Scottish Social Attitudes 2025: attitudes to discrimination and positive action

Executive Summary

This report presents findings from the Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) study of public attitudes to discrimination and positive action in Scotland. This is the fifth time that SSA has included questions on this topic, allowing for changes in attitudes over time to be explored. The main aim in 2025 was to measure the extent and character of discriminatory attitudes and the level of support for positive action in Scotland in 2025 – including comparing attitudes to different groups and in different contexts.

General attitudes to prejudice and diversity

In 2025, almost two-thirds (65%) of people said that ‘Scotland should do everything it can to get rid of all kinds of prejudice’ – a slight decrease from 2015 (69%), returning to a similar level recorded in 2006 (65%) and 2010 (66%). Around one in three (31%) said that ‘Sometimes there is good reason for people to be prejudiced against certain groups’ which is higher than in 2015 when 22% held this view.

Nearly half (45%) of people said they would prefer to live in an area ‘with lots of different kinds of people’, while just under a third (31%) said they would prefer to live in an area ‘where most people are similar to you’. These figures were similar in 2015.

Around two in five (39%) ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that ‘people from outside Britain who come to live in Scotland make the country a better place’. A similar proportion (43%) ‘neither agreed nor disagreed’ with the statement and only 17% either ‘disagreed’ or ‘strongly disagreed’. The level of agreement with this had increased between 2010 and 2015 but had not changed since 2015.

Contact with different groups of people

The vast majority (95%) personally knew someone from at least one of the six sub-groups or equality groups asked about in the survey. Most knew someone from a different racial or ethnic background (80%) and knew someone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual (82%). Over half (52%) knew someone who is Muslim and nearly three-quarters (72%) knew someone who has a mental illness like depression or bipolar. This remained similar to 2015 and 2010. In 2025, three in ten (30%) personally knew someone who is trans, and 29% knew someone who is Jewish, which were new questions asked in 2025.

Relationships

Respondents were asked if they would be happy or unhappy if a close relative married or formed a long-term relationship with someone from the different groups considered. Attitudes have become more neutral since 2006, with a higher proportion choosing that they would be ‘neither happy nor unhappy’ and fewer people expressing happiness or unhappiness.

The greatest levels of unhappiness in this context were towards a Gypsy/Traveller (31%), a trans person (30%), or someone who has schizophrenia which has been under control for a year or so through medication (29%). There had been no change in this view towards Gypsy/Travellers between 2015 and 2025, following a decrease since 2006 (from 37-31%).

There was a positive change in attitudes towards same sex relationships, from 33% in 2006 being unhappy about a relative marrying someone of the same sex to 16% in 2015, and 10% in 2025. There were smaller changes in relation to other groups considered, for example the proportion who were unhappy with a close relative marrying a Muslim fell from 24% in 2006 to 16% in 2025. Attitudes to people who are Black and Asian and people who are Jewish have remained similar since 2015.

Immigration

Overall views on the economic and cultural impact of migrants living in Scotland were fairly positive with the mean score on the economy scale 5.2 and on the cultural life scale 5.3^[1].

Forty-five percent of people thought that the number of immigrants to Scotland should be reduced, either ‘a little’ or ‘a lot,’ 17% thought the number should be increased and 22% thought it should ‘remain the same as it is’.

Equity and participation in the labour market

Views on the suitability of different people as a primary school teacher

Respondents were asked their views on whether different groups of people would be suited to being a primary school teacher. Those considered least suitable were people age 70 (35%), a trans person (25%) and a Gypsy/Traveller (25%). This was a change from 2010 and 2015 where Gypsy/Travellers were deemed unsuitable by the highest proportion (46% and 34%, respectively). Views on unsuitability of someone aged 70 remained similar to 2015 and 2010, though lower than in 2006 (49%). The proportion who believed a trans person would be unsuitable in 2025 (25%) was slightly higher than the proportion who believed that ‘someone who has had a sex change operation’ would be unsuitable in 2015 (20%), but lower than in 2006 and 2010 (30-31%).

Views on the unsuitability of a gay, lesbian or bisexual person^[2] have decreased from 21% in 2006 to 9% in 2025. Attitudes towards Muslims has remained similar (between 11% and 15% in each of the years from 2006 viewing them as unsuitable for this job) and towards Black or Asian people (between 3% and 6% since 2006 felt they were unsuitable).

Right to paid leave when a child is ill

The vast majority thought that both mothers (95%) and fathers (92%) of children under five ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ should be entitled to take up to five days paid leave to look after their child when they are ill. A higher proportion thought that mothers ‘definitely should’ be entitled to this (75%) compared with fathers (68%).

Whether older people should be made to retire

A quarter (26%) of people said that older people should be made to retire to make way for younger age groups and nearly three-quarters (72%) said it is wrong to make people retire just because they have reached a certain age.

Promoting equality and positive action

Equal opportunities

Respondents were asked whether they thought attempts to give equal opportunities have ‘gone too far,’ were ‘about right’ or had ‘not gone far enough’ for women in Scotland, Black and Asian people, and lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Although the most commonly held view in 2025 was that attempts were ‘about right’, a significantly higher proportion felt that attempts had ‘gone too far’ for all three groups compared with 2015.

Four in ten (40%) thought that attempts for women had ‘not gone far enough’, compared with 32% thinking this about Black and Asian people and lesbian, gay and bisexual people. One in ten felt that attempts had ‘gone too far’ for women but a higher proportion thought this for Black and Asian people (23%) and lesbian, gay and bisexual people (26%).

Attitudes towards promotion and equal pay

Respondents were asked whether they thought it was fair or unfair if a company with fewer women than men or fewer Black and Asian people in senior jobs decides to give those employees extra opportunities to get training and qualifications. Two-thirds (66%) felt that it was ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ fair for women and 59% said this of Black and Asian people. This view has remained similar since 2006.

Equal opportunities for mothers

Respondents were asked to decide if a woman who had taken a year off work after having a baby, but had the same skills and had worked for the company for the same amount of time as another woman who had not taken maternity leave, was equally deserving of a promotion. The vast majority (90%) felt that both women were deserving of the promotion, and only 8% felt that the woman who had not taken time off was more deserving. This has remained similar to the view held in 2015.

Conclusions

The findings indicate increased levels of acceptability of prejudice, and both increased levels of discrimination against some groups, and a continued decline in levels of discrimination against others, which vary depending on the context. Four groups were identified as being at particular risk of discrimination in 2025: trans people, Gypsy/Travellers, people with severe and enduring mental illness, and older people.

Analysis of the survey results suggest that Muslims, Jewish people, people who experience depression, and gay, lesbian or bisexual people were all facing less direct discrimination than in 2010, however, fewer people in Scotland were happy that a close family member married or formed a long-term relationship with each of these groups in 2025 than they were in 2010.

Three distinct groups in Scotland can be identified in terms of the extent to which they hold discriminatory attitudes:

One group demonstrates discriminatory attitudes towards a range of different minorities, across different contexts. They tend to prefer to live in areas with people similar to themselves and have a negative view of the impact of immigration. They are more likely to be male, older, heterosexual, and have a religious identity.

The second group holds very few discriminatory attitudes, are largely in favour of immigration and positive action in the workplace, like to live in diverse areas, and would be happy to be related to all sorts of people or have someone from a minority group teaching their children. They are more likely to be younger, female, not religious and gay, lesbian or bisexual.

The majority who demonstrate some discriminatory attitudes, have concerns in specific situations or about specific groups, but these are not deep-rooted. Many of these people agree that Scotland should do all it can to eliminate prejudice, hence they may be willing to adjust their own behaviour and attitudes.