Demographics of France

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Disclaimer: It must be noted that reference to "French people" as an ethnic group is not present in French official terminology. Official institutes that gather statistics (such as INED or INSEE) do not use the category of "ethnic French" - whom some have translated here by "Français de souche", a term more often associated with far-right Front National than with demography in France. The French census also does not use this category or any of which regarding ethnicity. According to Dominique Schnapper, member of the Constitutional Council of France, "The classical conception of the nation is that of an entity which, opposed to the ethnic group, affirms itself as an open community, the will to live together expressing itself by the acceptation of the rules of an unified public domain which transcends all particularisms" ^[1], indicative of French citizenship.

France's total population amounts to more than 60 million people. Being relatively low at the start of the century compared to its neighbours and to its past history, its population sharply increased with the baby boom following World War II. During the Trente Glorieuses (1945-1974), the country's reconstruction and steady economic growth led to the labor-immigration of the 1960s, when many employers went looking for manpower in villages located in Southern Europe and in the Maghreb. However, after the 1973 energy crisis, laws limiting immigration were passed, thus automatically creating a category of illegal immigrants. This has become the focus, perhaps as a purposeful diversion, of parts of the political discourse. Critics, such as Saskia Sassen in The Global City (1991), have contended that the artificial creation of legal aliens was necessary to insure the reduction of production costs and low-wage policies demanded by the "new economics". They highlighted the fact that the first laws were passed in approximatively the same period as the 1983 French government's turn toward globalization and neoliberalism. In the last twenty-five years, France has stopped being a country of mass immigration, with immigrants accounting only for between 20 and 40% of the population growth, according to an INED 2004 study: "Each year, France counts 200 000 more births than deaths, while the growth due to migration (le solde migratoire - the difference between the number of migrants entering and leaving the country) is estimated to be around 65 000 people." [1]

Contents 1 Historical population of metropolitan France 2 Historical overview 2.1 Middle Ages to 20th century 2.2 After World War II 3 Immigration 3.1 Before World War II 3.2 After World War II 3.3 Today 3.4 Immigrants 4 Religion 5 Languages 6 Education 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Historical population of metropolitan France

Please note:

• figures are for metropolitan France only, excluding overseas departments and territories, as well as former French colonies and protectorates. Algeria and its départements, although they were an integral part of metropolitan France until 1962, are not included in the figures.
• to make comparisons easier, figures provided below are for the territory of metropolitan France within the borders of 2004. This was the real territory of France from 1860 to 1871, and again since 1919. Figures before 1860 have been adjusted to include Savoie and Nice, which only became part of France in 1860. Figures between 1795 and 1815 do not include the French départements in modern day Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, although they were an integral part of France during that period. Figures between 1871 and 1919 have been adjusted to include Alsace and part of Lorraine, which both were at the time part of the German Empire.
• figures before 1801 are modern estimates; figures from 1801 (included) onwards are based on the official French censuses.

Year	Population	Year	Population	Year	Population
50 BC	2,500,000	1811	30,271,000	1896	40,158,000
0	5,500,000	1816	30,573,000	1901	40,681,000
120	7,200,000	1821	31,578,000	1906	41,067,000
400	5,500,000	1821	31,578,000	1906	41,067,000
850	7,000,000	1826	32,665,000	1911	41,415,000
1226	16,000,000	1831	33,595,000	1921	39,108,000
1345	20,200,000	1836	34,293,000	1926	40,581,000
1400	16,600,000	1841	34,911,000	1931	41,524,000
1457	19,700,000	1846	36,097,000	1936	41,502,000
1580	20,000,000	1851	36,472,000	1946	40,503,000
1594	18,500,000	1856	36,714,000	1954	42,777,000
1600	20,000,000	1861	37,386,000	1962	46,243,000
1670	18,000,000	1866	38,067,000	1968	49,778,000
1700	21,000,000	1872	37,653,000	1975	52,656,000
1715	19,200,000	1876	38,438,000	1982	54,335,000
1740	24,600,000	1881	39,239,000	1990	56,615,000
1801	29,361,000	1886	39,783,000	1999	58,519,000
1806	29,648,000	1891	39,947,000	2006	61,044,684 [2]

