interestingly, white women in the UK were most likely of any ethnic group to face domestic violence.
The report “underlines just how entrenched and far-reaching race inequality remains,” said David Isaac, EHRC’s chairman.
“We must redouble our efforts to tackle race inequality urgently or risk the divisions in our society growing and racial tensions increasing. If you are black or an ethnic minority in modern Britain, it can often still feel like you're living in a different world, never mind being part of a One Nation society,” he added.
He warned that the problem needs urgent attention as it may get out of hand in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, the day 52 percent of British voters decided to end the UK’s membership in the European Union.