More than 60 % of Czechs active online believe Romani people are favored over non-Roma in the Czech Republic

In a recent public opinion poll, half of the Czech people active on the Internet who were surveyed said they identify with the claim that national minorities in the Czech Republic enjoy better conditions does than the majority population in the Czech Republic, at least in some cases, and every fifth Czech Internet user is of the opinion that all national minorities in the Czech Republic enjoy more advantages than the majority population does, without exception. As for specific national minorities in the Czech Republic, the respondents to the recent survey most often mentioned the minority of the Roma, but opinions about their situation differed - while 23 % of those surveyed consider the Roma to be disadvantaged, 63 % of Czechs see them as advantaged.

The survey, taken by the Nielsen Admosphere company, used the method of online collection with a sample of 500 respondents age 15 and older from among the Internet-using population in the Czech Republic. "Almost two-fifths of Czechs agree with the statement that national minorities enjoy more or less equal conditions in our country," the company's press release states.

"At the same time, however, every fourth respondent is of the opinion that in some areas there still exists room for improvement. Just roughly one out of every 10 people surveyed (11 %) is of the opinion that national minorities here enjoy worse conditions than other citizens," says the press release.

"In the eyes of more than half of the Czechs active on the Internet (51 %), however, national minorities in the Czech Republic are advantaged, with 31 % believing they are advantaged in some cases, while 20 % believe they are advantaged generally," reads the press release of Nielsen Admosphere. When asked specifically which national minorities are disadvantaged in the Czech Republic, the respondents most frequently answered that the Romani and Ukrainian minorities are, with 23 % of Czech Internet users believing Roma are disadvantaged and 20 % of Czech Internet users believing Ukrainians are disadvantaged.

The third most frequently-mentioned minority was Arabs, with 14 % of Czech Internet users believing them to be disadvantaged, and the fourth most frequently-mentioned minority was the Vietnamese minority, with 12 % of Czech Internet users believing them to be disadvantaged. However, more than half of those surveyed (51 %) said they did not consider any specific national minority to be disadvantaged in the Czech Republic.

The survey then asked Czech Internet users to choose which national minorities they believe are advantaged. In most cases (63 %) the Czech Internet users said they believe the Romani minority is advantaged, with the only other minority to achieve a double-digit response being the Arab minority, with 12 % of respondents saying they believe that minority is advantaged.

As far as personal experience with disadvantage on the basis of national origin (or racial/ethnic origin), 64 % of the Czech Internet users polled said they had never encountered this, not personally and not in their circles. Almost 30 % of respondents said they had second-hand experience of such a situation, i.e., that their acquaintances, family members or friends had ended up being disadvantaged on that basis, or they had personally witnessed another person in such a situation.

Just 9 % of those surveyed stated that they had personally experienced disadvantage on the basis of their ethnicity. Respondents aged 34 and younger reported higher levels of both personal and second-hand experience with this type of disadvantage.

Respondents were also asked whether the issue of racism in the Czech Republic is sufficiently addressed. More than two-fifths of respondents are of the opinion that racism is not sufficiently addressed, while more than one-third are of the opinion that it is being sufficiently addressed.

Every tenth respondent believes the issue of racism is irrelevant to the Czech Republic, while the remaining 13 % of respondents had no opinion. The differences in the answers given to that question by members of different sociodemographic groups in the Czech Republic are interesting.

Men, for example, are more likely to be of the opinion that racism in the Czech Republic is being adequately addressed (45 % of men versus 27 % of women claim to hold that view), and that same opinion is held to a greater extent by college-educated people compared to those with less than a college education. More men believe the issue of racism is irrelevant to the Czech Republic, with 14 % of male respondents holding that view compared to 6 % of female respondents, and of the age groups, persons 45 and older are more likely to hold that opinion.