Europe's Muslims face deep-seated discrimination in education, housing and jobs that can alienate them from the mainstream, an EU report said today.
The study by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia is the first to cover Muslims across the European Union.
Entitled Muslims in the European Union - Discrimination and Islamophobia, the 115-page report was supplemented by interviews with mainly young Muslims describing experiences of being marginalised even if they were European-born EU citizens.
The report said many Muslims, especially the young, struggled with myriad barriers to social advancement, giving rise to "feelings of hopelessness and exclusion".
"Islamophobia", borne of an increasing tendency to associate Muslims in general with terrorist acts by a relative few, had intertwined with pre-existing xenophobia to fan discrimination, it said.
"Available data shows that European Muslims are often disproportionately represented in areas with poorer housing conditions, while their educational achievement falls below average and their unemployment rates are higher than average."
Such ills have been blamed for rioting in France's heavily immigrant suburbs and violence in Berlin schools.
Nevertheless, the report also says Muslims could do more to connect with wider society.
The EU has 15 million Muslims, who form the second largest religious grouping in the 25-nation bloc.