The study, entitled ‘Racism, belonging and Covid’s legacy of ethnic inequalities in Scotland’, was authored by Nissa Finney, a professor of human geography at St Andrews University who is also the director of the Evidence for Equality National Survey and a founding member of the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE).
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It found that roughly 23% of people in Scotland whose ethnicity was classed as 'White British' had experienced a bereavement during the pandemic between February 2020 and the time the research was carried out in 2021.
Around 35% of these deaths had been due to Covid.
For those identifying as Indian, the bereavement level was 44%, of which more than 90% were Covid deaths.
For those with Pakistani ethnicity, the figures were 38% and 46% respectively.
The highest rate of bereavement - 68% - was found for those identifying as "Any Other" ethnicity.
Similar levels of bereavement experience were found for most ethnic minority groups in England and Wales, although people from the Jewish, Chinese and Bangladeshi communities in Scotland reported lower levels of bereavement.
The report is a collaboration between researchers at the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) in St Andrews, Manchester University, and the Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector umbrella body BEMIS.
Excess mortality rates are known to have been significantly higher for minority ethnic groups during the pandemic, but this is the first time data has been collated to show the ethnic inequalities in experience of bereavement.
The report noted that there were "many reasons why some ethnic groups" were more likely than others to have experienced a Covid-related bereavement, but these included the "differential Covid-19 impact, the different nature of family structures and social networks across ethnic groups, differential underlying health of ethnic groups, varying levels of poverty and deprivation and differential access to care and support services".
It added that this means that people living in Scotland "from some ethnic groups – Indian, Pakistani, Black African, Mixed, Other – are particularly likely to have experienced someone close to them dying, and dying with Covid-19".
Experiences of bereavement by ethnicity, 2020/2021, in Scotland and England & Wales _(Image: UniversityofStAndrews)_ This "elevates pressures upon them, which can include grief and mental health impacts, caring responsibilities and financial demands".
It concluded: "The impacts of bereavement were undoubtedly acute during the pandemic and can also be expected to have ongoing, long term effects."
The report also examined 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 nine 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.
One in six ethnic minorities in Scotland had experienced "recent unfair racist treatment in their job or education"; more than one third of ethnic minorities in Scotland said they "worry about racist harassment"; and 40% said they "accept racism as a fact of life".
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Levels of reported racism experience were "comparable across ethnic groups in Scotland and England and Wales", but the report added that "there is some evidence that Chinese, Black Caribbean and Black Other groups experience higher levels of racism in Scotland compared with England and Wales".
The report said the results were "extremely concerning".
It added: "Across many ethnic minority groups, being anxious about racism is part of everyday experience.
"A small minority of those experiencing racism try to do something about it.
"How to tackle the normalisation of racism must be central to a race equality strategy for Scotland."