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I was having this discussion once with someone, and now I am curious:

Q: What proportion of today's Algerian immigrants (of first and second generation, who may or may not have French nationality) in France are descendants of Harkis, i.e. Muslims who served in the French Army during the Algerian War?

My interlocutor was claiming that almost all of them are. I have my doubts, but could not find statistics on this. Is there an official figure somewhere?

Addendum: this might be a tricky one, since statistics based on ethnicity are typically forbidden in France and the war in Algeria and the Harkis remain kind of a touchy subject.

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i do not have the exact proportion because as you know ethnic statistics are forbidden in France. However Harki descendants are estimated to be between 500 to 800k. The total population of people with Algerian roots is estimated to be about 1.8 million. A lot of Algerian emigrated during and after the Civil War that occured in the 90s in Algeria, at a point that some specific immigration rules exist for Algerian people (more difficult now that before). It is also to be noted that some Harkis did hide during the Aftermath of the independence war in 1962 and came in France later on. As such they may be not recorded as Harkis.

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