France

===Ethnic groups===
{{Main|French people}}
Historically, [[French people]] were mainly of [[Celtic peoples|Celtic]]-[[Gauls|Gallic]] origin, with a significant admixture of [[Italic peoples|Italic]] ([[Roman Empire|Romans]]) and [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] ([[Franks]]) groups reflecting centuries of respective migration and settlement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jean-Louis Brunaux |title=Nos ancêtres les Gaulois |date=2008 |editor-last=Seuil |page=261 |trans-title=Our ancestors the Gauls}}</ref> Through the course of the [[Middle Ages]], France incorporated various neighbouring ethnic and linguistic groups, as evidenced by [[Bretons|Breton]] elements in the west, [[Aquitani]]an in the southwest, [[Scandinavian people|Scandinavian]] in the northwest, [[Alemanni]]c in the northeast, and [[Ligures|Ligurian]] in the southeast.

Large-scale immigration over the last century and a half have led to a more multicultural society; beginning with the French Revolution, and further codified in the [[French Constitution|French Constitution of 1958]], the government is prohibited from collecting data on ethnicity and ancestry; most demographic information is drawn from private sector organisations or academic institutions. In 2004, the ''Institut Montaign''e estimated that within Metropolitan France, 51&nbsp;million people were White (85% of the population), 6&nbsp;million were Northwest African (10%), 2&nbsp;million were Black (3.3%), and 1&nbsp;million were Asian (1.7%).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Yazid Sabeg |url=http://www.conventioncitoyenne.com/documents/oubliesdelegalite.pdf |title=Les oubliés de l'égalité des chances |last2=Laurence Méhaignerie |date=January 2004 |publisher=[[Institut Montaigne]] |language=fr |trans-title=The forgotten of equal opportunities |author-link=Yazid Sabeg}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=26 March 2009 |title=France's ethnic minorities: To count or not to count |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=https://www.economist.com/node/13377324 |access-date=25 April 2013}}</ref>

A 2008 poll conducted jointly by [[INED|the Institut national d'études démographiques]] and [[INSEE|the French National Institute of Statistics]]<ref>{{Cite web |year=2008 |title='Trajectories and Origins' Survey |url=http://teo_english.site.ined.fr/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111202054910/http://teo_english.site.ined.fr/ |archive-date=2 December 2011 |publisher=Ined}}</ref><ref name="Oppenheimer">{{Cite journal |last=Oppenheimer |first=David B. |year=2008 |title=Why France needs to collect data on racial identity...in a French way |journal=Hastings International and Comparative Law Review |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=735–752 |ssrn=1236362}}</ref> estimated that the largest minority ancestry groups were [[Italians in France|Italian]] (5 million), followed by [[Northwest African]] (3–6 million),<ref name="Cohen1995">{{Cite book |first=Robin |last=Cohen |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgesurveyo00robi |title=The Cambridge Survey of World Migration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-521-44405-7 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 November 2009 |title=France's crisis of national identity |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/frances-crisis-of-national-identity-1826942.html}}</ref><ref>"Les personnes d'origine maghrébine y sont également au nombre de 5 à 6 millions; 3,5 millions ont la nationalité française (don't 500 000 harkis)", Évelyne Perrin, ''Identité Nationale, Amer Ministère'', L'Harmattan, 2010, p. 112 {{ISBN|978-2-296-10839-4}}</ref> [[Afro-French|Sub-Saharan African]] (2.5&nbsp;million), Armenian (500,000), and Turkish (200,000).<ref>{{Cite web |first=Falila |last=Gbadamassi |title=Les personnes originaires d'Afrique, des Dom-Tom et de la Turquie sont 5,5 millions dans l'Hexagone |url=http://www.afrik.com/article16248.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002085632/http://www.afrik.com/article16248.html |archive-date=2 October 2013 |publisher=Afrik.com}}</ref> There are also sizeable minorities of other [[European ethnic groups]], namely [[Spaniards|Spanish]], [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]], [[Polish people|Polish]], and [[Greeks|Greek]].<ref name="Cohen1995"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Richburg |first=Keith B. |date=24 April 2005 |title=Europe's Minority Politicians in Short Supply |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12396-2005Apr23.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sachs |first=Susan |date=12 January 2007 |title=In officially colorblind France, blacks have a dream&nbsp;– and now a lobby |work=The Christian Science Monitor |location=Boston |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0112/p01s04-woeu.html}}</ref> France has a significant [[Romani people in France|Gitan (Romani)]] population, numbering between 20,000 and 400,000;<ref>{{Cite web |title=National strategy for Roma integration – European Commission – DG Justiceunknown label |url=http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/roma-integration/france/national-strategy/national_en.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306140020/http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/roma-integration/france/national-strategy/national_en.htm |archive-date=6 March 2016}}</ref> many foreign [[Romani people|Roma]] are [[Deportation of Roma migrants from France|expelled back to Bulgaria and Romania frequently.]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Astier |first=Henri |date=13 February 2014 |title=France's unwanted Roma |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25419423 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>