Where do Foreign Nationals Live in France?
Thursday 01 December 2011
There are 3.6 million foreign nationals living in France, and newly released figures show the regions where they live.
The Ile de France has the largest population of foreign nationals, with nearly 1.5m who have decided to settle there. The region also has the largest share (12.4%) of foreign nationals as a percentage of the total population.
The number of residents from the EEA as a percentage of the total foreign population is highest in the Poitou Charentes region, where 62% of foreign residents are of European origin. Not surprisingly it is closely followed by Aquitaine on 59%.
Some may be surprised at the low level of foreign residents in Brittany (1.8%), around half of whom come from the European Union. The same pattern also appears in Normandy (1.9%) and the Pays de la Loire (1.9%).
If you are not interested in percentages, but simply total numbers, then Lower Normandy has only 27,432 foreign residents, half of whom are from the EEA.
The number of of foreign nationals in France remains relatively small at 3.6 million (5.8%), which falls to 2.1 million (4.3%) outside of the Ile de France.
The figures come from the French national statistical agency, INSEE.
| Number of Foreign Residents | Share of the population (%) | European Union Nationals(%) | |
| Alsace | 139 481 | 7.6 | 37.4 |
| Aquitaine | 129 135 | 4.1 | 58.7 |
| Auvergne | 43 643 | 3.3 | 51.7 |
| Bourgogne | 63 220 | 3.9 | 44.4 |
| Brittany | 57 255 | 1.8 | 49.0 |
| Centre | 102 616 | 4.1 | 38.2 |
| Champagne-Ardenne | 49 811 | 3.7 | 36.0 |
| Corse | 24 747 | 8.2 | 41.9 |
| Franche-Comté | 52 191 | 4.5 | 25.8 |
| Île-de-France | 1 446 558 | 12.4 | 29.0 |
| Languedoc-Roussillon | 143 338 | 5.6 | 42.9 |
| Limousin | 30 108 | 4.1 | 50.9 |
| Lorraine | 120 318 | 5.1 | 50.4 |
| Midi-Pyrénées | 126 630 | 4.5 | 51.6 |
| Nord-Pas-de-Calais | 127 501 | 3.2 | 34.1 |
| Lower-Normandy | 27 432 | 1.9 | 49.5 |
| Upper-Normandy | 50 660 | 2.8 | 25.8 |
| Pays de la Loire | 65 564 | 1.9 | 36.4 |
| Picardy | 62 488 | 3.3 | 35.6 |
| Poitou-Charentes | 46 532 | 2.7 | 62.0 |
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 307 348 | 6.3 | 34.8 |
| Rhône-Alpes | 386 837 | 6.3 | 34.8 |
| Province | 2 156 857 | 4.3 | 40.7 |
| Metropolitan France | 3 603 415 | 5.8 | 36.0 |
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