ALMOST a quarter of Europe’s voters now back far-right parties, according to a report published today.

Research by more than 150 political scientists in 31 countries found that the proportion of people in Europe voting for far-right parties in their countries’ most recent national elections had risen to around 23 per cent. 

This is a massive increase on the figure 10 years ago, when around 10 per cent supported far-right parties, and on the 5 per cent recorded in 1995.

The University of Amsterdam’s Matthijs Rooduijn, who led the research for the PopuList survey of European far-left and far-right parties, said: “When we started the PopuList project in 2018, the key finding was that one in four Europeans were voting for populist parties, mostly far left and far right. 

“Now one in four are voting for far-right parties. It’s a big shift.”

The research shows far-right parties achieving historic gains in national elections in big countries such as France and Britain in 2024 and then in Germany the following year.

Austria’s far-right Freedom party surged from 16 per cent to 29 per cent in the country’s 2024 elections. 

In France, the National Rally soared from 19 per cent to 37 per cent to become the largest single party in parliament and Chega in Portugal rose from 7 per cent to 18 per cent.

In Britain, Reform UK boosted its vote share from 2 per cent in 2019 (as the Brexit Party) to 14 per cent in 2024, the research found. 

In Germany’s 2025 election, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) doubled its score from 10 per cent to 21 per cent, becoming the country’s second-largest party.

Far-right parties are now in government as part of ruling coalitions in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy and Finland, propping up a right-wing minority government in Sweden and leading in the polls in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Britain.