French people

"Frenchman" redirects here. For other uses, see Frenchman (disambiguation).

French people
Français
Total population
c. 100 million

France: 67,413,000[1]
French diaspora and ancestry: c. 30 million[2]

Regions with significant populations
France 67,413,000
(including overseas departments) [1]
United States (2020)9,373,000 (includes ancestry)[3]
Argentina6,000,000 (includes ancestry)[4]
Canada (2016)4,995,000 (includes ancestry)[5][6]
United Kingdom3,000,000 (ancestry)[7]
300,000[8]
Brazil1,000,000 (includes ancestry)[9]
Chile800,000 (includes ancestry)[10]
Switzerland159,000[11][12]
Madagascar124,000[13]
Belgium123,000[14]
Spain122,000[15]
Australia118,000[16][17]
Portugal104,000[18]
Other countries
Israel41,000[19]
Thailand40,000[20][21]
Italy33,368[22]
Algeria32,000[11]
China31,000[11]
Luxembourg31,000[11][23]
Mexico30,000[24]
Poland27,000[19]
Hong Kong25,000[25]
Netherlands23,000[11]
Senegal20,000[11]
Japan16,000[26]
Mauritius15,000[27]
Ireland12,000[19]
Monaco10,000[28]
Sweden9,000[29]
Austria8,000[30]
Denmark8,000[19]
Romania5,000[19]
New Zealand5,000[19][31]
Malaysia4,000[32]
Turkey3,152[33]
Hungary2,000[34]
Languages
Primarily French, also
regional languages of France
Part of a series of articles on the
French people
Native communities
Diaspora
Africa

Asia

Middle East

Europe

North America

South America

Oceania

1Overseas parts of France proper
Migration of minorities in France (i.e. Basques) can be considered as separate (ethnically) or French migration (by nationality).
Culture
History
Language
Other

The French people (French: Les Français, lit. 'The French') are a nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France.

The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oïl from northern and central France, are primarily descended from Romans (or Gallo-Romans, western European Celtic and Italic peoples), Gauls (including the Belgae), as well as Germanic peoples such as the Franks, the Visigoths, the Suebi and the Burgundians who settled in Gaul from east of the Rhine after the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as various later waves of lower-level irregular migration that have continued to the present day. The Norsemen also settled in Normandy in the 10th century and contributed significantly to the ancestry of the Normans. Furthermore, regional ethnic minorities also exist within France that have distinct lineages, languages and cultures such as Bretons in Brittany, Occitans in Occitania, Basques in the French Basque Country, Catalans in northern Catalonia, Germans in Alsace, Corsicans in Corsica and Flemings in French Flanders.[35]

France has long been a patchwork of local customs and regional differences, and while most French people still speak the French language as their mother tongue, languages like Picard, Poitevin-Saintongeais, Franco-Provencal, Occitan, Catalan, Auvergnat, Corsican, Basque, French Flemish, Lorraine Franconian, Alsatian, Norman, and Breton remain spoken in their respective regions. Arabic is also widely spoken, arguably the largest minority language in France as of the 21st century (a spot previously held by Breton and Occitan).[36]

Modern French society is a melting pot.[37] From the middle of the 19th century, it experienced a high rate of inward migration, mainly consisting of Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Arab-Berbers, Jews, Sub-Saharan Africans, Chinese, and other peoples from Africa, the Middle East and East Asia, and the government, defining France as an inclusive nation with universal values, advocated assimilation through which immigrants were expected to adhere to French values and cultural norms. Nowadays, while the government has let newcomers retain their distinctive cultures since the mid-1980s and requires from them a mere integration,[38] French citizens still equate their nationality with citizenship as does French law.[39]

In addition to mainland France, French people and people of French descent can be found internationally, in overseas departments and territories of France such as the French West Indies (French Caribbean), and in foreign countries with significant French-speaking population groups or not, such as the United States (French Americans), Canada (French Canadians), Argentina (French Argentines), Brazil (French Brazilians), Mexico (French Mexicans), Chile (French Chileans) and Uruguay (French Uruguayans).[40][41]

