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GENERAL INFORMATION
National name République Française/French Republic Area (including Corsica) 543,965 sq km/210,024 sq mi Capital Paris Language French (official; regional languages include Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, and Provençal) Religion Roman Catholic, about 90%; also Muslim, Protestant, and Jewish minorities Time difference GMT +1 Major holidays 1 January, 1, 8 May, 14 July, 14, 15 August, 31 October, 1, 11 November, 24–25, 31 December; variable: Ascension Eve, Ascension Thusday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Holy Saturday, Whit Holiday Eve, Whit Monday, Law of 20 December 1906, Law of 23 December 1904
GEOGRAPHY
Major towns/cities Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nantes, Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Rennes, Le Havre Major ports Marseille, Nice, Le Havre Physical features rivers Seine, Loire, Garonne, Rhône; mountain ranges Alps, Massif Central, Pyrenees, Jura, Vosges, Cévennes; Auvergne mountain region; Mont Blanc (4,810 m/15,781 ft); Ardennes forest; Riviera; caves of Dordogne with relics of early humans; the island of Corsica Territories Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, St Pierre and Miquelon, Southern and Antarctic Territories, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, Mayotte, Bassas da India, Clipperton Island, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, Tromelin Island Airports nine international airports and 45 domestic airports; total passengers carried: 54.9 million (2003 est) Railways total length: 31,735 km/19,719 mi; total passenger journeys: 892 million (2003) Roads total road network: 891,290 km/553,281 mi, of which 100% paved (2003 est); passenger cars: 596 per 1,000 people (2003 est)
GOVERNMENT
Head of state Nicolas Sarkozy from 2007 Head of government François Fillon from 2007 Political system liberal democracy Political executive dual executive Administrative divisions 21 regional councils containing 96 departments, four overseas departments, and two territorial collectivities Political parties Rally for the Republic (RPR), neo-Gaullist conservative; Union for French Democracy (UDF), centre right; Socialist Party (PS), left of centre; Left Radical Movement (MRG), left of centre; French Communist Party (PCF), Marxist-Leninist; National Front, far right; Greens, fundamentalist-ecologist; Génération Ecologie, pragmatic ecologist; Movement for France, right wing, anti-Maastricht Death penalty abolished in 1981 Armed forces 254,900; plus 21,700 reservists and paramilitary forces of 104,300 (2006 est) Conscription military service is voluntary (since November 2001) Defence spend (% GDP) 2.6 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 5.6 (2003 est) Health spend (% GDP) 7.7 (2004)
ECONOMY
Currency euro (franc until 2002) GDP (US$) 2,110.2 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 2.4 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 2,177.7 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 30,540 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 2% (2006 est) Unemployment 9% (2006 est) Labour force 4% agriculture, 24.6% industry, 71.4% services (2005) Major trading partners Germany, Spain, UK, Italy, Belgium–Luxembourg, EU25, USA Resources coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, copper, zinc, bauxite Industries mining, quarrying, food products, transport equipment, non-electrical machinery, electrical machinery, weapons, metals and metal products, yarn and fabrics, wine, tourism, aircraft Exports machinery and transport equipment, food and live animals, chemicals, beverages and tobacco, textile yarn, fabrics and other basic manufactures, clothing and accessories, perfumery and cosmetics. Principal market: Germany 14.5% (2005) Imports food and live animals, mineral fuels, machinery and transport equipment, consumer goods, chemicals and chemical products, basic manufactures. Principal source: Germany 17.2% (2005) Arable land 33.5% (2006 est) Agricultural products wheat, sugar beet, maize, barley, vine fruits, potatoes, fruit, vegetables; livestock and dairy products
POPULATION
Population 60,722,900 (2006 est) Population growth rate 0.3% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 112 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 77 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 18%, 15–59 61%, 60+ 21% (2005 est) Ethnic groups predominantly French ethnic, of Celtic and Latin descent; Basque minority in southwest; 7% of the population are immigrants – a third of these are from Algeria and Morocco and live mainly in the Marseille Midi region and in northern cities, 20% originate from Portugal, and 10% each from Italy and Spain Life expectancy 77 (men); 84 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 5 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 11 Literacy rate 99% (men); 99% (women) (2004 est)
HEALTH
Physicians (per 10,000 people) 33 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 7.8 (2003 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) 0.4 (2005 est) AIDS deaths 1,500 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 100 (urban); 100 (rural) (2002)
COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA
Landline telephones (per 100 people) 59 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 79.4 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 950 (2001 est) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 633 (2004 est) Personal computer users (per 100 people) 57.9 (2005 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 43.2 (2005 est)
CHRONOLOGY