^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Historical overview

[edit] Middle Ages to 20th century

Starting around 1800, the historical evolution of the population in France has been extremely atypical in the Western World. Unlike the rest of Europe, France did not experience a strong population growth in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The birth rate in France diminished much earlier than in the rest of Europe. Consequently, population growth was quite slow in the 19th century, and the nadir was reached in the first half of the 20th century when France, surrounded by the rapidly growing populations of Germany and the United Kingdom, experienced virtually zero growth. This, and the bloody losses in France's population due to the First World War, may explain the sudden collapse of France in 1940 during the Second World War. France was often perceived as a country irremediably on the decline. At the time, racist theories were quite popular, and the dramatic demographic decline of France was often attributed (particularly in Nazi Germany, and also in some conservative circles in England and elsewhere) to the genetic characteristics of the "French race", a race destined to fail in the butt of the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon "races". In addition, the slow growth of France's population in the 19th century was reflected in the country's very low emigration rate. While millions of people from all other parts of Europe moved to the Americas, few French did so. Most people in the United States of French extraction are descended from immigrants from rapidly-growing French Canada.

To better understand the demographic decline of France, it should be noted that France was historically the largest nation of Europe. During the 17th century one fifth of Europe’s population was French (and more than one quarter during the Middle Ages). Between 1815 and 2000, if the population of France had grown at the same rate as the population of Germany during the same time period, France's population would be 110 million today -- and this doesn't take into account the fact that a large chunk of Germany's population growth was siphoned off by emigration to the Americas. If it had grown at the same rate as England and Wales (who were also siphoned off by emigration to the Americas, Australia and New Zealand), France's population could be anywhere up to 150 million today. And if we start the comparison at the time of King Louis XIV (the Sun King), then France would in fact have the same population as the United States. While France had been very powerful in Europe at the time of Louis XIV or Napoleon, the demographic decline the country experienced after 1800 made it lose this advantage.

[edit] After World War II

After 1945 however, France suddenly underwent a demographic recovery that no one could have foreseen. It is a fact that in the 1930s the French government, alarmed by the decline of France's population, had passed laws to boost the birth rate, giving state benefits to families with children. Nonetheless, no one can quite satisfactorily explain this sudden and unexpected recovery in the demography of France, which was often portrayed as a "miracle" inside France. This demographic recovery was again atypical in the Western World, in the sense that although the rest of the Western World experienced a baby boom immediately after the war, the baby boom in France was much stronger, and above all it lasted longer than in most other countries of the Western World (the United States being one of the few exceptions). In the 1950s and 1960s France enjoyed a population growth of 1% a year, which is the highest growth in the history of France, not even matched in the best periods of the 18th or 19th centuries.

Since 1975, France's population growth has significantly diminished, being more in tune with the rest of Europe, but it still remains slightly faster than in the rest of Europe, and much faster than during the end of the 19th century or the first half of the 20th century. At the turn of the millennium, population growth in France is the fastest of Europe, matched only by Ireland and the Netherlands. However, it is significantly slower than in North America, where population trends have diverged from Europe since the 1970s.

The ranking below will help understand the past, present, and future weight of France's population in Europe and in the world:
(historical populations are counted in the 2004 borders)

• until 1795 metropolitan France was the most populous country of Europe, above even Russia, and the third most populous country in the world, behind only China and India
  
• between 1795 and 1866, metropolitan France was the second most populous country of Europe, behind Russia, and the fourth most populous country in the world, behind China, India, and Russia
• between 1866 and 1911, metropolitan France was the third most populous country of Europe, behind Russia and Germany
  
• between 1911 and 1931, metropolitan France was the fourth most populous country of Europe, behind Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom
• between 1931 and 1991, metropolitan France was the fifth most populous country of Europe, behind Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy
  
• between 1991 and 1997, metropolitan France recovered its rank as the fourth most populous country of Europe, behind Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom
• since 1997, metropolitan France has recovered its rank as the third most populous country of Europe, behind Russia and Germany. Worldwide, France's ranking has fallen to twentieth most populous country.
  
• if current demographic trends continue (i.e. declining population in Germany, and slightly rising population in France), around 2050 metropolitan France could become again the second most populous country of Europe behind Russia. However the Birth rate in most European countries, France included, is below replacement, so this would still represent a decline in population.

Note that in above data, Turkey is not regarded as an European country. If Turkey would be regarded as an European country, France would be the fourth most populous country of Europe. In 2050 it would be then the third most populous country of Europe.

