Six in 10 French voters believe they are being ethnically replaced in their homeland by non-Europeans, a major poll has found.
The survey by prestigious polling firm IFOP found that only 26% disagreed the country is witnessing “a replacement of the French population by non-European populations mainly from the African continent”, while 14% were unsure.
Asked whether they thought the demographic replacement was a good or bad thing, 66% said it was bad, 9% said it was good, 21% said it was neither good nor bad, and 4% said they were unsure.
60% des Français pensent que l’on assiste à « un remplacement de la population française par des populations non-européennes principalement issues d’Afrique » selon @IfopOpinion.
Pour notre plus grand malheur, nos gouvernants se trouvent dans les 40%. pic.twitter.com/qo0vVSMjUk
— Marion Maréchal (@MarionMarechal) April 16, 2026
Right-wing European Member of Parliament Marion Maréchal commented on the poll, which went largely unnoticed after being conducted in February, last month, writing on X: “To our great misfortune, our rulers are among the 40%.”
Ms Maréchal, the niece of National Rally parliamentary leader Marine Le Pen, has also criticised the far-left Spanish government’s recent decision to regularise 500,000 illegal immigrants, calling for the Spain to be excluded from the free movement Schengen Zone to “protect the French and Europeans.
About 14% of France’s population is foreign-born, and 8.1% of adult residents are foreigners with legal status, Le Journal du Dimanche reported.
A record 4.5 million residence permits were valid in 2025, up 3%, according to the French Directorate General for Foreigners, driven mainly by multi-year permits and long-term resident cards.
There was an 11% increase in new permits, including a 65% rise in humanitarian admissions, with a record 78,782 individuals granted asylum.
Header image: The French soccer team in March (Instagram).
