Russians in France: about 79,500 were born in Russia

Russian speakers live all over France. In the 2023 INSEE census the most people born in Russia are in Île-de-France (about 21,600); in the South Alpes-Maritimes with Nice and Cannes leads (about 5,700), followed by Bouches-du-Rhône (about 2,600), Haute-Garonne (about 2,100) and Hérault with Montpellier (about 1,200). There is no total for Russian speakers, but real figures do exist, and they are below. As for your own people in the South, the easiest place to look is the Telegram chat of the “Vibe South of France” community - Russians and Russian speakers in the South of France: tell us there which city you are in.

How many Russians are in France: the 2023 INSEE census

There is no total for Russian speakers in the INSEE census or in the Eurostat data we looked at, and we are not going to invent a range. There is, though, a firm figure for a neighbouring question: how many people living in France were born in Russia. In the 2023 INSEE census (published on 25 June 2026) that is about 79,500 people, out of roughly 7,257,200 immigrants born in all countries, a little over one in a hundred.

What “immigrant” means here. For INSEE an immigré is someone born abroad as a foreigner. Citizenship does not matter: a person born in Russia who later became French still counts. Language does not come into it either: a child born in France is not in the figure, and a Ukrainian, Kazakh or Armenian whose first language is Russian is not in it because the census counts the country of birth, not the language. So 79,500 is not “Russian speakers” but “born in Russia”, and that is how the figure should be read.

And how many Russian citizens? For citizenship the closest marker comes from Eurostat: on 31 December 2025, Russian citizens held 66,794 valid residence permits in France. The number has gone up every year since 2020: 52,248 at the end of 2020, 53,141 in 2021, 57,561 in 2022, 62,399 in 2023 and 65,236 in 2024 (Eurostat, table migr_resvalid, updated 28 September 2026, checked by us on 3 November 2026). These are permit holders, not everyone who lives here. Do not add this to the census figure: someone born in Russia who holds a permit is in both, while someone born in Russia who has since become French is only in INSEE’s.

By region and département in the South

The source is INSEE, 2023 census, the file “Population immigrée par sexe, âge et pays de naissance détaillé”. The numbers in it are sample-based estimates, so we round to the nearest hundred; the shares in brackets are our own calculation. INSEE says figures above 500 can usually be trusted and figures below 200 only with caution. Vaucluse (about 400) falls in between, so read it as an order of magnitude.

What the table shows. Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) together account for about 17,100 people, roughly a fifth of the French total in this census. Alpes-Maritimes (Nice, Cannes, Antibes) stands out: there are about three people born in Russia for every hundred immigrants, against 0.7 to 1.3 in the other départements of the table. It also has the most in absolute terms: about 5,700 against some 4,000 in Hérault, Gard and Haute-Garonne put together. For scale: in Hérault, with Montpellier, where the core of our community lives, the census sees a little under one person born in Russia per hundred immigrants.

Cities, metropolitan areas and employment zones

Below the département, the 2023 INSEE census file gives country of birth at three more levels, again only for areas with at least 500,000 inhabitants. A fair comparison only works within one level:

• commune - the city within its own limits, without suburbs; the 2023 file has only four: Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse;
• metropolitan area (EPCI) - a métropole or another grouping of a city with its neighbouring communes; the 2023 file has 11;
• employment zone (zone d’emploi 2020) - the city and the surrounding area people commute from; the 2023 file has 25.

The levels sit inside one another, so the same place gives different figures. In the 2023 INSEE census the commune of Marseille has 1,313 people born in Russia, the Marseille employment zone 1,600, the Aix-Marseille-Provence métropole 2,504 and the whole Bouches-du-Rhône département about 2,600. Names in the tables are as they appear in the INSEE file; a link leads to our guide to that city.

Among communes in the 2023 INSEE census, Paris, with 6,324 people born in Russia, has almost twice as many as the other three put together: Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse have 3,368. Where Russian Paris lives day to day - churches, Russian schools, shops, the consulate - is in our guide Russians in Paris.

Among metropolitan areas in the 2023 INSEE census, Greater Paris (14,742) is followed by Strasbourg (4,083) and the Nice métropole (3,941). In both, people born in Russia make up about 4 in 100 immigrants (4.0%), against 0.9% in Greater Paris. The Montpellier métropole, home to the core of our community, is 10th of 11 (787).

Among employment zones in the 2023 INSEE census, the top three are the same: Paris (14,426), Strasbourg (4,303), Nice (4,059). The Montpellier employment zone is 14th of 25 (924). Outside the top 15 are the employment zones of Perpignan (603, 22nd) and Toulon (332, 25th); Toulon’s figure sits between 200 and 500, so read it as an order of magnitude.