[edit] Immigration

[edit] Before World War II

In the twentieth century, France exhibited a high rate of immigration. Immigration was particularly high in the 1920s and 1930s. France was the European country which suffered the most from World War I, with respect to the size of its population, losing 1.4 million young men out of a total population of 40 million. France was also at the time the European country with the lowest fertility rate, which meant that the country had a very hard time recovering from the heavy losses of the war. France had to open its doors to immigration, which was the only way to prevent population decline between the two world wars. At the time France was the only European country with mass immigration. The other European countries, such as the UK or Germany, still had high fertility rates, and did not need immigrants. The majority of immigrants in the 1920s and 1930s came from southern Europe: Italians, Portuguese and Spaniards, but also Poles and Belgians. At this time, Judaism was the second most populous religion in France, as it had been for centuries. However, this would soon change.

Local populations often opposed immigrant manpower, leading to occasional outbursts of violence. The worst of these was a pogrom against Italian workers whom worked in the salt evaporation ponds of Peccais erupted in Aigues-Mortes in 1893, killing nine and injuring hundreds on the Italian side ^[2].

[edit] After World War II

After World War II, the French fertility rate rebounded considerably, as was explained above, but economic growth in France was so high that new immigrants had nonetheless to be brought into the country. This time the majority of immigrants were Portuguese as well as Arabs and Berbers from North Africa. The first wave arrived in the 1950s, but the major arrivals happened in the 1960s and 1970s. More than 1 million people from the Maghreb immigrated in the 1960s and early 1970s from North Africa, especially Algeria (following the end of French rule there) ^{[citation needed]}. One million European pieds noirs also migrated from Algeria in 1962 and the following years, due to the chaotic independence of Algeria ^{[citation needed]}.

In the late 1970s, due to the end of high economic growth in France, immigration policies were considerably tightened, starting with the Pasqua laws passed in the late 1980s. New immigrants were allowed only through the family reunion schemes (wives and children moving to France to live with their husband or father already living in France), or as political asylum seekers. Illegal immigration thus developed. Nonetheless, immigration rates in the 1980s and 1990s were much lower than in the 1960s and 1970s, especially compared to other European countries. The regions of emigrations also widened, with new immigrants now coming from Black Africa, South-East Asia, and more recently mainland China.

[edit] Today

[edit] Immigrants

As of 2006, the French national institute of statistics INSEE estimated that 4.9 million foreign-born immigrants live in France (8% of the country's population) including [3]: Please note that the French-born children of immigrant parents are considered "French" and not immigrants.

• 880,000 Portuguese
• 700,000 Algerians
• 600,000 Moroccans
• 350,000 Italians
• 280,000 Spaniards
• 200,000 Turks
• 200,000 Tunisians
• 135,000 Chinese
• 120,000 Germans
• 100,000 Britons
• 100,000 Belgians
• 100,000 Poles
• 75,000 Vietnamese
• 70,000 Senegalese
• 60,000 Malians

the French-born children of immigrant parents are usually considered "French" and not immigrants. Therefore are not included in the census as such, leading to the conclusion that the overall number of people of immigrant descent living in France is much higher than the official numbers given by the French national institute of statistics.

As a result, the number of French citizens with foreign origins is generally thought to be around 6.7 million [4] according to the 1999 Census conducted by the French national institute of Statistics (INSEE), which ultimately represents one tenth of the country's population.

Despite the relatively large population of immigrant stock, most of them are of European descent (mainly from Italy, Spain and Portugal as well Poland, Romania and the former Yugoslavia) although France has a sizeable population of Arabs and Africans from its former colonies. To this day, even though the country has been welcoming a large number immigrants for the past century, France still remains populated in majority by people of European descent and ethnic minorities make up less than 8% of the country's population even though the percentage rises in some suburban communities around France's largest cities like Paris.

Also, the proportion of immigrants in France is on par with other European nations such as the United Kingdom (15%) [5], Germany (10%) [6], the Netherlands (20%) [7], Sweden (15%) [8] and Switzerland (19%) [9].

