It is not known exactly how many people there are of each ethnicity since there is a ban on ethnic censuses in France, which applies in Réunion because it is a part of the 1958 constitution.
I thought this was pretty interesting.
If you don't pay attention to people's ethnicity, then minorities aren't given special treatment and are expected to stand on their own two feet. (Of course, being France, a socialist country, no one has to stand on their own two feet - at least, not until the current debt crisis).
In the article below it says:
In reality French citizens or residents of foreign origin are often subjected to racism and discrimination, which in part led to the riots that broke out in 2005 in high-immigrant suburbs across the country.
But is it really racism and discrimination? France is after all famous for being the country where African Americans went - and go - to avoid the "racism" of the US?
Could the problem not be discrimination or racism but frustration with the fact that these immigrants - Muslim immigrants - refuse to assimilate? They refuse to learn French, and thus can't learn anything in school to allow them to get good jobs?
(OF course, it would be interesting for someone to do that research. How many of these immigrants in France have learned French, do intend to assimilate, etc. and how many want jobs to be provided for them so they can speak their own language and just do their own thing. Without actually knowing the ethnic numbers...it's hard to do that kind of research as well, to refute charges of racism. Or - prove them.]
A further websearch revealed:
From France 24, 5 Feb 2010: France urged to ease ethnic statistics taboo
AFP - The French government was Friday urged to ease its taboo on statistics on ethnic origin in a report commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy's "diversity tsar" to look at ways of fighting discrimination.
The report said France's ban on officially classifying people by ethnicity or asking questions in the national census about their race or origins should be maintained.
But it recommended that censuses should henceforth include a question on the nationality or place of birth of people's parents, an apparently minor change but for France a major easing of its staunch opposition to ethnic statistics.
"It is the only way of being able to follow the course of the children of immigrants, to see what happens to them, what are their destinies... their exposure to discrimination," said Francois Heran.
Heran, the former head of national demographics institute, led the 27-strong committee that on Friday presented its report to Yazid Sabeg, a businessman of Algerian origin appointed by Sarkozy to advise him on fighting discrimination.
Sabeg sparked a heated political row when he suggested as he commissioned the report last year that the ban on ethnic statistics should perhaps be lifted.
Other countries have detailed figures on the ethnic make-up of their populations but these are largely banned in the French republic which is based on the idea that all citizens are equal and free from distinctions of race or religion.
In reality French citizens or residents of foreign origin are often subjected to racism and discrimination, which in part led to the riots that broke out in 2005 in high-immigrant suburbs across the country.
Sarkozy has argued that the lack of statistics on France's ethnic groups frustrates attempts to measure and deal with inequality.
The new report comes amid a debate on national identity that has divided France.
Critics argue that it is fomenting anti-foreigner and anti-Muslim sentiment and is little more than a ploy by the rightwinger Sarkozy to grab far-right votes in regional elections to be held next month.
The government is due to hold a seminar next Monday to consider its conclusions from the national identity debate.
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