5th century BC Celtic peoples invaded the region. 58–51 BC Romans conquered Celts and formed province of Gaul. 5th century AD Gaul overrun by Franks and other Germanic tribes. 481–511 Frankish chief Clovis accepted Christianity and formed kingdom based at Paris; under his successors, the Merovingian dynasty, kingdom disintegrated. 751–68 Pepin the Short usurped Frankish throne, reunified kingdom, and founded Carolingian dynasty. 768–814 Charlemagne conquered much of Western Europe and created Holy Roman Empire. 843 Treaty of Verdun divided Holy Roman Empire into three, with western portion corresponding to modern France. 9th–10th centuries Weak central government allowed great nobles to become virtually independent. 987 Frankish crown passed to House of Capet; Capets ruled district around Paris, but were surrounded by vassals more powerful than themselves. 1180–1223 Philip II doubled royal domain and tightened control over nobles; power of Capets gradually extended with support of church and towns. 1328 When Charles IV died without an heir, Philip VI established House of Valois. 1337 Start of Hundred Years' War: Edward III of England disputed Valois succession and claimed throne. English won victories at Crécy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415. 1429 Joan of Arc raised siege of Orléans; Hundred Years' War ended with Charles VII expelling the English in 1453. 1483 France annexed Burgundy and Brittany after Louis XI had restored royal power. 16th–17th centuries French kings fought the Habsburgs (of Holy Roman Empire and Spain) for supremacy in Western Europe. 1562–98 Civil wars between nobles were fought under religious slogans, Catholic versus Protestant (or Huguenot). 1589–1610 Henry IV, first king of Bourbon dynasty, established peace, religious tolerance, and absolute monarchy. 1634–48 Ministers Richelieu and Mazarin, by intervening in Thirty Years' War, secured Alsace and made France leading power in Europe. 1701–14 War of Spanish Succession: England, Austria, and allies checked expansionism of France under Louis XIV. 1756–63 Seven Years' War: France lost most of its colonies in India and Canada to Britain. 1789 French Revolution abolished absolute monarchy and feudalism; First Republic proclaimed and revolutionary wars began in 1792. 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in coup; crowned himself emperor in 1804; France conquered much of Europe. 1814 Defeat of France; restoration of Bourbon monarchy; comeback by Napoleon defeated at Waterloo in 1815. 1830 Liberal revolution deposed Charles X in favour of his cousin Louis Philippe, the ‘Citizen King’. 1848 Revolution established Second Republic; conflict between liberals and socialists; Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon I, elected president. 1852 Louis Napoleon proclaimed Second Empire, taking title Napoleon III. 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War: France lost Alsace-Lorraine; Second Empire abolished; Paris Commune crushed; Third Republic founded. late 19th century France colonized Indo-China, much of North Africa, and South Pacific. 1914–18 France resisted German invasion in World War I; Alsace-Lorraine recovered in 1919. 1936–37 Left-wing ‘Popular Front’ government introduced many social reforms. 1939 France entered World War II. 1940 Germany invaded and occupied northern France; Marshal Pétain formed right-wing puppet regime at Vichy; resistance maintained by Maquis and Free French; Germans occupied all France in 1942. 1944 Allies liberated France; provisional government formed by Gen Charles de Gaulle, leader of Free French. 1946 Fourth Republic proclaimed. 1949 Became member of NATO; withdrew from military command structure in 1966. 1954 Withdrew from Indo-China after eight years of war; start of guerrilla war against French rule in Algeria. 1957 Founder member of European Community. 1958 Algerian crisis caused collapse of Fourth Republic; de Gaulle took power, becoming president of Fifth Republic in 1959. 1962 Algeria achieved independence. 1968 Revolutionary students rioted in Paris; general strike throughout France. 1981 François Mitterrand elected Fifth Republic's first socialist president. 1995 Jacques Chirac of centre-right Rally for the Republic (RPR) elected president; widespread condemnation of the government's decision to resume nuclear tests in South Pacific (which were stopped in 1996). 1997 General election called by President Chirac; victory for Socialist Party (PS); Lionel Jospin (PS) appointed prime minister. 1999 Two-thirds of France declared disaster zone after powerful storms caused widespread damage. 2000 Air France Concorde crash killed 113 people. Disruptive protests over fuel prices. Fears over BSE in French cattle. 2001 High-profile corruption scandal, relating to state-owned oil company Elf Aquitaine, led to trial of former foreign minister Roland Dumas. Bertand Delanoi became first socialist mayor of Paris since 1871. 2002 Chirac re-elected president, beating Jean-Marie Le Pen of far-right National Front (FN); Jospin replaced as prime minister by conservative Jean-Pierre Raffarin; parliamentary election victory for Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP, superseding RPR); euro replaced franc as currency. 2003 11,000 people estimated to have died in severe August heatwave. 2004 Nicolas Sarkozy became UMP leader. 2005 Referendum rejected proposed new European Union (EU) constitution; resignation of Raffarin. Rioting in poor, mainly immigrant communities in Paris and other cities over unemployment and discrimination. 2006 New youth employment laws withdrawn after mass demonstrations; new restrictions on immigration. 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy elected president, defeating socialist candidate Ségolène Royal; UMP won parliamentary elections, but with reduced majority.
