Immigration has been a political touch point in France since the establishment of the Front National, a far-right party, in the early 1970s. Since then, the political fervour – seen in both public narratives and repeated attempts to control immigration – has not matched the steady immigration levels or public opinion. The biggest concern in France is integration and assimilation, more than the impact on the economy or crime and terrorism.

Migration trends

Following both the First and Second World War, France saw a cycle of recruiting foreign workers, experiencing economic downturn and sending foreign workers back home. Since the 1990s, France has seen consistent levels of immigration and did not experience a notable spike in immigration in 2015–2016 like many other European countries.

This data shows annual immigration, emigration and net migration figures. Source: Institut National de la Statistique et des études économiques (n.d.) 'Flux migratoires par catégorie de population'

Salience

Immigration has not traditionally been viewed as a key issue. With the assumption and fear that refugees and other migrants would arrive in France in large numbers as they did in other European countries, this spiked from 10% to almost 50% in 2015. When this did not happen, it returned to a low level and has remained below 20% since.

This shows the percentage of people who see immigration as one of the two most important issues facing the country today. Source: Eurobarometer (n.d.) 'Standard Eurobarometer'. Brussels: European Commission. Data shown is taken from Autumn surveys, with the Autumn surveys of 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 shifting to Winter 2020/21, Winter 2021/22 and Winter 2022/23 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Perceptions

A comparatively high share of the French population see immigration as a problem (39%), with notably few perceiving immigration as an opportunity (16%) in 2021, with little change on these questions between 2017 and 2021.

This shows the percentage of people that think immigration from outside the EU is more of a problem than an opportunity, or more of an opportunity than a problem, or equally a problem and an opportunity. Source: European Commission (2018) 'Special Eurobarometer 469. Integration of immigrants in the European Union'; European Commission (2022) 'Special Eurobarometer 519. Integration of immigrants in the European Union'

Attitudes

In the early 2000s, more people held negative views or were indecisive about whether immigration made France a better place to live. This has recently shifted, with positive attitudes overtaking negative ones for the first time in 2016, and continuing to increase in 2022. However, a large share of the population remain indecisive on this indicator.

This shows how people have answered the question 'Do immigrants make France a worse or a better place to live.' Those scoring 0-4 are classified as holding 'negative' views, those scoring 5 as 'indecisive' and those scoring 6-10 as holding 'positive' views. Source: European Social Survey (n.d.) 'France.' Electronic Dataset Survey postponed in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.