French people
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French people (French: Les Français, lit. 'The French') are a nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France.
The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oïl from northern and central France, are primarily descended from Romans (or Gallo-Romans, western European Celtic and Italic peoples), Gauls (including the Belgae), as well as Germanic peoples such as the Franks, the Visigoths, the Suebi and the Burgundians who settled in Gaul from east of the Rhine after the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as various later waves of lower-level irregular migration that have continued to the present day. The Norsemen also settled in Normandy in the 10th century and contributed significantly to the ancestry of the Normans. Furthermore, regional ethnic minorities also exist within France that have distinct lineages, languages and cultures such as Bretons in Brittany, Occitans in Occitania, Basques in the French Basque Country, Catalans in northern Catalonia, Germans in Alsace, Corsicans in Corsica and Flemings in French Flanders.[1]
France has long been a patchwork of local customs and regional differences, and while most French people still speak the French language as their mother tongue, languages like Picard, Poitevin-Saintongeais, Franco-Provencal, Occitan, Catalan, Auvergnat, Corsican, Basque, French Flemish, Lorraine Franconian, Alsatian, Norman, and Breton remain spoken in their respective regions. Arabic is also widely spoken, arguably the largest minority language in France as of the 21st century (a spot previously held by Breton and Occitan).[2]
Modern French society is a melting pot.[3] From the middle of the 19th century, it experienced a high rate of inward migration, mainly consisting of Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Arab-Berbers, Jews, Sub-Saharan Africans, Chinese, and other peoples from Africa, the Middle East and East Asia, and the government, defining France as an inclusive nation with universal values, advocated assimilation through which immigrants were expected to adhere to French values and cultural norms. Nowadays, while the government has let newcomers retain their distinctive cultures since the mid-1980s and requires from them a mere integration,[4] French citizens still equate their nationality with citizenship as does French law.[5]
As of 2025, the total population in France was estimated about 68.6 million.[6] In addition to mainland France, French people and people of French descent can be found internationally, in overseas departments and territories of France such as the French West Indies (French Caribbean), and in foreign countries with significant French-speaking population groups or not, such as the United States (French Americans), Canada (French Canadians), Argentina (French Argentines), Brazil (French Brazilians), Mexico (French Mexicans), Chile (French Chileans) and Uruguay (French Uruguayans).[7][8]
- ^ Saint Pierre, Aude; Giemza, Joanna; Karakachoff, Matilde; Alves, Isabel; Amouyel, Philippe; Dartigues, Jean-Francois; Tzourio, Christophe; Monteil, Martial; Galan, Pilar; Hercberg, Serge; Redon, Richard; Genin, Emmanuelle; Dina, Christian (23 July 2019). "The Genetic History of France". bioRxiv 10.1101/712497.
- ^ "To count or not to count". The Economist. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
- ^ French historian Gérard Noiriel uses the phrase "creuset français" to express the idea, in his pioneering work Le Creuset français (1988). See Noiriel, Gérard (1996). The French melting pot: immigration, citizenship, and national identity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0816624194. ; translated from French by Geoffroy de Laforcade.
- ^ "French Government Revives Assimilation Policy". Migrationpolicy.org. 1 October 2003. Archived from the original on 30 January 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Const58was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Bilan demographique 2024". Insee Première. 14 January 2025. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
- ^ Alexandra Hughes; Alex Hughes; Keith A Reader (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-203-00330-5.
- ^ Countries and Their Cultures French Canadians – everyculture.com Retrieved 12 April 2013.