France recorded significantly more racist crimes last year than in the previous year.
With around 8,500 crimes and misdemeanours, the number rose by 32%, the Ministry of the Interior in Paris announced on Wednesday.
There were around 6,400 racist incidents where people were racially insulted, provoked or defamed, or subjected to death threats and blackmail. Physical violence and attacks occurred less frequently, but such cases also increased last year.
In its statistics, the ministry counts all reported offences that were directed against someone's ethnicity, nation or religion. According to the ministry, attacks increased particularly from October onwards, in a context of high tensions in the Middle East.
The ministry also said people from African countries were particularly affected by racist offences last year. While they only make up 4% of the total population, they accounted for 11% of victims of racist attacks.
Men and people between the ages of 25 and 54 were also disproportionately attacked.
However, the ministry referred to a survey which said only a fraction of all victims of racist violence actually report the offences. In 2021, this figure was just 4%.
According to the ministry, there are also more women and more people of French nationality among suspects of racist offences than among suspects for all offences.
The ministry did not provide any information on possible racist offences committed by the police. In the past, individual incidents in France have caused outrage, sparking demonstrations against alleged racially motivated police violence.