France

République française

(Flag) (Coat of Arms)
Motto : Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (French: Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood)
Anthem: La Marseillaise
Capital	Paris 48°51′ N 2°20′ E
Largest city	Paris
Official language	French1
Government  • President  • Prime Minister	Unitary republic Jacques Chirac Dominique de Villepin
Formation	843 (Treaty of Verdun) (5th Republic: 1958)
Area  • Total2  • Metropolitan France3	674,843 km² (40th) (260,558 sq. mi.) 551,695 km²4 (47th) (213,011 sq. mi.) 543,965 km²5 (47th) (210,026 sq. mi.)
Population (January 1, 2005)  • Total2  • Metropolitan France3  • Density3	(Official INSEE source) 63,056,200 (20th) 60,561,200 (20th) 111/km² (68th)
GDP  • Total (nominal)  • GNI/capita (PPP)	2004 est. (WB source) $2.003 Trillion (5th) $29,320 (20th)
HDI (2003)	0.938 (16th) – high
Currency	Euro (€)6, CFP Franc7
Time zone  • in summer	CET (UTC+1)3 CEST (UTC+2)3
Internet TLD	.fr
Calling code	33
1 See Languages section for regional languages 2 Whole territory of the French Republic, including all the overseas departments and territories, but excluding the French territory of Terre Adélie in Antarctica where sovereignty is suspended since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 3 Metropolitan (i.e. European) France only 4 French National Geographic Institute data 5 French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) as well as the estuaries of rivers 6 Whole of the French Republic except the overseas territories in the Pacific Ocean 7 French overseas territories in the Pacific Ocean only
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France Portal

France is a Western European country, with a number of overseas parts. ^[1] Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel (La Manche) and North Sea, and from the river Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay. The country is sometimes called "l'Hexagone" (the Hexagon) after the geographical shape of metropolitan France.

France is bordered by the United Kingdom (land border inside the Channel Tunnel), Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. In some of its overseas parts, France also shares land borders with Brazil, Suriname, and the Netherlands Antilles.

The French Republic (French: République française) is a democracy organised as a unitary semi-presidential republic. It is a highly developed country with the fifth-largest economy in the world in 2004.^[2] Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France was one of the founding members of the European Union and the United Nations. In the United Nations Security Council France holds a permanent seat, and it is also one of only eight acknowledged nuclear powers.

The name France originates from the Franks, a Germanic tribe that occupied the region after the fall of the Roman Empire. More precisely the region around Paris is called the Île-de-France which was the original French royal dominion.

Geography

Main article: Geography of France

One of the many landscapes of France: Cantal département, in the mountainous Massif Central.

In addtion to the metropolitan territory, France also possesses a number of territories in North America, the Caribbean, South America, the southern Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica (sovereignty claims in Antarctica aregoverned by the Antarctic Treaty System). These territories have varying forms of government ranging from departments to overseas countries.

Metropolitan France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges in the south-east (the Alps) and the south-west (the Pyrenees). The French Alps contain the highest point in western Europe, Mont Blanc at 4810 m. There are several other elevated regions such as the Massif Central, the Jura, the Vosges, and the Ardennes which are quite rocky and forested France also has extensive river systems such as the Loire, the Rhône, the Garonne and the Seine.

Due to its overseas departments and territories, France possesses the second-largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 mi²), just behind the EEZ of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 mi²), but ahead of the EEZ of Australia (8,232,000 km² / 3,178,000 mi²).^[3] The EEZ of France covers approximately 8% of the total surface of all the EEZs of the world, whereas the land area of the French Republic is only 0.45% of the total land area on Earth.

History

Main article: History of France

Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple, Liberty leading the People, a symbol of the French Revolution of 1830

The borders of modern France are roughly the same as those of ancient Gaul, which was inhabited by Celtic Gauls. Gaul was conquered by the Romans in the first century BCE, and the Gauls eventually adopted Roman speech and culture. Christianity also took root in the second and third centuries CE.

In the fourth century CE, Gaul's eastern frontier along the Rhine was overrun by Germanic tribes, principally the Franks, from whom the ancient name of "Francie" was derived. The modern name "France" derives from the name of the feudal domain of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris. Existence as a separate entity began in 843, with the division of Charlemagne's Carolingian empire into eastern, central and western parts. The western part approximated to much of modern France.

Charlemagne's descendants ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of France. His descendants, the Capetian, Valois and Bourbon dynasties progressively unified the country through a series of wars and dynastic inheritance. The monarchy reached its height during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV. At this time France had a tremendous influence over the European politics, economy and culture as well as possessing the largest population in Europe (see Demographics of France).

