Ethnic-based statistics

What is the official statistical system allowed to do? What does it do?

The preparation of ethnic-based statistics is strictly controlled from a legal point of view: on the one hand, by the Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletGeneral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletData Protection Act and on the other hand by a Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletdecision taken in 2007 by the Constitutional Council.

In its decision of 15 November 2007, the Constitutional Council forbade the processing of data necessary for carrying out studies regarding diversity which infringe the principle laid down in Article 1 of the Constitution.

As a result, the following were prohibited:

In its commentary, the Constitutional Council stipulated that the a priori definition of an "ethno-racial classification" would be contrary to the Constitution.

In the commentary to its decision, the Constitutional Council also specified that the official statistical system (INSEE and the Ministerial Statistical Departments) may carry out studies of diversity of origin, discrimination and integration, but these must be based on objective data, such as a person's name, geographic origin or nationality before adopting French nationality.

However, these objective data are not the only data that can be used in statistical studies. The Constitutional Council pointed out that subjective data, such as that based on the "feeling of belonging", can also be collected in statistical surveys, and used in the resulting studies.

In both cases, the official statistical system must ask the opinion of the National Council of Statistical Information (CNIS), declare the survey to the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) and obtain their authorisation, if necessary (article 25 of the 1978 Act). Like all data collected for official statistics, data collected in this context are anonymised and subject to statistical confidentiality (Act of 1951 on legal obligation, coordination and confidentiality in the field of statistics).

Like the statistical institutes in all the other European countries, the official French system regularly produces, and has done so for a long time, statistics which include a person's country of birth, nationality at birth and current nationality. By crossing country of birth with nationality at birth it is possible to tell whether a person is an immigrant (a foreigner born abroad and resident in France) or not.

Surveys include: population census, employment survey, family budget survey, etc.

In some of these surveys, interviewees are also asked for the country of birth and nationality at birth of their parents. From these responses the descendants of immigrants can be ascertained.

INSEE and the ministerial statistical departments carry out surveys of subjective data such as the "feeling of belonging" much less frequently.

In 2009, INSEE in association with INED carried out a survey on the impact of origins on living standards and social trajectories, "Trajectories and Origins" (TeO).

In the questionnaire for this survey there were questions on feelings of discrimination, feelings of belonging and religion. For all these questions, respondents were informed that they could refuse to reply.

From all the data collected, whether objective or subjective on the feeling of belonging, many studies were produced on the diversity of people's situations.