London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

Studies: France is a melting pot but discrimination lurks

Studies: France is a melting pot but discrimination lurks

Two landmark new studies in France are bursting myths about immigration at a time when xenophobic far-right discourse has gained ground. They show that the children of immigrants are increasingly melting into French society but some with African and Asian backgrounds face persistent discrimination.

Karima Simmou, a 20-year-old French-Moroccan student at the prestigious Paris university Sciences Po, embodies the phenomenon.

She comes from a working-class family of eight children, with a mother who raised the family and a father who worked as a miner in western France. She was pushed by her family to go to the elite school.

“As a child of immigrants my parents, from their experience, told me that I needed to do more than others to succeed,” Simmou told The Associated Press.

Advocates who fight discrimination welcomed the new data published this month that gives a rare insight because France follows a universalist vision that doesn’t differentiate citizens by ethnic groups.

The surveys published by the state statistics agency and the French state Institute for Demographic Studies, Ined, provide national data and statistics about the path of immigrants to France, their children and — for the first time — their grandchildren. It’s an updated and more extensive version of a similar survey made 10 years ago. It includes a representative sample of more than 27,000 people drawn from the national census who responded to extensive questions about topics such as family life, income and religion from July 2019 to November 2020.

One of the reports found that a large swath of France’s population has an immigrant ancestor — an estimated 32% of people under 60 — and that children and grandchildren of immigrants are increasingly integrated into French society.

Nonetheless, immigration isn’t evenly spread across France. Patrick Simon, one of the Ined researchers, said that about 70% of France’s population aged under 60 has no immigrant heritage over the past three generations and that ethnic diversity depends heavily on where in France people live.

The report brushed aside the “great replacement,” a false claim propagated by some extreme-right figures that the white populations of France and other Western countries are being overrun by non-white immigrants.

“Population with immigrant backgrounds share a profound bond with the population who have no direct immigrant parentage. In every family, people have a less or more direct link with immigration,” Simon told The AP.

Over the generations, the immigrant heritage is diluted, the survey notes.

It found that 66% of people with at least one immigrant parent are married to people without recent immigrant heritage, while nine out of 10 people of France’s third generation of immigrant families have only one or two immigrant grandparents.

French immigration covers a wide range of origins, partly reflecting the country’s colonial history. Young generations with immigrant backgrounds tend to have North African or sub-Saharan roots while older ones tend to have European roots. The survey said 83% of people under 18 in France who have at least one immigrant parent trace their origins to countries outside Europe, especially Africa. In contrast, more than 90% of second-generation immigrants over age 60 have Italian, Spanish, Polish, Belgian, German or other European parents.

The children and grandchildren of immigrants from Africa and Asia are well integrated in the French educational system compared with their elders, according to another report. Data show they have increasingly higher education levels than their parents, though many struggle to attain comparable educational levels to French people without immigrant heritage.

And getting jobs is harder, too: 60% of those with non-European roots hold intermediate or high-level jobs, compared with 70% of French people without direct immigrant kinship.

Ined researcher Mathieu Ichou noted two possible explanations for the hiring discrepancy.

“Several surveys, data and audit studies backed up that hiring is not favorable to minorities, and they experience discrimination. France is pretty bad regarding this issue, compared to other European countries,” he said.

Also, Ichou said, “minorities tend to be underrepresented in the French elite schools.”

Simmou joined Sciences Po thanks to a special program for students from underprivileged areas. But she is well aware that her journey is exemplary and unusual.

Goundo Diawara, an educational adviser and member of a union of parents in working-class neighborhood schools with large immigrant communities, is a firsthand witness of how France’s school system fails to eradicate inequality.

“In daily life, we report issues like the struggle with orientation in schools in underprivileged areas. Most of the time, these students don’t know these elite schools. In addition, having a child who is doing long studies costs more for poor families,” she told the AP.

Still, she praised the two reports for providing “useful resources.”

Even though Simmou has been studying at one of France’s most prestigious universities for three years, she still feels a gap between herself and her classmates.

“During my second year at Sciences Po, people reminded me that I have immigrant roots, trying to put me in a box, whereas I want to choose who I want to be,” she said.

But the 20-year-old hopes that her journey will inspire others.

“If we don’t set examples to hold on to, it is difficult to widen our horizons and imagine another future,” she said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Politic is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
×