Northern Ireland is the "hate capital of the western world", according to an international study.
Almost half of the 1,000 people in Northern Ireland questioned in a survey by the University of Ulster and the University of Queensland did not want people of another race, immigrants or homosexuals as their neighbour.
Nearly 32,000 people in 19 European countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US took the Human Beliefs and Values Survey. They were asked if they would like to live next door to people of another race, foreign workers, Muslims, Jews and homosexuals.
The study was carried out by the University of Ulster's Vani Borooah, professor of applied economics, and John Mangan, professor of economics at the University of Queensland.
Along with Greece, Northern Ireland had the highest levels of intolerance towards homosexuals. More than 80 per cent of people said they would not like to live beside someone who was not heterosexual.
Aside from Greece and Italy, Northern Ireland was more likely to show intolerance towards immigrants.
The survey indicated that the North was less likely than six other European countries to be bigoted towards Muslims.
Sweden had the lowest levels of prejudice, with just 13 per cent. Some 18 per cent of people from the Republic of Ireland who took the survey were judged to be bigots.
Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey said: "There are clearly deep-rooted problems in the North with racism and sectarianism that have their roots in intolerance to difference and deep, deep prejudice."
A spokesman for the Ulster Unionist Party said, "It is a report that is going to make sobering reading for people in Northern Ireland."