© Research Machines plc 2008. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.
General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology
GENERAL INFORMATION
National name République Française/French Republic Area (including Corsica) 543,965 sq km/210,024 sq mi Capital Paris Language French (official; regional languages include Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, and Provençal) Religion Roman Catholic, about 90%; also Muslim, Protestant, and Jewish minorities Time difference GMT +1 Major holidays 1 January, 1, 8 May, 14 July, 14, 15 August, 31 October, 1, 11 November, 24–25, 31 December; variable: Ascension Eve, Ascension Thusday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Holy Saturday, Whit Holiday Eve, Whit Monday, Law of 20 December 1906, Law of 23 December 1904
GEOGRAPHY
Major towns/cities Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nantes, Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Rennes, Le Havre Major ports Marseille, Nice, Le Havre Physical features rivers Seine, Loire, Garonne, Rhône; mountain ranges Alps, Massif Central, Pyrenees, Jura, Vosges, Cévennes; Auvergne mountain region; Mont Blanc (4,810 m/15,781 ft); Ardennes forest; Riviera; caves of Dordogne with relics of early humans; the island of Corsica Territories Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, St Pierre and Miquelon, Southern and Antarctic Territories, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, Mayotte, Bassas da India, Clipperton Island, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, Tromelin Island Airports nine international airports and 45 domestic airports; total passengers carried: 54.9 million (2003 est) Railways total length: 31,735 km/19,719 mi; total passenger journeys: 892 million (2003) Roads total road network: 891,290 km/553,281 mi, of which 100% paved (2003 est); passenger cars: 596 per 1,000 people (2003 est)
GOVERNMENT
Head of state Nicolas Sarkozy from 2007 Head of government François Fillon from 2007 Political system liberal democracy Political executive dual executive Administrative divisions 21 regional councils containing 96 departments, four overseas departments, and two territorial collectivities Political parties Rally for the Republic (RPR), neo-Gaullist conservative; Union for French Democracy (UDF), centre right; Socialist Party (PS), left of centre; Left Radical Movement (MRG), left of centre; French Communist Party (PCF), Marxist-Leninist; National Front, far right; Greens, fundamentalist-ecologist; Génération Ecologie, pragmatic ecologist; Movement for France, right wing, anti-Maastricht Death penalty abolished in 1981 Armed forces 254,900; plus 21,700 reservists and paramilitary forces of 104,300 (2006 est) Conscription military service is voluntary (since November 2001) Defence spend (% GDP) 2.6 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 5.6 (2003 est) Health spend (% GDP) 7.7 (2004)
ECONOMY
Currency euro (franc until 2002) GDP (US$) 2,110.2 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 2.4 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 2,177.7 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 30,540 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 2% (2006 est) Unemployment 9% (2006 est) Labour force 4% agriculture, 24.6% industry, 71.4% services (2005) Major trading partners Germany, Spain, UK, Italy, Belgium–Luxembourg, EU25, USA Resources coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, copper, zinc, bauxite Industries mining, quarrying, food products, transport equipment, non-electrical machinery, electrical machinery, weapons, metals and metal products, yarn and fabrics, wine, tourism, aircraft Exports machinery and transport equipment, food and live animals, chemicals, beverages and tobacco, textile yarn, fabrics and other basic manufactures, clothing and accessories, perfumery and cosmetics. Principal market: Germany 14.5% (2005) Imports food and live animals, mineral fuels, machinery and transport equipment, consumer goods, chemicals and chemical products, basic manufactures. Principal source: Germany 17.2% (2005) Arable land 33.5% (2006 est) Agricultural products wheat, sugar beet, maize, barley, vine fruits, potatoes, fruit, vegetables; livestock and dairy products
POPULATION
Population 60,722,900 (2006 est) Population growth rate 0.3% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 112 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 77 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 18%, 15–59 61%, 60+ 21% (2005 est) Ethnic groups predominantly French ethnic, of Celtic and Latin descent; Basque minority in southwest; 7% of the population are immigrants – a third of these are from Algeria and Morocco and live mainly in the Marseille Midi region and in northern cities, 20% originate from Portugal, and 10% each from Italy and Spain Life expectancy 77 (men); 84 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 5 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 11 Literacy rate 99% (men); 99% (women) (2004 est)
HEALTH
