Editing Nord-Pas-de-Calais (section)

==Demographics==
{{see also|French Flemish|Religion in Nord-Pas-de-Calais}}
While the region is predominantly French-speaking, it also has two significant [[minority language]] communities: the western [[Flemings]], whose presence is evident in the many Dutch place names in the area and who speak [[West Flemish]], a dialect of Dutch (perhaps 20,000 inhabitants of Nord-Pas-de-Calais use Flemish daily and an estimated 40,000 use it occasionally, both primarily in and around the arrondissement of Dunkirk<ref name=Flemish>{{cite web
 |website= European Commission
 |year        = 2006
 |url         = http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/languages/langmin/euromosaic/fr6_en.html
 |title       = The Euromosaic study: Flemish in France
 |access-date  = 6 January 2007
 |author-link  = European Commission
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060919155721/http://www.ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/languages/langmin/euromosaic/fr6_en.html
 |archive-date = 19 September 2006}}</ref>); and the Picards, who speak the [[Picard language]], or ''Ch'ti'' (speakers, "''chitimi''", have been working to revive the nearly-extinct regional speech since the 1980s).  Although neighbouring Belgium currently recognizes and fosters both Picard and Dutch, and a few city-level governments within Nord-Pas-de-Calais have introduced initiatives to encourage both languages,{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} the national French government maintains a [[Language policy in France|policy of linguistic unity]] and generally ignores both languages,<ref>Article 2 of the [[Constitution of France]] states that "French is the language of the Republic"; see [[language policy in France|the article on French linguistic policy]] for more information.</ref> as it does with other regional languages in France.

The region's ethnic diversity has been affected by repeated waves of immigrant workers from abroad: Belgians and Welsh before 1910; Poles and Italians in the 1920s and 1930s; Eastern European groups and Germans since 1945; and North Africans and Portuguese since 1960;<ref>[http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?ref_id=17070&reg_id=19&page=pages_de_profils/P11_89/P11_89.htm Chronologie de l'immigration en Nord-Pas-de-Calais], [[INSEE]]</ref> and large cities like Lille, Calais, and Boulogne-sur-Mer are home to sizable communities of British, Dutch, Scandinavian, Greek and Balkans, Sub-Saharan African, and Latin American immigrants and their descendants.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}}

The French state has sought to boost the region's relatively neglected culture. In 2004, it was announced that a branch of the [[Louvre]] would be opened in the city of Lens. For decades, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais has been viewed as a conservative region when compared culturally to the rest of France,{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} but recently the region has at times displayed left-wing tendencies. In the early 2000s, the leftist [[The Greens (France)|Green Party]] won the largest number of votes to nearly carry a majority in regional and local representation. The Greens managed to attract many conservative voters from small towns and farmers moved by the Greens' commitment to boosting agri-industry.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

The region's religious profile is representative of France as a whole, with the majority being [[Roman Catholic]].  Other Christian groups are found in the region: [[Protestants]] have a few churches. North Africans have introduced Islam to the region, and small but growing communities of Buddhists have been established in recent years. Prior to World War&nbsp;II, around 4,000 Jews lived in Nord-Pas-de-Calais.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016|title=Nord Pas de Calais camps trail |url=http://www.jtrails.org.uk/trails/nord-pas-de-calais-camps-trail/history?page=4 |access-date=1 June 2021 |website=National Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trail}}<!-- #1Lib1Ref --></ref> A small [[History of the Jews in France|Jewish community]] remains active as it has been for hundreds of years.