The monarchy ruled France until 1792, when the French Revolution established the First Republic. Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the Republic in 1799, making himself First Consul. In the course of several wars, his armies conquered many countries, with members of the Bonaparte family being appointed as monarchs of newly established kingdoms. Following Napoleon's defeat in 1815, the French monarchy was re-established. In 1830, a civil uprising established the constitutional July Monarchy followed by the Second Republic in 1848. The short-lived Second Republic ended in 1852 when Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaimed the Second French Empire. Louis-Napoléon was unseated following the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 to be replaced by the Third Republic.

Victory in World War I and World War II did not prevent the loss of the empire, the comparative economic status, population and status as a dominant nation state. The Fourth Republic was established after World War II, to be replaced in 1958 by the current semi-presidential Fifth Republic established under General de Gaulle.

In recent decades, France's reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the political and economic integration of Europe, including the introduction of the Euro in January 1999. France has been at the forefront of European states seeking to exploit the momentum of monetary union to create a more unified and capable European political, defence and security apparatus. However the French electorate voted against ratification of the European Constitutional Treaty in May 2005.

Government and politics

Symbol of the French government

Constitutional Council of France in session

Main articles: Government of France & Politics of France

The constitution of the Fifth Republic was approved by referendum on September 28, 1958. It greatly strengthened the authority of the executive in relation to Parliament.

Under the constitution, the President of the French Republic is elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year (originally 7-year) term. Presidential arbitration assures regular functioning of the public powers and the continuity of the state. The president names the prime minister, presides over the cabinet, commands the armed forces, and concludes treaties.

The French parliament is a bicameral legislature comprising a National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) and a Senate of the Republic. The National Assembly deputies represent local constituencies and are directly elected for 5-year terms. The Assembly has the power to dismiss the cabinet, and thus the majority in the Assembly determines the choice of government. Senators are chosen by electoral college for 6-year terms (originally 9-year terms), and one half of the seats are submitetd to election every 3 years starting in 2007.^[4] The Senate's legislative powers are limited; in the event of disagreement between the two chambers, the National assembly has the final say, except for constitutional laws (amendments to the constitution & "lois organiques"). The government has a strong influence in shaping the agenda of Parliament.

For the past thirty years, French politics has been characterised by the two politically opposed groupings: one left-wing, centred around the French Socialist Party, and the other right-wing, centred around the Rassemblement pour la République (RPR) and its successor the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP). The right-wing Front National party made significant inroads in the early 1980's, seized on voter concern about the perceived decline of France and 'national dissolution' as a result of immigration and globalisation, by advocating tougher law-and-order and immigration policies. Lately its share of the votes has remained stable at approximately 16%.

French foreign policy has been largely shaped by membership of the European Union. On May 29, 2005 the French electorate voted in the referendum with about 55% against ratification of the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. The outcome of the vote was widely regarded as crucial for the future development of the EU, as well as for France's ability to retain leadership in Europe.

France is also a member of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the Indian Ocean Commission (COI), an associate member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and a leading member of the International Francophone Organisation (OIF) of fifty-one fully or partly French-speaking countries.

France hosts the headquarters of the OECD, UNESCO, Interpol, and the International Bureau for Weights and Measures in charge of the international metric system.

Administrative divisions

Main article: Administrative divisions of France

France has 26 administrative régions: 21 metropolitan régions, the territorial collectivity of Corse (Corsica) (commonly referred to as a région), and four overseas régions. The régions are subdivided into 100 départements. The departments are numbered (mainly alphabetically) and this number is used in postal codes and vehicle number plates.

The departments are subdivided into 342 arrondissements and 4,035 cantons which serve only administrative and electoral purposes, and 36,682 communes as the lowest tier. The régions, départements, and communes are known as territorial collectivities (collectivités territoriales), and possess local assemblies and executives.

Until 1940, the arrondissements were also territorial collectivities with elected assemblies (arrondissement council), but these were suspended by the Vichy regime and abolished by the Fourth Republic in 1946. Histprically, the cantons were also territorial collectivities with elected assemblies.

Four of the départements are overseas départements which are an integral part of France (and the EU) and thus enjoy a status similar to metropolitan départments.

The French Republic also possesses a number of overseas territories, overseas countries, departmental collectivities and overseas collectivities.

Overseas territories and countries form part of the French Republic, but do not form part of the EU or its fiscal area. The Pacific territories continue to use the Pacific Franc whose value is linked to that of the Euro. In contrast, the overseas "départements" used the French franc and now use the euro.

The departmental and overseas collectivities have an intermediate status between overseas départements and overseas territories.

