Seven million immigrants lived in France in 2021, or 10.3% of the population, according to an INSEE demographic study published Thursday, March 30, which explores for the first time in ten years the evolution of immigration over several generations.
"10.3% of the population living in France is an immigrant" in 2021, in the sense of a person "born abroad abroad", against "6.5% in 1968", writes the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies in its document entitled "Immigrants and descendants of immigrants in France". More than a third (36%) of these people have acquired French nationality since their arrival.
Among the descendants of immigrants, more than 50% of second-generation descendants have only one immigrant parent, and nine-out of ten third-generation descendants (who have at least one immigrant grandparent) have only one or two immigrant grandparents.
Maghreb, Africa or Asia
The origins are diversifying. Where immigrants were mainly from southern Europe fifty years ago, they now come mainly from the Maghreb, Africa or Asia.
Thus, immigrants from Spain and Italy increased from 543,000 in 2011 to 531,000 in 2021, while North Africans now represent 2 million people (1.63 million in 2011). In total, almost half of immigrants in 2021 are from Africa (3.31 million out of 6.96). Women now account for half (52%) of this population (44% in 1968).
Immigration is concentrated in large cities, says the study, according to which 20% of the Parisian population is immigrant, 32% in Seine-Saint-Denis.
With AFP
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