Ethnic groups likelier to experience death of someone close during Covid, says study

Ethnic groups in Scotland were over two times more likely to experience the death of someone close to them during Covid-19 than the white population, according to a groundbreaking report released today by researchers from the University of St Andrews.

The report, entitled Racism, belonging and Covid’s legacy of ethnic inequalities in Scotland drew on data collected by the Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) and was authored by Professor Nissa Finney from the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.

The EVENS data was collected between February and October 2021 to document the experiences of ethnic and religious minorities in Britain during the Covid-19 pandemic. Respondents were asked to consider bereavement since February 2020.

It found that, in Scotland, experiencing bereavement was highest for those identifying with ‘Any other’ ethnic group (68%), Indian (44 %) and Pakistani (38%). The national average was around 25%.

Similar levels of bereavement experience were found for ethnic minority groups in England and Wales.

The report is a collaboration between researchers at the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) at the University of St Andrews and the University of Manchester and the Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector umbrella body BEMIS, and has for the first time collated data to show the ethnic inequalities in experience of bereavement during the Covid-19 crisis.

The report also collated data around various questions relating to discrimination and racism in Scotland’s ethnic groups, including attitudes to nationhood, belonging, political trust and relationship to policing.

It revealed that 9 in 10 Black Caribbean respondents in Scotland had recent experience of racist insult. Other minorities – Chinese (44%), Other Black (41%, and White Irish (33%) – had also experienced insult in the last five years for reasons to do with their ethnicity, race, colour or religion.

Professor Finney said: “The disproportionate impacts of Covid-19 on ethnic minorities in Scotland and the rest of Britain aren’t over. People are still dealing with its consequences day to day. Living with the loss of someone close to you doesn’t end when vaccination programmes stop.

“Our research with the EVENS Survey shows that ethnic minority people are more than twice as likely to have experienced Covid-related bereavement compared to White British. In Scotland twice the proportion of people identifying as Black and Asian compared to White British experienced the death of someone close to them during Covid.

“Our new data reveal that racism is becoming normalised. Over 80 percent of ethnic minorities experience racism during their life. In Scotland 1 in 10 Black, Asian, Arab and Chinese people have experienced unfair treatment from the police due to ethnicity or race in recent years. And most ethnic minorities worry about racism. For Black groups particularly, most accept racism as a fact of life. This is a very concerning state of affairs.

“The EVENS Survey shows very strongly that most ethnic minorities have a strong sense of feeling part of British and Scottish society and high levels of trust for Government, particularly Scottish Government.”

Nissa Finney is Professor of Human Geography at St Andrews, Director of the Evidence for Equality National Survey, founding member of the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE), and member of the ESRC Centre for Population Change. She has researched, taught and published widely on ethnic inequalities, residential mobility, housing, neighbourhood change, segregation and research methods.