Immigrants in rural France: small numbers but increasingly diverse origins

Abstract

In metropolitan France, immigrants or foreigners have represented a constant, albeit small (4.3% and 2.5%, respectively) share of the rural population since the 1970s. While most live close to international borders, in western France, or close to large or medium-sized cities, their spatial distribution is increasingly uniform across all regions of France. Most immigrants are from Southern, Western, and Northern Europe and from North Africa; these two groups differ notably in household size, with Europeans tending to live in smaller households. But inflows from other countries have increased, leading to a slow rise in the numbers of rural immigrants and foreigners and a diversification of origins since the 1990s at least.