Almost two-thirds of Europe's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community have experienced discrimination and physical violence, according to an EU report.

The report was published on Friday, which marks the International Day Against Homophobia.

"Fear, isolation and discrimination are everyday phenomena for the LGBT community in Europe," Morten Kjaerum, the director of the EU's Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), wrote in the report.

The online survey questioned around 93,000 people in the EU's 27 member states plus Croatia, which is to join the bloc in July.

EU LGBT survey report View the Document

Just over a quarter of the respondents said that they had been physically or verbally assaulted over the last five years.

The report said transgenders suffered particularly, with 28 percent saying they had been attacked or threatened more than three times in the last 12 months because of their sexuality.

Some respondents said that even in countries traditionally considered to be tolerant, attitudes were worsening.

"My situations of harassment/discrimination/violence are mainly random acts of verbal aggression," a 27-year-old gay Belgian wrote.

"The situation is worse now than it was, for example, four years ago."

In The Netherlands, the first country in the world to legalise gay marriage in 2001, almost 20 per cent of those taking part said they felt discriminated against when going to sport clubs or hospitals, looking for an apartment, going out at night, or dealing with banks.

The average figure across Europe was 32 percent, with the highest figures reported in Lithuania (42 per cent); Croatia (41 per cent); Bulgaria (40 per cent); and Romania (39 per cent).

LGBT students

Many said they were afraid to go to the police, including in France where the beating of a gay couple in April and pictures of the bloodied face of one of the victims spread across social media.

"[I am] reluctant to report anything that might indicate that I am gay, as I know [the police] just dismiss everything," a 42-year-old Frenchman said.

And a 32-year-old Czech lesbian said: "For me, the most alarming discrimination experienced is in health.

"I feel strong enough to deal with street harassment now, but I feel upset about having to justify my lifestyle to every doctor."

Two-thirds of respondents and three-quarters of gay men said they were afraid to show their sexuality in public.

The FRA report noted that discrimination often begins at school, where two-thirds of respondents hid their sexual orientation.

"Ten years later, I still consider being bullied at school the worst form of homophobic abuse I've ever been subjected to," a gay Maltese man, 25, said.

The FRA said: "Member states must take care that LGBT students feel secure at school, given that that is where LGBT people's negative experiences, social prejudice and exclusion often begins."

The UN has launched its own education campaign, with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reassuring the world's LGBT community: "You are not alone".