Immigrants Now Make Up 10 Percent of France’s Population, Says Statistics Agency

A tenth of people living in France in 2021 were born foreigners, national statistics agency INSEE said on Thursday, in its first study on immigration in a decade.

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In comparison, 6.5 percent of French residents hailed from abroad in 1968, it added.

More than a third of immigrants in France in 2021 had acquired French citizenship, it said.

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Migration had contributed to the country’s diverse makeup, the statistics agency’s Sylvie Le Minez said.

“A third of France’s population has a link to immigration over three generations,” she said.

While immigrants half a century ago largely hailed from southern Europe, in 2021 many had come from North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, Le Minez said.

More than 12 percent of immigrants that year were born in Algeria, another 12 percent in Morocco, and 4 percent from Tunisia, the study said.

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