As a result of a century of the immigration, it is estimated that there are nearly 5 million people of Muslim background living in France ^{[citation needed]} (see also Islam in France), although many are not actually practicing, and moreover statistics do not measure levels of religiosity. According to Michèle Tribalat, researcher at INED, it is very difficult to estimate the number of French immigrants or born to immigrants, because of the absence of official statistics. Only three surveys have been conducted: in 1927, 1942, and 1986 respectively. According to a 2004 study, there were approximatively 14 million persons of foreign ancestry. Immigrant was defined as a first generation immigrants or people with at least one parent, grandparent, or great-parent emigreé. 5.2 million of these migrants were from South-European ascendency (Italy, Spain, Portugal); and 3 million come from the Maghreb (North Africa) ^[3]. Note that this means the population that is not of foreign ancestry is only about 46 million, which is not much higher than France's population at the end of World War II (1945).

In the 2000s, the net migration rate was estimated to be 0.66 migrants per 1,000 population a year [10]. This is a very low rate of immigration compared to other European countries, the USA or Canada. Since the beginning of the 1990s, France has been attempting to curb immigration, first with the Pasqua laws, followed by both right-wing and socialist-issued laws. The immigration rate is currently lower than in other European countries such as United Kingdom and Spain; however, some say it is doubtful that the policies in themselves account for such a change. Again, as in the 1920s and 1930s, France stands in contrast with the rest of Europe. Back in the 1920s and 1930s, when European countries had a high fertility rate, France had a low fertility rate and had to open its doors to immigration to avoid population decline. Today, it is the rest of Europe that has very low fertility rates, and countries like Germany or Spain avoid population decline only through immigration. In France, however, fertility rate is still fairly high for European standards, in fact the highest in Europe after Ireland, and so most population growth is due to natural increase, unlike in the other European countries (except Italy).

For example, according to the UK Office for National Statistics, in the three years between July 2001 and July 2004 the population of the UK increased by 721,500 inhabitants, of which 242,800 (34%) was due to natural increase, and 478,500 (66%) to immigration ^[4]. According to the INSEE, in the three years between January 2001 and January 2004 the population of Metropolitan France increased by 1,057,000 inhabitants, of which 678,000 (64%) was due to natural increase, and 379,500 (36%) to immigration ^[5].

A new immigration law passed in 2006 envisions opening France to immigration again, at least for those with university level education or above. Among the provisions expected to come into force in 2007 is the implementation of a UK-style highly skilled migrant program. This will allow talented and educated foreigners with a degree of ability to speak to live and work in the country without a pre-arranged job. As of early December 2006, the exact details had yet to be announced. The government hopes that this program will in part reverse some of the negative demographic trends that the country has been experiencing.^[6]

[edit] Religion

France has not collected religious or ethnic data in its censuses since the beginning of the Third Republic, but the country's predominant faith has been Roman Catholicism since the early Middle Ages. Church attendance is low, however, and the proportion of the population that is not religious has grown significantly over the past century. An 2004 IFOP survey tallied that 44% of the French people do not believe in God; contrast with 20% in 1947 ^{[citation needed]}. A study by the CSA Institute conducted in 2003 with a sample of 18,000 people found that 27% consider themselves atheists, and 64.3% Roman Catholic compared to 69% in 2001 ^{[citation needed]}. Furthermore 8.7% (5,000,000 people) belonged to some other religion.

There are an estimated 4-5 million Muslims, 1 million Protestants, 600-700,000 Jews, 600,000 Buddhists, and 150,000 Orthodox Christians as of 2000 figures ^{[citation needed]}.

These studies did not ask the respondants if they were practicing or how often they did practice if they were active in the leity.

[edit] Languages

Main articles: Languages of France and French language

[edit] Education

Main article: Education in France

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.) ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

1. ^ Dominique Schnapper, " La conception de la nation ", "Citoyenneté et société", Cahiers Francais, n° 281, mai-juin 1997
2. ^ Enzo Barnabà, Le sang des marais, Marseille, 1993
3. ^ Michèle Tribalat's 2004 study for the INED
4. ^ UK Office for National Statisctics estimate
5. ^ INSEE pdf estimates
6. ^ Do-It-Yourself Expat- Information on how non-European Union citizens can to legally live and work across the EU

[edit] See also

• List of French people
• List of fifteen largest French metropolitan areas by population
• INSEE code
• Population of Paris
• Romanian-French
• French immigration to Puerto Rico

[edit] External links

• (French) Audio book (mp3) of the introduction and first chapter of Éric Maurin's book : Le ghetto français, enquête sur le séparatisme social
• population of French communes (with more than 2000 inhabitants)
• "Une question de la seconde génération en France - Le rôle de l’école dans la formation d’une identité minoritaire, par Patrick Simon