French is the native language of the majority of the population of France. Apart from France, there are several other countries where one can find French speakers. One of the main reasons for this fact is that French is an official language is more than 25 countries in the world. Out of the 150 million plus French speaking people in the world, more than 60% have settled in France.

Other countries where the rest of the French speaking population is distributed include but are not limited to: the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, The Channel Islands, Belgium, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad, Madagascar, Niger, Djibouti, Central African Republic, Comoros, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Monaco, Mali, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of the Congo, Seychelles, Switzerland, Senegal, Lebanon, Rwanda, Togo, Guinea and Vanuatu.

French speaking peoples in the United States of America

There are more than 12 million native French speaking people in the United States. The French speaking population has been living in the United States from early times, but the major groups immigrated during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is believed that the French migrated mainly due to communal issues, such as when France was newly evolved as a state, the Catholic community was preferred over the Protestants (called Huguenots in France), and in order to overcome this strong discrimination the Protestants preferred to settle in the United States, which was a considered to have an open society. This is also the reason why a majority of the descendants of these French immigrants in United States are Protestants, rather than Catholics.

One can find French speaking people concentrated in locations like California, Louisiana, New York, New England, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Louisiana State once was the main location of the French colonies and was also called “French Louisiana” in early times. This region has been so influenced by the French that it has its own French dialect that is spoken among the French communities in Louisiana State and also in other parts of the United States.

French speaking population of the United Kingdom

The French speaking population in the United Kingdom is estimated to be several millions. Many Huguenots immigrated from France to the United Kingdom during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in order to save themselves from persecution.

This French speaking population today is concentrated mainly in London and South East England. This French population consists of students and businessmen.