What the file does not contain

• Other countries. Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Moldova have no line of their own. They are inside the catch-all rows “Autres pays d’Europe” (about 179,100 people in France) and “Autres pays d’Asie” (about 372,900), which take every country without a line. The file does not say which country went into which row, so the share of Ukrainians or Kazakhs cannot be pulled out of it. This is exactly why there is no total for Russian speakers in these data. What other sources say about these communities is on our pages Ukrainians in France, Armenians in France and Kazakhs, Georgians and other post-Soviet diasporas.
• Smaller départements. INSEE publishes this breakdown only for areas with at least 500,000 inhabitants. Pyrénées-Orientales (Perpignan) had 496,855 in the 2023 census, just short. Aude (Carcassonne), Hautes-Alpes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence are also without figures.
• Other cities. The 2023 INSEE census shows the city itself, without suburbs, only for communes with at least 500,000 inhabitants: Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse. Metropolitan areas and employment zones of 500,000 or more have figures too - they are in the tables above. Other cities have none: the census cannot say how many Russians live in Montpellier proper, only in the Montpellier métropole (787 in the 2023 census) and its employment zone (924).

In practice that means you can find your people in the larger cities of the South, while a small town may have no community at all: that is how we write about Grasse and Prades. The shared chat for the whole South helps there.

How to find your people: practical steps

Most day-to-day conversation among Russian speakers now happens on Telegram. The steps:

1. Join our chat (link below) - the most direct route to Russian speakers in the South of France. Introduce yourself: your city, when you arrived, what you do.

2. Say which city you’re in. Members from all over the South will see the question and point you to people near you.

3. Come to a meetup - we organise barbecues, picnics, hikes and trips to the sea. Meeting in person is easier than messaging. Upcoming events are always in the chat.

4. Ask a practical question - about housing, documents, banking, doctors, Russian groceries.

What our chat shows. We read our own chat from 30 May 2025 to 25 October 2026: 3,393 text messages from 276 members, with people counted by a script over anonymised pseudonyms. The city members most often name as their home, their new home or a place they travel to is Montpellier (40 members), followed by Castelnau-le-Lez, Marseille and Nice (4 each), then Paris and Toulouse (3 each). Another 32 cities come up with one or two members each, too few to name. “Is there anyone from my city or nearby?” is the second most common question in the chat: 9 different members have asked it, and only the question of where exactly we meet came up more often.

While you wait for a reply, have a look at the “Directory for our own people”: Russian shops, churches, Russian schools, doctors and translators. For paperwork, the section “Moving to the South of France” will help.

“Today was a wonderful day with wonderful people and honestly everything was just perfect. Thank you all, loads of emotions and all of them positive.”

• from the community chat, after the beach party of 22 June 2025 (translated from Russian)

Cities of the South: guides for Russian speakers

If you are choosing where to move, or already live in the South, we have city guides with rents, neighbourhoods and transport:

• Montpellier - student city, lively, affordable; the heart of our community.
• Nice - the Côte d’Azur, history, the Russian cathedral, one of the priciest cities in the South for rent.
• Marseille - a port city, multicultural, cheaper than Nice.
• Toulouse - the pink city in the west, aerospace industry, Airbus.
• Perpignan - by the Spanish border, one of the sunniest cities in France.
• Nîmes - between Montpellier and Avignon, Roman arena, calmer and cheaper.
• Avignon - the city of the popes, a theatre festival, a gentle way into Provence.
• Sète - the “Venice of Languedoc”, a fishing town on a lagoon, a very different pace.
• Toulon - a naval base on the Mediterranean, noticeably cheaper than Nice.
• Cannes - the festival, yachts, an international atmosphere on the Côte d’Azur.

The full list is in the section Cities of the South of France.

Language and the community’s scope

“Russians in France” is a label that is far broader in practice. In our Telegram chat, as in most Russian-speaking communities in France, you will find:

• Russians - from all regions of Russia, with different views and backgrounds.
• Ukrainians - including those who arrived after 24 February 2022 under temporary protection (protection temporaire): it has been extended to 4 March 2028 by an EU Council decision of 30 July 2026, and the new term applies from 5 March 2027.
• Belarusians, Kazakhs, Armenians, Moldovans, Georgians, Azerbaijanis and anyone else who is comfortable speaking Russian.

The language of the chat is Russian, because everyone understands it. There is no division by passport.

The post-2022 wave: who is arriving now

After 2022 a new wave of Russian speakers reached France - relocating workers, refugees, families. Nobody has counted how many of them stayed, but Eurostat gives an indirect figure: France issued 5,091 first residence permits to Russian citizens in 2021, 6,952 in 2022, 6,646 in 2023, 5,736 in 2024 and 5,722 in 2025. These are permits, not a headcount of residents: some people have since left, and some live on other documents.

The practical questions newcomers face - the préfecture, a bank account, a doctor - are covered in the section “Moving to the South of France”; you can ask them in person in our chat.

Historic centres: Paris and rue Daru

The first big wave of Russian emigration reached France after the 1917 revolution: in 1922 special identity certificates were introduced for Russian refugees, and in 1925 France opened the Office des réfugiés russes. Aristocracy, military officers, intellectuals and artists came, and Paris became the centre.

