Immigration
It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population is descended at least partially from the different waves of immigration since the early 20th century;[250] between 1921 and 1935 alone, about 1.1 million net immigrants came to France.[251] The next largest wave came in the 1960s when around 1.6 million pieds noirs returned to France following the independence of its Northwest African possessions, Algeria and Morocco.[252][253] They were joined by numerous former colonial subjects from North and West Africa, as well as numerous European immigrants from Spain and Portugal.
France remains a major destination for immigrants, accepting about 200,000 legal immigrants annually.[254] In 2005, it was Western Europe's leading recipient of asylum seekers, with an estimated 50,000 applications (albeit a 15% decrease from 2004).[255] In 2010, France received about 48,100 asylum applications—placing it among the top five asylum recipients in the world.[256] In subsequent years it saw the number of applications increase, ultimately doubling to 100,412 in 2017.[257] The European Union allows free movement between the member states, although France established controls to curb Eastern European migration.[citation needed] Foreigners' rights are established in the Code of Entry and Residence of Foreigners and of the Right to Asylum. Immigration remains a contentious political issue.[258]
In 2008, the INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) estimated that the total number of foreign-born immigrants was around 5 million (8% of the population), while their French-born descendants numbered 6.5 million, or 11% of the population. Thus, nearly a fifth of the country's population were either first or second-generation immigrants, of which more than 5 million were of European origin and 4 million of Maghrebi ancestry.[259][260][261] In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137,000 persons, mostly from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey.[262] In 2022, more than 320,000 migrants came to France, with the majority coming from Africa.[263]
In 2014, the INSEE reported a significant increase in the number of immigrants coming from Spain, Portugal and Italy between 2009 and 2012. According to the institute, this increase resulted from the 2008 financial crisis.[264] Statistics on Spanish immigrants in France show a growth of 107 per cent between 2009 and 2012, with the population growing from 5,300 to 11,000.[264] Of the total of 229,000 foreigners coming to France in 2012, nearly 8% were Portuguese, 5% British, 5% Spanish, 4% Italian, 4% German, 3% Romanian, and 3% Belgian.[264]