Is it true only half of the population of France is from ethnic French origin?

Not at this point. According to the INSEE (National Institute for Statistics) , there are 19 million people who have immigration background on three generations in metropolitan France. Out of 65 million, this would amount to 69% being entirely of native stock. If you count oversea territories, you still have 66% people of French metropolitan origin. However, there are no official and accurate data like you have in English speaking countries (i.e : « white British » in the UK). Being French was always legally a question of citizenship instead of ethicity, unlike for instance in Germany. Moreover, the only ethnic statistics that have existed were the ones for Jews during the Vichy regime, which has created a taboo. It is possible to have estimates of French people’s ethnic background, but they make France a very complex mosaic. Within the native population proper, there are already six linguistic and regional minorities (Breton, Alsatian, Flemish, Basque, Catalan and Corsican). Some of these people might not consider themselves ethnic French, even if they are all indigenous. This interior diversity was long countered by authoritarian and centralist policies. The overwhelming majority of the above have forebears who came to France before 1970. For all those, integration worked in a similar way to the North American melting pot. French culture used to be very solid, with a strong power of attraction and assimilation. The number of French celebrities with foreign ancestry is quite amazing indeed. See : Why are so many French people of European descent not French ethnically? Eleven million people have ancestry in non European countries, but the large majority of that migration occurred after 1970. Seven million people have background in North Africa or the Middle East, about six million from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, 600k from Turkey and 200K from Lebanon. About two million came from French speaking subsaharan Africa, about one million from East Asia (China, Vietnam and Cambodia), smaller numbers from South Asia and Latin America. An unknown number of people are in France illegally, thus often not counted in statistics It gets even more intricate when you consider that France has overseas territories scattered in the Caribbean, Guyana, the Indian and the Pacific Ocean. Their combined population is 2,8 million. Over half of them are black (in the UK, most would fall in the « Black Caribbean » category), the remainder is mostly South Asian or Polynesian. Statistically, people in oversea France are however counted as native French although not European. About one million people in metropolitan France have origins in the oversea territories.

France is probably the European country with the highest share of non indigenous people, but this is a relatively recent phenomenon. France was historically a very populous country in Europe, long ranking as number one, without significant migration over a whole millenium. But there was a long demographic stagnation due to low birthrates. From 1900 to 1950, France’s metropolitan population lagged at 40 million. Immigration from other European countries peaked after WW1, as one and a half million young Frenchmen had died on the battlefields. Still, the number of indigenous French people has never been as high in history as it is now, about 50 million. But there is growing concern about population change, as in other West European countries. Continued mass migration and higher fertility rates among non European populations combined with ageing and low fertility of natives are critical factors that threaten to overturn the balance within a short time. Although « ethnic French » has a clear meaning in America for instance, the very idea is now disputed in France. It has evolved into a political issue, and the phrase « Français de souche » (native French) has become polemic. Denying the existence and the legitimacy of a French ethnicity is an alibi for those supporting mass migration either for economic or ideological purposes.