The heart of Russian Paris is the 8th arrondissement and rue Daru, where the Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky stands, consecrated on 11 September 1861 (the first Russian parish church in Western Europe appeared slightly earlier, in Nice, in 1859). It is a working cathedral to this day: according to the Archdiocese of Orthodox Churches of Russian Tradition in Western Europe, as of 11 October 2026 vigil is on Saturdays at 18:00, and the hours and liturgy on Sundays at 10:00. If you are in Paris and want to meet fellow Russian speakers, go to 12 rue Daru.

Paris has other Russian addresses too: the bookshop “Globus” (Librairie du Globe) at 67 boulevard Beaumarchais and the Turgenev Library at 11 rue de Valence, founded in 1875. Today the churches, schools, shops and consulates of Russian Paris are gathered in our guide Russians in Paris.

The French Riviera: the “Russian Riviera”

Russians began coming to Nice in the mid-1800s: the dowager empress lived here in 1855-1857, and in 1864, just as the railway reached Nice, Alexander II came. The main symbol of that presence is the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas: building began in 1903 in the park of the Villa Bermond, Nicholas II’s private property, and it was consecrated in December 1912. Since 1987 the cathedral has been a monument historique of France. Cannes and Antibes have also long been tied to the Russian-speaking community.

For more on the history and present-day life of the coast, see the page Russians on the Côte d’Azur; for practical matters, the guides to Nice and Cannes.

Marseille and Montpellier

Marseille is a port city where almost half of the département’s immigrants were born in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia (about 119,000 of 251,000 in the 2023 INSEE census), and about 2,600 were born in Russia. The Russian-speaking community is less visible here than in Nice, but it exists. Marseille also has an Armenian community: our church directory lists 8 Armenian Apostolic churches in the city. More in our Marseille guide.

Montpellier is a university city in Occitanie, and our community “Vibe South of France” grew out of it. For life, prices and neighbourhoods, see the Montpellier guide.

The Russian diaspora in France: waves of emigration

Russian consulates in France

Consular matters for Russian citizens in France are handled by the missions in our directory, 4 at present: the consular section of the embassy in Paris, the consulates general in Marseille and Strasbourg, and the consular agency in Villefranche-sur-Mer, just outside Nice. Below are the addresses, phone numbers and official websites, as the missions publish them. We leave out the phone number of the Marseille consulate general: its own website gives one number and the French foreign ministry’s directory another.

• Ambassade de la Fédération de Russie en France - Service consulaire à Paris
  Consular section of the embassy - Russia
  40-50 boulevard Lannes, 75116 Paris
  opening hours are on the mission's website
  +33 1 45 04 05 01 · official website
• Consulat Général de la Fédération de Russie à Marseille
  Consulate general - Russia
  3 avenue Ambroise Paré, 13008 Marseille
  opening hours are on the mission's website
  official website
• Consulat Général de la Fédération de Russie à Strasbourg
  Consulate general - Russia
  6, place Sébastien Brant, 67000 Strasbourg
  opening hours are on the mission's website
  +33 3 88 36 97 85 · official website
• Agence consulaire de Russie
  Consular agency - Russia
  17bis rue de l'Eglise, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer
  opening hours are on the mission's website
  +33 4 93 88 73 59 · villefranche@mid.ru · official website

Checked on 22 October 2026 against embassy and consulate websites and the French foreign ministry directory. Many accept visitors by appointment only - book on the official website.

In practice: paperwork and daily life

If you have just moved or are about to, these are the key paperwork steps:

• Titre de séjour (residence permit) - many cards, such as visiteur and student, are applied for online through ANEF (administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr), while “salarié” and “entrepreneur/profession libérale” cards are applied for and renewed at the préfecture or sous-préfecture where you live. The details are in our guide Titre de séjour step by step.
• Validating a VLS-TS visa is compulsory within 3 months of arriving in France: you do it online on the Interior Ministry’s ANEF site and pay the tax. Read: Validating a VLS-TS visa online on ANEF.
• Carte Vitale - the health card that gives you access to the healthcare system. Guide: Carte Vitale and sécu.
• Bank account - you do not need a guarantor: the bank asks for proof of identity and proof of address and may request other documents, such as proof of income. If a bank refuses, the Banque de France designates a bank that must open the account (droit au compte). Breakdown: A bank account in France.
• The first 30 days - a step-by-step checklist for new arrivals: The first 30 days in France.

These guides are put together from official pages, with the date of the version next to the figures.

If you are looking for your people, start with one message in the chat: your city, when you arrived, what you want to know.

Vibe South of France - Telegram community chat for Russian speakers in the South of France

See also:

• Moving to the South of France: paperwork step by step
• The “Vibe South of France” community: who we are and how it works
• Directory for our own people: shops, churches, schools, doctors
• Cities of the South of France
• EU sanctions for Russian and Belarusian citizens: deposits, cards, cars
• Pension in France: retirement age, minimums, ASPA and years worked abroad