The Sikh community represents approximately 25-30 million people worldwide, with roughly 90% residing in India, primarily in Punjab the only Sikh-majority administrative region globally. Beyond India’s borders, the Sikh diaspora has established significant communities across North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. India is home to an estimated 23.8 to 24 million Sikhs, representing the overwhelming majority of the global population. Canada hosts the second-largest Sikh population with 771,790 to 800,000 individuals, comprising about 3.3% of global Sikhs and 2.12% of Canada’s national population the highest proportion of any country outside India.
The United Kingdom has between 524,529 and 535,500 Sikhs, making up approximately 2.2% of the global Sikh population, while the United States estimates range from 500,000 to 700,000, though community advocacy groups often cite higher figures due to historical underreporting of religious identity. Australia is home to approximately 210,400 Sikhs, while Italy has a similar population of 210,000 to 220,000, making it the largest Sikh community in continental Europe. Other significant populations include Malaysia with 100,000, Thailand with 70,000 to 100,000, and the United Arab Emirates with 52,000 to 100,000 Sikhs.
In Europe specifically, approximately 800,000 Sikhs live across the continent, with the largest concentrations in the UK and Italy, followed by Portugal with approximately 35,000, France with approximately 30,000, and Spain with approximately 26,000. New Zealand has a notable concentration with approximately 53,400 Sikhs representing 1.07% of the total population. Throughout the Middle East, sizeable communities exist in Oman with 33,704, Kuwait with 15,000, and Saudi Arabia with 6,700 Sikhs.
The European Experience: A Complex Reality
The Sikh community in Europe faces a multifaceted set of challenges that span discrimination, hate crimes, employment barriers, and systemic invisibility. While experiences vary significantly by country and individual circumstance, research and advocacy organizations have documented persistent patterns of discrimination. Understanding these challenges requires examining multiple interconnected issues that affect Sikhs’ daily lives, from workplace discrimination to physical safety concerns.
Sikhs may be more visible and vulnerable to racism than other religious groups due to visible articles of faith, including turbans worn by men and some women. This visibility, particularly the turban and unshorn hair, has become both a source of religious pride and a target for discrimination. In 2024, a Sikh lawyer attending the Fundamental Rights Forum in Vienna reported being subjected to an Explosives Trace Detection test specifically because he wore a turban, before even passing through security scanners. The incident highlighted ongoing profiling concerns at European airports and public spaces, demonstrating how visible religious identity can lead to differential treatment even in professional contexts.
One of the most persistent challenges facing Sikhs globally, including in Europe, stems from misidentification. Following September 11th, media images of Osama Bin Laden typically included a turban and beard, leading many to associate these features with terrorism. This conflation has had lasting consequences. Research indicates that Sikhs have reported substantial misidentification and discrimination, especially in connection with extremist beliefs and perceived terrorism. This pattern persists despite Sikhism being a distinct monotheistic faith with over 500 years of history, focused on love, equality, and service. Attacks on Sikhs have increased in the aftermath of Islamic terrorist attacks or major political and military events in the Middle East, as Sikhs are often mistakenly perceived as being Muslims. This pattern demonstrates how Islamophobia affects multiple communities beyond its intended targets, creating collateral discrimination that impacts Sikhs despite their distinct religious identity.
Employment discrimination represents a significant barrier for Sikhs in Europe. While comprehensive Europe-wide data specifically on Sikh employment discrimination is limited, the broader context of religious discrimination provides important insights. The European Union’s Employment Equality Directive prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief in the workplace, yet enforcement and experiences vary significantly across member states. Muslims in the EU most often face discrimination when looking for work at 39% or in the workplace at 35%, up from 31% and 23% in 2016. Given the pattern of misidentification, Sikhs likely experience similar challenges. Specific issues include dress code policies that conflict with religious articles of faith such as turbans, kirpans, and unshorn hair, requests for religious accommodations being denied or met with hostility, bias in hiring processes based on visible religious identity, and workplace harassment and hostile environments.
Data on anti-Sikh hate crimes in Europe remains incomplete, contributing to what advocacy organizations call systemic invisibility. However, available evidence paints a concerning picture. In the UK, there has been a 169% increase in anti-Sikh attacks in 2021 to 2022 compared to the previous year, with some attacks involving the forced removal of turbans worn by Sikhs. Official statistics show a steady increase from 117 anti-Sikh hate crimes representing 2% of religiously motivated crimes in 2017 to 2018, rising to 188 incidents or 3% in 2018 to 2019, 202 incidents or 3% in 2019 to 2020, and 301 incidents or 4% in 2021 to 2022. However, Sikh organizations in the UK have claimed the true number of anti-Sikh hate crimes is higher than official statistics show, as some incidents are not reported or are categorized incorrectly. In continental Europe, comprehensive hate crime data for Sikhs specifically is scarce in most countries. Many nations do not track anti-Sikh incidents as a separate category, instead grouping them under general religious discrimination or misclassifying them as anti-Muslim incidents.
