This report explores attitudes to prejudice, diversity and immigration, trends over time, and identifies groups most at risk, alongside mixed public views on equality and support for positive action in Scotland.
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.
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.