Genetik
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Genetik/Peoples/French

French

Французы · Q121842

language area per Glottologcensus counts
274,405
French Polynesia, census 2017 (national and/or ethnic group, UN)
463,600
sum of censuses in 11 countries, 2000-2022
Indo-European
language family (Glottolog)

In brief

The largest documented number lives in French Polynesia: 274,405 people in the 2017 census.

Official figures exist for 11 countries; together they add up to 463,600. This is not an estimate of the world total: the censuses were held in different years (2000-2022) and define belonging differently, and countries without such data are not counted.

In Russia's 2020 census (reference date 1 October 2021), 1,457 people identified with the nationality "Французы" (French)1. That is less than 0.01% of the 130,587,364 residents who stated a nationality.

Rosstat also assigns 7 other self-designations to this nationality (listed in Russian in the source table).

Main language: French. Glottolog classifies it in the Indo-European family.

Where they live: census figures

Each figure comes from the country's official census. Censuses define belonging differently (self-identification, citizenship, mother tongue, ancestry); the type is given on each row.

French Polynesia2017 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [2]
274,405
Belgium2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [3]
173,282
Monaco2000 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [4]
10,229
Philippines2020 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [5]
2,034
Russia2021 · ethnicity / nationality · «Французы» · [1]
1,457
Estonia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [6]
1,275
Ukraine2001 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [7]
258
Latvia2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [8]
256
Togo2022 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [9]
242
Kazakhstan2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [10]
91
Lithuania2021 · national and/or ethnic group, UN · «French» · [11]
71
Sum across 11 countries463,600

In detail: Russia, 2021 census

Sex, urban and rural, Russian regions

Sex

Men 992 · 68.1%Women 465 · 31.9%

Urban and rural

Urban 1,347 · 92.5%Rural 110 · 7.5%

Where: the 10 regions with the largest numbers

Moscow (city)
476
Saint Petersburg (city)
153
Moscow Oblast
98
Novgorod Oblast
62
Krasnodar Krai
54
Samara Oblast
43
Republic of Bashkortostan
37
Rostov Oblast
36
Sverdlovsk Oblast
30
Kirov Oblast
25

Source [1]: Rosstat, 2020 census, vol. 5, table 1

Languages and their lineage

French

  1. Indo-Europeanindo1319
  2. Classical Indo-Europeanclas1257
  3. Italicital1284
  4. Latino-Faliscanlati1262
  5. Latiniclati1263
  6. Imperial Latinimpe1234
  7. Romanceroma1334
  8. Italo-Western Romanceital1285
  9. Western Romancewest2813
  10. Shifted Western Romanceshif1234
  11. Northwestern Shifted Romancenort3208
  12. Gallo-Rhaetiangall1280
  13. Oiloila1234
  14. Central Oilcent2283
  15. Macro-Frenchmacr1273
  16. Global Frenchglob1239
  17. Frenchstan1290

People-to-language links: Wikidata (properties P103 and P2936), checked against ISO 639-3 codes. Language classification: Glottolog 5.3.

Peoples of the same language family

PakistanisRussiansMarathiGermansSpaniardsMexicansUkrainiansEnglishIrishAmericansItaliansRomaniansNepali (Khas-Arya)DutchBelarusiansTajiksCzechsScotsSerbsBulgariansSlovaksArmeniansCubansLithuanians

Sources

  1. Rosstat. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation. Results of the 2020 All-Russian Population Census (reference date 1 October 2021), vol. 5, table 1. Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx (archived copy)
  2. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. French Polynesia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  3. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Belgium, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  4. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Monaco, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  5. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Philippines, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  6. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Estonia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  7. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Ukraine, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  8. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Latvia, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  9. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Togo, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  10. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Kazakhstan, Census - de facto - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  11. United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Demographic Yearbook, table 26: Population by national and/or ethnic group. Lithuania, Census - de jure - complete tabulation, Final figure, complete. https://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26%3bsexCode%3a0%3bareaCode%3a0%3bcountr…
  12. Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)