Perhaps one of the most significant challenges facing Sikhs in Europe is systemic invisibility within policy frameworks and data collection systems. In the UK, religion data is never used by public bodies to make decisions for delivering public services, making both Jews and Sikhs invisible to policymakers and ignoring the inequality and discrimination that both groups face. A 2024 bill was introduced in UK Parliament to address this by creating specific Sikh and Jewish ethnic categories in government data collection. The percentage of Sikhs and Jews who identify with their ethnic group but do not practice their religion is growing, and as Britain becomes increasingly secular, failing to recognize other ways these communities face discrimination becomes more problematic. This data gap extends across much of Europe, where Sikhs are often not counted as a distinct category in census data, employment statistics, hate crime reporting, healthcare and social services data, or educational achievement tracking.
Comparative Context: Understanding Discrimination in Europe
While this article focuses on Sikh experiences, it’s important to recognize that multiple religious and ethnic minorities face discrimination in Europe. Nearly one in two Muslims, or 47%, in the EU experience racial discrimination, up from 39% in 2016. Jewish communities face persistent antisemitism, with significant hate crimes recorded across European nations. Roma communities experience some of the highest rates of discrimination across Europe, while various immigrant and refugee communities face systemic barriers in employment, housing, and education. The Sikh experience exists within this broader context of challenges facing visible minorities and religious communities across Europe. Each community faces unique challenges while also experiencing overlapping forms of discrimination, and understanding these interconnections is essential for developing comprehensive anti-discrimination policies.
Advocacy and Organizational Response
Recognizing the need for coordinated advocacy, the European Sikh Organisation was founded to represent the approximately 800,000 Sikhs across continental Europe, aiming to defend their rights and inform EU institutions about Sikh culture and religion. This organization works alongside other Sikh advocacy groups to address discrimination and promote understanding. These organizations focus on several key priorities including improving data collection by advocating for specific Sikh categories in census and hate crime reporting, ensuring religious accommodation in workplace and public space policies to accommodate Sikh articles of faith, combating misconceptions about Sikh identity and faith through education and awareness campaigns, strengthening enforcement of existing anti-discrimination laws, and improving hate crime response through better reporting mechanisms and police training.
The Path Forward
Addressing the challenges facing Sikhs in Europe requires coordinated action from multiple stakeholders. Policymakers must implement comprehensive data collection that specifically tracks Sikh demographics, employment, education, and hate crime experiences. They should mandate hate crime reporting and train law enforcement on identifying and responding to anti-Sikh incidents, strengthen religious accommodation laws with clear guidance for employers and institutions, fund education initiatives to increase public understanding of Sikh faith and culture, and create consultation mechanisms to regularly engage with Sikh community leaders.
Employers and institutions have a critical role to play by reviewing policies for potential discriminatory impact on religious minorities, providing training on religious diversity and accommodation, establishing clear procedures for requesting and granting religious accommodations, monitoring and addressing workplace discrimination and harassment, and promoting inclusive environments that welcome visible religious diversity. The broader community can contribute by educating themselves about Sikh history, faith, and culture, challenging misconceptions when they encounter them, supporting reporting by being active bystanders when witnessing discrimination, advocating for inclusive policies in their communities and workplaces, and building interfaith connections to foster understanding.
The Sikh community in Europe, while relatively small compared to the global population, represents a vibrant and growing presence across the continent. The challenges they face from employment discrimination to hate crimes, from systemic invisibility to misidentification are real and documented, though the full extent remains obscured by inadequate data collection.
However, it’s crucial to understand these challenges within the broader context of discrimination affecting multiple minority communities across Europe. The goal is not to create a hierarchy of suffering but to ensure all communities receive the protection, recognition, and opportunities they deserve.
Addressing these challenges requires coordinated action from policymakers, employers, law enforcement, and society at large. It demands better data collection, stronger legal protections, improved education, and genuine commitment to creating inclusive societies where visible religious minorities can practice their faith freely and participate fully in all aspects of life.
The experiences of individual Sikhs vary widely some face minimal discrimination while others encounter significant barriers. This diversity of experience underscores the need for nuanced approaches that address systemic issues while recognizing individual circumstances.
As Europe continues to grow more diverse, the question is not whether visible religious minorities like Sikhs will remain part of European societies, but whether European institutions and communities will adapt to truly include, protect, and value all their members.
Resources for Further Information
Those seeking more information can consult several European organizations including the European Sikh Organisation for advocacy and representation at EU level, the Network of Sikh Organisations in the UK for policy advocacy and community support, and the Sikh Council UK for religious and civil rights organization. International organizations providing valuable resources include the Sikh Coalition with comprehensive resources on Sikh rights and discrimination, UNITED SIKHS offering international advocacy and support services, and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights conducting research on discrimination in EU member states. For reporting incidents, individuals can contact local police hate crime units, national equality bodies in each EU member state, and community-based reporting systems established by Sikh organizations. This article synthesizes publicly available research, advocacy reports, and documented incidents. Individual experiences vary, and readers are encouraged to consult multiple sources and engage directly with Sikh community members to gain deeper understanding.