France also maintains control over a number of small uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean: Bassas da India, Clipperton Island, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, Tromelin Island. See Islands controlled by France in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Economy

The first completed Airbus A380 at the "A380 Reveal" event in Toulouse on January 18, 2005.

Main article: Economy of France

France's economy combines extensive private enterprise (nearly 2.5 million companies registered) with substantial (though declining) government intervention (see dirigisme). The government retains considerable influence over key segments of infrastructure sectors, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, and telecommunication firms. It has been gradually relaxing its control over these sectors since the early 1990s. The government is slowly selling off holdings in France Télécom, Air France, as well as the insurance, banking, and defence industries.

A member of the G8 group of leading industrialised countries, it ranked as the fifth-largest economy in the world in 2004, behind the United States, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom. France joined 10 other EU members to launch the Euro on January 1, 1999, with euro coins and banknotes completely replacing the French franc in early 2002.

According to the OECD, in 2004 France was the world's fifth-largest exporter of manufactured goods, behind the United States, Germany, Japan, and China, (but ahead of the United Kingdom). It was also the fourth-largest importer of manufactured goods (behind the United States, Germany, and China, but ahead of the United Kingdom and Japan).

Yet according to the OECD, in 2003 France was the OECD country that received the most foreign direct investment (Luxembourg excepted, where foreign direct investment was mostly monetary transfers to banks located in that country). With 47 billion USD of foreign direct investments, France ranked above the United States (39.9 billion USD of FDI received), the United Kingdom (14.6 billion USD of FDI received), Germany (12.9 billion USD of FDI received), or Japan (6.3 billion USD of FDI received).

At the same time, French companies invested 57.3 billion USD outside of France, ranking France as the second most important outward direct investor in the OECD, behind the United States (173.8 billion USD of outward FDI), but ahead of the United Kingdom (55.3 billion USD of outward FDI), Japan (28.8 billion USD of outward FDI), or Germany (2.6 billion USD of outward FDI).

France is also the second most productive country in the OECD (excluding Norway and Luxembourg where productivity data are inflated by oil revenues in Norway, and by investments in off-shore banks in Luxembourg). In 2003, the GDP per hour worked in France was 47.2 USD, ranking France behind Belgium (48 USD per hour worked), but above the United States (43.5 USD per hour worked), Germany (40.6 USD per hour worked), the United Kingdom (37.7 USD per hour worked), or Japan (30.9 USD per hour worked).

Despite a higher productivity than in the US, France's GDP per capita is significantly lower than the US GDP per capita, being in fact comparable to the GDP per capita of the other European countries, which is on average 30% below US level. The reason for this is because a much smaller percentage of the French population is working compared to the US, which sinks the GDP per capita of France, despite its high productivity. In fact, France has one of the lowest percentage of its population at work among the OECD countries. In 2003, 41.5% of the French population was working, compared to 50.7% in the US, and 47.3% in the UK. This phenomenon is the result of almost thirty years of massive unemployment in France, which has led to three consequences reducing the size of the working population: about 10% of the active population is without a job; students delay as long as possible their entry into labour market; and finally the French government gives various incentives to workers to retire in their early 50s, though these are now receding.

As many economists have stressed repeatedly over the years, the main issue with the French economy is not an issue of productivity. In their opinion, it is an issue of structural reforms, in order to increase the size of the working population in the overall population. Liberal and Keynesian economists have different answers to that issue.

With over 75 million foreign tourists in 2003, France is ranked as the first tourist destination in the world, ahead of Spain (52.5 million) and the United States (40.4 million). It features cities of high cultural interest (Paris being the foremost), beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, and rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity (green tourism).

France has an important aerospace industry led by Airbus and is the only European power to have its own national spaceport (Centre Spatial Guyanais). France is also the most energy independent Western country due to heavy investment in nuclear power, which also makes France the smallest producer of carbon dioxide among the seven most industrialised countries in the world. Large tracts of fertile land, the application of modern technology, and EU subsidies have combined to make France the leading agricultural producer in Europe.

Since the end of the Second World War the government made efforts to integrate more and more with Germany, both economically and politically. Today the two countries form what is often referred to as the "core" countries in favour of greater integration of the European Union.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Australia | Austria | Belgium | Canada | Czech Republic | Denmark | Finland | France | Germany | Greece | Hungary | Iceland | Ireland | Italy | Japan | South Korea | Luxembourg | Mexico | Netherlands | New Zealand | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Slovakia | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Turkey | United Kingdom | United States

Demographics

View over the old city of Lyon

Main article: Demographics of France

Since prehistoric times, France has been a crossroads of trade, migrations, and invasions. Four basic European ethnic stocks - Celtic (Gallic and Breton), Aquitanian (Basque related), Latin, and Germanic (Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, Vikings) - have blended over the centuries to make up its present population. Besides these "historic" populations, new populations have migrated to France since the 19th century: Belgians, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Poles, Armenians, Jews from Eastern Europe and the Maghreb, Arabs and Berbers from the Maghreb, Black Africans, and Chinese, to list only the most prominent. It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population descends from these different waves of migrations, making France the most ethnically diverse country of Europe, and quite comparable to the United States or Canada, despite the still popular stereotypes of France as an essentially Gallic country. Nevertheless, the immigrants from other European countries have an easier time blending in, while the 'non-European' groups tend to assimilate at a slower pace, because of racism and cultural differences.

