France, a nation known for its rich cultural diversity, has a substantial immigrant population in every department. Moroccans are the most common foreign nationality. The Rhone region, which contains Lyon, has a substantial immigrant population.
Portuguese is the most prevalent foreign nationality in this department. The Portuguese have a long history in the area, especially in the service and construction sectors.
The most prevalent foreign nationality in the northern department of Nord is Belgian. The nation’s closeness to Belgium has made cross-border travel and residency easier.
France’s rising foreign population
Since 2010, the proportion of foreign-born individuals residing in France has been gradually rising. About 7.3 million people were born outside of France that year. The number of people born abroad increased linearly for the 2010 decade, and the 2015 refugee crisis did not alter that trend.
This figure was 8.94 million in 2023. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, there were 430,466 international students enrolled in the French higher education system in 2023–2024, a 4.5% rise over the year before. Following a standstill last year, there was an increase in the number of students on mobility from the Asia-Pacific region this year. Business schools saw the biggest increase (11%), although all institutions saw growth in their foreign group.
According to Statista, 40% of employers in domestic jobs were foreign workers, citing Danes as an example. A significant portion of the immigrant labor force worked in construction, hotel and catering, security and guarding, and related sectors. Due in large part to the fact that one in four priests in France were foreign, many foreigners also held professional positions in the clergy and politics.
France’s Banlieues crisis
Banlieues are lower-class French suburbs that were formerly referred to as “religious ghettos” and were populated by immigrants from Africa and Islam. Compared to metropolitan, affluent neighborhoods, these locations have a greater number of Islamic institutions, which indicates that there are a lot of Islamic immigrants living there.
As seen by the establishment and devastation of the Calais Jungle, this division of cultures and identities can enable these groups to thrive independently of the other groups. NGOs and grassroots groups continued to help the Calais Jungle even after the French authorities demolished the region in 2016.
The living conditions in the Calais Jungle are dangerous, dirty, and violent by state authorities, much like the banlieues in France. Residents in these heavily migrant-populated areas complained about a lack of access to food, water, and medical services. The substantial number of African and Islamic immigrants in Banlieus has made it possible for various marginalized groups to prosper on their own, but it can also create poverty traps, making it challenging for them to completely integrate.
How many illegal immigrants are in France?
For the next year, the French government set a target of 35,000. A person who is obliged to leave France may occasionally be referred to by the initialism, which comes from the 2006 law obligation de quitter le territoire francais. The majority of immigrants in France are drawn to the country’s three biggest cities, Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. Greater Paris, where 40% of immigrants reside, is the area with the highest percentage of immigrants.
The poorest French department in the Indian Ocean, Mayotte, has long been plagued by social upheaval and a debilitating migration issue brought on by thousands of people fleeing poverty and corruption on the African continent. Thousands of people attempt to reach Mayotte each year, mostly on tiny “kwassa kwassa” boats, from mainland Africa or the nearby Comoros archipelago. It is believed that migrants account for almost half of Mayotte’s 320,000 inhabitants. Many residents have complained about poverty and criminality as a result of the inflow, which has led to significant tensions and protests.
The storm that ripped across the Indian Ocean archipelago, France’s poorest region, was primarily felt by thousands of people who had visited the island illegally. Many migrants, according to Mayotte authorities, stayed away from emergency shelters for fear of being deported, making both themselves and the unstable shantytowns they live in even more susceptible to destruction.
The administration was accused by locals of transferring the island’s already limited resources to migrants at their expense, which infuriated them.
