Question Main European ancestries in France?

[Tomenable]

Apart from Native French, what are other main European ancestries in France?

It seems that Iberian and Italian immigrations were particularly prominent?

 

[Maciamo]

Do you mean recent immigrants since the 20th century, or historical migrations?

Shall we take into account regions of France that were next relatively recently as foreign ancestry? For example, Savoy and Nice have only been part of France since 1860. Does it count as Italian ancestry? What about Alsace? Would you count it as ethnically German, French, or mixed?

 

[Tomenable]

I would say recent immigrants since the 19th century (I've heard that significant immigration to France started already in the 19th century, not 20th). But if you have some interesting information about historical migrations, it will be appreciated too.

I found this data from 2008 which says that France had 76.6% Native French and 8.4% other Europeans:

But in this more recent poll only 75% of respondents answered that they are White:

https://www.berghahnjournals.com/downloadpdf/journals/fpcs/39/2/fpcs390201.xml

This 2025 data also indicates that around 75% of France's population are White people (65.3% answered that that they are White but 13.2% did not answer, if we count only those who answered then 75% of those who answered are White):

https://www.observationsociete.fr/m...opulation-francaise-selon-la-couleur-de-peau/

So my educated guess is that currently around 65% of ancestry of White people in France is Native French, while around 10% are other European ancestries. I asked ChatGPT to provide an ethnic breakdown of those 10%, this is how it answered:

Would you agree with this breakdown?

My guess is that Alasatian Germans should not be counted here, because they are not immigrants.

 

[Vitruvius]

Do you mean recent immigrants since the 20th century, or historical migrations?

Shall we take into account regions of France that were next relatively recently as foreign ancestry? For example, Savoy and Nice have only been part of France since 1860. Does it count as Italian ancestry? What about Alsace? Would you count it as ethnically German, French, or mixed?

I'll also add the low hanging fruit of Corsicans to that statement, who quite clearly derive their ancestry from North/Central Italy.

 

[Tomenable]

This website provides a breakdown of ethnic groups in France:

France people groups, languages and religions | Joshua Project

Maps, charts and statistics of France ethnic people groups, languages and religions. Sortable and downloadable France data.

joshuaproject.net

However, I think that some of these numbers are not reliable.

 

[Tomenable]

If we believe Joshua Project then the largest non-French groups are:

German 663000 (not including Alsatians)
Portuguese 528000
Jewish 418000
Italian 181000
British 162000
Spaniard 138000
Russian 133000
Polish 133000
Hungarian 114000
Dutch 90000
Walloon 66000
Greek 66000
Americans, U.S. 66000
Luxembourger 45000
German Swiss 40000
Serb 27000
Ukrainian 23000
Croat 21000
Flemish 16000
Swedish 13000
Romanian 13000
Danish 13000
Czech 13000
Argentinian, White 12000
Anglo-Canadian 12000
Macedonian 8500

It seems that Italians, Spaniards and Poles are underestimated here?

 

[Tomenable]

Here a new breakdown by ChatGPT, this time excluding Alsatians:

 

[Tomenable]

Okay here is my final estimate of Non-French Europeans in France:
(based both on Joshua Project, ChatGPT and a few other sources)

Anglo-Celtic - 0.326%
Scandinavian - 0.072%
Central Euro - 0.235%
Dutch-Belgian - 1.013%
Iberian - 3.438%
Italian - 2.263%
East Romance - 0.452%
Greek-Albanian - 0.090%
Slavic - 1.268%
Baltic - 0.009%
Uralic - 0.154%
Jewish - 0.680%

Total: 10% (while native French are 65%, for a total of 75% Whites)

 

[Maciamo]

I found this data from 2008 which says that France had 76.6% Native French and 8.4% other Europeans:

Mapping ethnic groups in France is particularly difficult because France prohibits by law to collect ethnic or racial data.

It also depends whether you want the ethnic breakdown in metropolitan France (that is the European part) or including the DOM-TOM (the numerous overseas departments). Various estimates put black population of France between 4 and 5% in metropolitan France, but around 8.5% overall with the DOM-TOM.
Martinique has a population of 350,000 and 90% of them are Black. Guadeloupe it has a population of 400,000 with about 85% of Blacks. Reunion has one million inhabitants, including 40% of Black Africans. Only these three islands I already have about one million Black people. Yet these are integral parts of France People there are French citizens have representatives at the French Parliament and pay in euro.

This 2025 data also indicates that around 75% of France's population are White people (65.3% answered that that they are White but 13.2% did not answer, if we count only those who answered then 75% of those who answered are White):

https://www.observationsociete.fr/m...opulation-francaise-selon-la-couleur-de-peau/

Interesting workaround they found to be able to ask people about their ethnic groups. Instead of asking people directly, which would be illegal, the question was: "According to you, which ethnic groups are you most often identified with by other people?" In other words, it's a double opinion (what do you think other people think of you). That's a legal loophole.

Would you agree with this breakdown?

It's hard to tell, but it seems coherent.

My guess is that Alasatian Germans should not be counted here, because they are not immigrants.

Your first post and the title of this thread was about ancestry, not immigrants.

 

[Tomenable]

France prohibits by law to collect ethnic or racial data.

To be completely accurate, it is illegal for the French government to collect ethnic or racial data.

However, it is not illegal for various NGOs to collect ethnic or racial data.

Which is why those surveys which I posted above could be carried out.