Population

Starting with the 19th century, the historical evolution of the population in France has been extremely atypical in the Western World. Unlike the rest of Europe, France did not experience a strong population growth in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. On the other hand, it experienced a much stronger growth in the second half of the 20th century than the rest of Europe or indeed its own growth in the previous centuries.

After 1974, France's population growth stalled, and reached its nadir in the 1990s with only 0.39% annual growth, being now more in tune with most of Europe, which has (in some nations, like Germany and the U.K.) entered demographic decline but in others, birthrates amongst citizens are now increasing (like Italy). However, first results from the 2004 French census have greatly surprised demographers. In 2004, population growth was 0.39%. France is now well ahead of most other European countries (except for the Republic of Ireland).But figures for other European countries are not available yet and may show more growth in other nations.

These unexpected results bear great consequences for the future. At the moment, France is the third most populous country of Europe, behind Russia and Germany. By 2050, demographers initially thought the population of metropolitan France would be 64 million inhabitants, but they now agree that their estimates were too conservative, being based on the 1990s growth rate of population. Demographers now estimate that by 2050 metropolitan France's population will be 75 million, at which time it will be the most populated country of the European Union, above Germany (71 million), the United Kingdom (59 million), and Italy (55 million). If these estimates become reality, it may fundamentally alter the balance of power in Brussels. It would be the first time since the 1860s that France is the largest Nation of Europe (Russia excluded). In mid-2005 the EU had 460 million inhabitants, 13.6% of whom were living in France (including overseas départements). By 2050 it is estimated that the population of the European Union (of the current 25 members) will have declined to 445 million inhabitants, of whom 17.5% will be living in France.

According to the UNHCR, the number of people seeking political asylum in France rose by around 3 % between 2003 and 2004, while in the same period, the number of asylum applications submitted in the United States fell by about 29 %. France thereby replaced the United States as the world's top destination for asylum-seekers in 2004.

Languages

The sole official language of France is French. However, several regional languages (including Alsatian, Basque, Breton, Caribbean Creole, Catalan, Corsican, Flemish, Franco-Provençal dialects, Gascon, Lorraine German dialect, Occitan, and some Oïl dialects - e.g., Picard) are also occasionally understood and spoken, mostly by elderly people, but the French government and state school system discouraged the use of any of them until recently. These historical regional languages have been known as patois, though this has been considered depreciative. They are now taught at some schools, though French remains the only official language in use by the government, local or national. Some languages spoken by immigrants are also frequently spoken, especially in large cities: Portuguese, Maghreb Arabic, several Berber languages, several languages of Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkish, several spoken variants of Chinese (most notably Wu, Cantonese, Min Nan, and Mandarin), Vietnamese, and Khmer are the most frequently spoken.

Statistics

At the 1999 census, INSEE sampled 380,000 adult people all across Metropolitan France, and asked them questions about their family situation. One of the questions was about the languages that their parents spoke with them before the age of 5. This is the first time serious statistics were computed about the proportion of mother tongues in France. The results were published in Enquête familiale, Insee, 1999.

Here is a list of the nine most prominent mother tongues in France based on Enquête familiale. Before trying to use these data, or analyze them, readers should peruse the notes at the Languages of France article. Given the complex nature of the subject, misunderstandings and confusions are likely if these notes are not read.

If we add up people with mother tongue and people with some exposure to the language before the age of 5, then the five most important languages in metropolitan France are (note that the percentages add up to more than 100, because many people are now counted twice):

• French: 42,100,000 (92%)
• Oc languages: 1,670,000 (3.65%)
• German and German dialects: 1,440,000 (3.15%)
• Oïl languages: 1,420,000 (3.10%)
• Arabic: 1,170,000 (2.55%)

Cities

Metropolitan France's urban areas of more than 100,000 inhabitants

The principal cities by population include:

Aix-en-Provence, Ajaccio, Albi, Amiens, Angers, Angouleme, Bastia, Belfort, Besançon, Bordeaux, Brest,