Eleven percent of Dutch over-15s said they felt discriminated against last year, according to the Dutch statistics office CBS.

Most felt treated negatively because of their race, skin colour or nationality, but fewer than one in 10 made a report about the perceived discrimination.

A total of 173,000 people were interviewed for the research, which is part of an annual safety monitor conducted by the CBS and the justice ministry. If the figure is representative then it would mean, said the CBS, around 1.6 million people experienced discrimination last year.

Around 30% of people with Surinamese or Dutch Caribbean origins experienced discrimination and 35% of those with Moroccan origins. Native Dutch people (7.7%) and Europeans (14.8%) were least likely to have been bothered.

Women were more likely to experience negative treatment than men, young people more likely than old and gay and bisexual people more likely then heterosexual ones.

In terms of religious beliefs, Catholics were the least likely to report they had experienced discrimination (8.3%) and Muslims were the most likely (29.8%).

Equal treatment and a ban on discrimination are laid down in the first article of the Dutch constitution.

Dutch minister calls for more equal representation at the top