ABSTRACT
In comparison with the rest of Europe, France is an old country of immigration. France emerged as a destination for a large number of immigrants from about the middle of the nineteenth century. Contemporary understandings of immigration and immigrants developed during this period, in particular with the passage of the nationality law of 1889. Since then, immigration to France has been a continuous, enduring phenomenon. The proportion of foreigners was already roughly 7 per cent during the 1930s, when the economic crisis hit the world. After declining in subsequent years, it returned to this threshold by the mid-1970s, and has remained fairly constant since then.
