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France Immigration by Country

What are the most common countries of birth for French residents who were not born in France?
Data from 2020. Source.
Quiz by SunsetSunrise
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Last updated: August 10, 2023
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First submittedJanuary 28, 2015
Times taken58,752
Average score71.4%
Rating4.79
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#
Country
853,466
Algeria
802,806
Morocco
601,762
Portugal
302,379
Tunisia
286,395
Italy
244,774
Spain
244,034
Turkey
#
Country
145,460
United Kingdom
133,978
Romania
121,962
Belgium
116,949
Senegal
113,338
Germany
109,908
Ivory Coast
108,712
China
#
Country
95,526
Haiti
91,503
Cameroon
90,164
D. R. Congo
86,047
Mali
85,852
Poland
80,118
Serbia
77,400
Vietnam
+8
Level ∞
Jul 1, 2019
I reset this quiz to use the official statistics from the French census. Other statistics from the UN and Eurostat have different numbers. The Wikipedia pages (both French and English versions) are very bad. These numbers might not include naturalized citizens, but I'm not sure.
+8
Level 82
Jul 1, 2019
There's a definitions tag on top of your source. An immigrant is a person born abroad as a foreigner (non-French) and living in France. This quality is permanent. So naturalized French citizens are included in the numbers, but not French citizens by birth born abroad.
+7
Level ∞
Jul 1, 2019
That's a good definition and makes sense. The only problem is that the total number of immigrants given by the census appears to be smaller than that given by other sources.
+4
Level 82
Jul 3, 2019
Maybe other sources include estimates for undocumented immigrants? But then you'd likely get just a total number, not by country..
+11
Level 77
Jul 1, 2019
Missed my own country.
+2
Level 79
Jul 2, 2019
Missed that too!
+2
Level 67
Aug 25, 2019
Me too! xD And the one next to it.
+2
Level 79
Feb 8, 2021
And I missed that again! (again the only I missed)
+2
Level 82
Jul 1, 2019
easy
+3
Level 79
Jul 2, 2019
Missed Serbia
+2
Level 43
May 12, 2021
Me too!
+4
Level 49
Aug 25, 2019
Isnt Armenian diaspora pretty strong in France?
+19
Level 38
Aug 25, 2019
Yes but the Armenians came many decades ago, after the genocide, so their descendants are French-born now.
+6
Level 50
Nov 8, 2019
Yep, the 3rd world's biggest. My hometown of Marseilles is the main population center for Armenians in France, about 1/10 or 1/8 of the people I've known at school or at my workplace are Armenians.
+3
Level 50
Aug 25, 2019
Wow. Really surprised by Portugal! Does anyone know why there are so many immigrants from there?
+10
Level 44
Aug 25, 2019
From what I understand, lots of Portuguese fled from Salazar's regime. The closest country that wasn't a dictatorship as well, given that Franco ruled over Spain back then, was France, which also happened to be a more developped country. Historically France is used to welcome immigrants as wars had depleted their male population (e.g. the Franco-Prussian wars, WW1 and to a lesser degree WW2). I think that also helped a bit.
+4
Level 68
May 21, 2022
also, proximity between French and Portuguese languages ; and at that time France needed a lot of workforce to rebuild the country that was in ruins after WWII.
+5
Level 38
Aug 25, 2019
Portugal was also very poor in the 1960s and the 1970s.
+4
Level 64
Nov 16, 2022
Portugal continues to be the poorest country in Western Europe, and relatively many Portuguese people speak French as a second language. Add to that the EU's freedom of movement, and you have your explanation.
+7
Level 50
Nov 8, 2019
Please note that the number of Algerian, Tunisian or Morrocan-born residents may also include Pieds Noirs (children of French or otherwise European colonists who were granted French citizenship in the early 20th century and all came to mainland France after those countries became independent in the 50's and 60's). They are in their 60's and over now, but there are still a lot of them in the South.
+5
Level 66
May 14, 2021
They would probably be French nationals and not included in the numbers for this quiz though, no?
+4
Level 55
Jun 27, 2021
No that wouldn't. Also, Pieds Noirs refers exclusively to those in Algeria.
+5
Level 71
Jul 24, 2020
No Indians? According to the Wikipedia page for the Indian diaspora, there are 109,000 people of Indian descent in France, but the source for this says only 36,250 and another Wikipedia page ("Indians in France") says ~65,000. I'm curious why there seems to be no good data on this.
+5
Level 58
Mar 27, 2021
As a french who live in Lyon (2nd biggest french agglomeration), i don't know any indian lol
+4
Level 82
Aug 11, 2023
The quiz is not about descent but place of birth.
+4
Level 68
May 12, 2021
Mainly neighbouring countries and former colonies. No big surprises there!
+4
Level 34
May 2, 2022
Where are Comoros ? Half of the population of Mayotte are illegal clandestine migrants from there, that's about 150000 people.
+13
Level 48
Nov 25, 2022
Comoros is a small archipelago located at the northern part of the Mozambique Channel of the Indian Ocean.
+6
Level 84
Aug 10, 2023
It's difficult / impossible, to accurately estimate populations, if they're living illegally and/or in a clandestine manner.
+3
Level 68
Aug 11, 2023
I'm guessing the numbers probably only include legal immigration - otherwise, Comoros should be high on this list, as well as Brazil (in French Guyana).
+1
Level 67
Aug 18, 2023
19/21, just missed Romania and Serbia
+2
Level 68
Aug 18, 2023
Why do I always just forget that Cameroon exists?? Happens in every other quiz. :|