More immigrants coming to France have degrees – and most now come from Africa rather than the rest of Europe, new figures from the country’s statistics bureau show.
Insee, France’s national statistics agency, examined migration trends between 2006 and 2023. The number of people moving to France rose steadily in that period – from 234,000 in 2006 to 347,000 in 2023.
The research also found that for the first time, Africa has overtaken Europe as the main region of origin for people immigrating to France – with 45 percent of new arrivals in 2023 coming from African countries.
Half of those were from the Maghreb – North African countries such as Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The rest were mostly from the Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.
European immigration, once dominant, has fallen sharply.
Insee data shows that in 2006, 44 percent of immigrants came from Europe. By 2023, that number had dropped to 28 percent.
There has also been a slight shift in the gender balance, with Insee finding that women made up 53 percent of new arrivals in 2006. In 2023, they made up 51 percent.
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More diplomas
The biggest change observed was in education levels. Among immigrants aged 25 and over, 52 percent had a diploma in 2023 – up from 41 percent in 2006.
The share of those arriving without any qualifications also fell, dropping from 30 percent in 2003 to 22 percent in 2023. Insee included the 2003 figure to provide a longer-term comparison beyond the 2006 baseline used elsewhere in the study.
The strongest gains were seen among African immigrants.
In 2006, fewer than one in three held a higher education diploma. By 2023, that figure had risen to one in two.
One in three immigrants was able to find work within a year of arriving in France. Europeans were the most likely to enter the workforce quickly, with more than half employed within 12 months of arrival.
This article was adapted from the original version in French.