  1. ^ a b "Démographie – Population au début du mois – France". Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  2. ^ "La diaspora française, nouvel acteur de diplomatie ?". Le Monde.fr. 17 March 2015. Certains spécialistes avancent que la diaspora française serait composée de 30 millions de personnes.
  3. ^ "Table B04006 - People Reporting Ancestry - 2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Les merveilleux francophiles argentins-1". canalacademie.com. 5 October 2006.
  5. ^ Government of Canada (17 June 2019). "Ethnic Origin (279), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3), Generation Status (4), Age (12) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  6. ^ includes Quebecois and Acadians
  7. ^ Wardrop, Murray (12 April 2010). "Britons can trace French ancestry after millions of records go online". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 15 August 2015. The documents disclose that despite our rivalry with our continental counterparts, 3 million Britons - one in 20 – can trace their ancestry back to France
  8. ^ "Présence française" (in French). Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
  9. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ Parvex, Ricardo (1 January 2014). "Le Chili et les mouvements migratoires". Hommes & Migrations (1305): 71–76. doi:10.4000/hommesmigrations.2720. ISSN 1142-852X.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "Les Français établis hors de France". Au 31 décembre 2012, 1 611 054 de nos compatriotes étaient inscrits au registre mondial des Français établis hors de France.
  12. ^ "Etat et structure de la population – Données détaillées, Population résidante selon le sexe et la nationalité par pays, (su-f-01.01.01.03), Office fédéral de la statistique OFS". Bfs.admin.ch. 29 January 2010. Archived from the original on 12 November 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  13. ^ Kevin Shillington, Encyclopedia of African History, CRC Press, 2005, pp. 878–883
  14. ^ "SPF Intérieur – Office des Étrangers" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 February 2009.
  15. ^ "Avance del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero de 2011. Datos provisionales. 2011. INE" (PDF). Ine.es. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  16. ^ "20680-Ancestry (full classification list) by Sex – Australia". 2006 Census. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel download) on 10 March 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
  17. ^ "20680-Country of Birth of Person (full classification list) by Sex – Australia". 2006 Census. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel download) on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
  18. ^ "IOM 2020 estimate of French-born people living in Portugal".
  19. ^ a b c d e f "Immigrant and Emigrant Populations by Country of Origin and Destination". 10 February 2014.
  20. ^ "France and Thailand Bilateral relations". diplomatie.fr.
  21. ^ "Our countries suffer from the same stereotypes: French Ambassador to Thailand". Khaosod English. Khaosod. 30 September 2019.
  22. ^ "MEAE - Français résidents à l'étranger". Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - Français résidents à l'étranger. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  23. ^ "État de la population (x1000) 1981, 1991, 2001–2007". Statistiques.public.lu. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  24. ^ "Mexique". France-Diplomatie. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  25. ^ "Message from Consul General of France in Hong Kong and Macau". Scmp.com. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  26. ^ 政府統計の総合窓(e-Stat) moj.go.jp
  27. ^ "Présidentielle française 2012 – À Maurice, Sarkozy l'emporte devant Hollande" (in French). Le Défi Media Group. 23 April 2012. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  28. ^ "General Population Census 2008: Population Recensee et Population Estimee" (PDF) (in French). Government of the Principality of Monaco. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  29. ^ "Foreign born after country of birth and immigration year". Statistics Sweden.
  30. ^ "Bevölkerung nach Staatsangehörigkeit und Geburtsland". Statistik Austria (in German). Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  31. ^ Tessa Copland. "French – Facts and figures". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  32. ^ "Former Honorary Consul of France conferred French Legion of Honor". The Star. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  33. ^ "Relation between Turkey and France - Ministry of Foreign Affairs". mfa. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  34. ^ Census 2011 – Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) – Demographic Data
  35. ^ Saint Pierre, Aude; Giemza, Joanna; Karakachoff, Matilde; Alves, Isabel; Amouyel, Philippe; Dartigues, Jean-Francois; Tzourio, Christophe; Monteil, Martial; Galan, Pilar; Hercberg, Serge; Redon, Richard; Genin, Emmanuelle; Dina, Christian (23 July 2019). "The Genetic History of France". bioRxiv 10.1101/712497.
  36. ^ "To count or not to count". The Economist. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  37. ^ French historian Gérard Noiriel uses the phrase "creuset français" to express the idea, in his pioneering work Le Creuset français (1988). See Noiriel, Gérard (1996). The French melting pot: immigration, citizenship, and national identity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0816624194. ; translated from French by Geoffroy de Laforcade.
  38. ^ "French Government Revives Assimilation Policy". Migrationpolicy.org. 1 October 2003. Archived from the original on 30 January 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  39. ^ Cite error: The named reference Const58 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  40. ^ Alexandra Hughes; Alex Hughes; Keith A Reader (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-203-00330-5.
  41. ^ Countries and Their Cultures French Canadians – everyculture.com Retrieved 12 April 2013.