On Thursday, March 30, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) published a series of demographic studies entitled "Immigrants and Descendants of Immigrants in France." It is a societal snapshot of the immigrant population and its descendants, a real-life image of who immigrants are, where they come from, why they migrate, where and how they fit in and what happens to their children later.
Increasing and diversifying immigration
The publication provides insight into the dynamics at work in a country where the share of immigrants in the population rose from 6.5% to 10.3% between 1968 and 2021. With its immigrant population numbering 7 million, France is in the European average where countries with high immigration rates, such as Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus, outrank countries like Bulgaria and Romania at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Their profile has changed significantly over time. Whereas in France in 1968, 72% of immigrants came from southern Europe and North Africa, they now represent 45% of immigrants (887,000 immigrants from Algeria and 600,000 from Portugal live in France). Since the 2000s, arrivals from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa in particular have been on the rise. Facilitated by free movement, intra-European immigration is also dynamic. In 2021, 48% of the total came from Africa, one-third from Europe and 14% from Asia.
Women, who represented 44% of the immigrant population in 1968, are now in the majority (52%). Also, as a whole, immigrants are more highly educated than in the past (43% of those who arrived in 2019 and are 15 years old or older have a higher education degree, compared to 38% in 2006). The reasons for coming to France are also diversifying. Family immigration is declining. (It accounted for only one-third of new residence permits in 2021, compared with half in 2007.) And student immigration – which for the first time was the main reason for entry in 2021 – is rising, as well as professional (13.3% of permits issued in 2021, three times more than in 2007) and political (14.6%) immigration.
Immigrants are more vulnerable to unemployment
Once in France, immigrants follow social trajectories that differ from the general population. They are concentrated in large urban areas and border regions. For example, while 10% of the French population in 2020-2021 were immigrants, that proportion reaches 20% in Paris and 32% in Seine Saint Denis [a suburb of the capital], INSEE points out. They also have a clear disadvantage compared to the rest of the population in terms of employment. While in 2021, 7% of people who are neither immigrants nor descendants of immigrants were unemployed, that was true for 13% of immigrants.
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