Like many of the world's large metropolises, the French capital has always been a cosmopolitan place – and the latest data shows this is an ongoing trend, according to a study by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), published on Wednesday, February 19.

Based on 2020 census data for Paris residents, the INSEE study shows that Parisians' origins can be divided into three more or less equal parts: a third were born in the city, a third somewhere in the rest of France and a third abroad. However, the INSEE did add one small methodological caveat for those born in France: "The vast majority of people are born in a maternity hospital, and their municipality of birth was not necessarily their parents' municipality of residence."

So, if you ask a Parisian where they come from, you have a roughly one-in-three chance that they'll reply that they were born in the capital, with around 30% of inhabitants having been born in Paris, a figure which has not changed between the start of the 80's and 2020. While small, this proportion fits with the average for major French cities. Marseille is the notable exception, with more than half of the city's natives staying and living there.

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