The numbers are there. According to a study published this Tuesday by INSEE, France had 7.7 million immigrants in 2024, or 11.3% of the population. This is the highest level ever recorded in our country. In this total, 2.6 million immigrants acquired French nationality. They are therefore no longer counted in the strict sense as “foreigners” – which represent 8.8% of the population. A proportion lower than the European average (9.6%), but which masks a fundamental development: arrivals have never been so numerous in a single year, worries Nicolas Pouvreau-Monti.
In a column published in the Figaro, the director of the Observatory of Immigration and Demography (OID) observes that “this increase exceeds the previous record observed in 2023 by 65%”, 434,000 people will have arrived in the territory in 2024. Beyond the volume, it is the structure of immigration that is changing. In 1968, nearly three out of four foreigners in France were European. Today, 46% of foreigners have an African nationality and 35% a European nationality. Nationals from Asia represent 13%.
Immigration overwhelmingly from Africa
“France welcomes, by far, the most African immigration in all of Europe”underlines Nicolas Pouvreau-Monti. According to him, nearly 70% of the increase observed in 2024 comes from Africa, with a particularly marked increase for immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa (+150% since 2006). “The mechanics of the migratory boom know no engine brakes”he insists. In one year, the increase in the immigrant population was four times higher than the average of the 2000s and twenty-five times higher than that of the 1990s.
An observation which comes at a time when many European countries have tightened their reception policies. Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have restricted stay conditions, while France became, at the start of 2025, the first country to register asylum applications in the European Union.
