evidence: A French possession since 1841, the tiny island of Mayotte is now a département or county of the Republic which means, in theory, that the same rules apply there as in the Moselle or Maine-et-Loire, or anywhere else in France. [...] A constitutional change to this effect is now to be pursued by the government. Crucially the end of "birthplace citizenship" would apply only to the island of Mayotte - not to France as a whole. [...] In the island's hospitals more than 10,000 babies are being born every year - the majority to mothers from the Comoros. Mayotte's overall population is estimated at 300,000 - but only half of them bear French passports.