Physicians (per 10,000 people) 33 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 7.8 (2003 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) 0.4 (2005 est) AIDS deaths 1,500 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 100 (urban); 100 (rural) (2002)
COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA
Landline telephones (per 100 people) 59 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 79.4 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 950 (2001 est) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 633 (2004 est) Personal computer users (per 100 people) 57.9 (2005 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 43.2 (2005 est)
CHRONOLOGY
5th century BC Celtic peoples invaded the region. 58–51 BC Romans conquered Celts and formed province of Gaul. 5th century AD Gaul overrun by Franks and other Germanic tribes. 481–511 Frankish chief Clovis accepted Christianity and formed kingdom based at Paris; under his successors, the Merovingian dynasty, kingdom disintegrated. 751–68 Pepin the Short usurped Frankish throne, reunified kingdom, and founded Carolingian dynasty. 768–814 Charlemagne conquered much of Western Europe and created Holy Roman Empire. 843 Treaty of Verdun divided Holy Roman Empire into three, with western portion corresponding to modern France. 9th–10th centuries Weak central government allowed great nobles to become virtually independent. 987 Frankish crown passed to House of Capet; Capets ruled district around Paris, but were surrounded by vassals more powerful than themselves. 1180–1223 Philip II doubled royal domain and tightened control over nobles; power of Capets gradually extended with support of church and towns. 1328 When Charles IV died without an heir, Philip VI established House of Valois. 1337 Start of Hundred Years' War: Edward III of England disputed Valois succession and claimed throne. English won victories at Crécy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415. 1429 Joan of Arc raised siege of Orléans; Hundred Years' War ended with Charles VII expelling the English in 1453. 1483 France annexed Burgundy and Brittany after Louis XI had restored royal power. 16th–17th centuries French kings fought the Habsburgs (of Holy Roman Empire and Spain) for supremacy in Western Europe. 1562–98 Civil wars between nobles were fought under religious slogans, Catholic versus Protestant (or Huguenot). 1589–1610 Henry IV, first king of Bourbon dynasty, established peace, religious tolerance, and absolute monarchy. 1634–48 Ministers Richelieu and Mazarin, by intervening in Thirty Years' War, secured Alsace and made France leading power in Europe. 1701–14 War of Spanish Succession: England, Austria, and allies checked expansionism of France under Louis XIV. 1756–63 Seven Years' War: France lost most of its colonies in India and Canada to Britain. 1789 French Revolution abolished absolute monarchy and feudalism; First Republic proclaimed and revolutionary wars began in 1792. 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in coup; crowned himself emperor in 1804; France conquered much of Europe. 1814 Defeat of France; restoration of Bourbon monarchy; comeback by Napoleon defeated at Waterloo in 1815. 1830 Liberal revolution deposed Charles X in favour of his cousin Louis Philippe, the ‘Citizen King’. 1848 Revolution established Second Republic; conflict between liberals and socialists; Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon I, elected president. 1852 Louis Napoleon proclaimed Second Empire, taking title Napoleon III. 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War: France lost Alsace-Lorraine; Second Empire abolished; Paris Commune crushed; Third Republic founded. late 19th century France colonized Indo-China, much of North Africa, and South Pacific. 1914–18 France resisted German invasion in World War I; Alsace-Lorraine recovered in 1919. 1936–37 Left-wing ‘Popular Front’ government introduced many social reforms. 1939 France entered World War II. 1940 Germany invaded and occupied northern France; Marshal Pétain formed right-wing puppet regime at Vichy; resistance maintained by Maquis and Free French; Germans occupied all France in 1942. 1944 Allies liberated France; provisional government formed by Gen Charles de Gaulle, leader of Free French. 1946 Fourth Republic proclaimed. 1949 Became member of NATO; withdrew from military command structure in 1966. 1954 Withdrew from Indo-China after eight years of war; start of guerrilla war against French rule in Algeria. 1957 Founder member of European Community. 1958 Algerian crisis caused collapse of Fourth Republic; de Gaulle took power, becoming president of Fifth Republic in 1959. 1962 Algeria achieved independence. 1968 Revolutionary students rioted in Paris; general strike throughout France. 1981 François Mitterrand elected Fifth Republic's first socialist president. 1995 Jacques Chirac of centre-right Rally for the Republic (RPR) elected president; widespread condemnation of the government's decision to resume nuclear tests in South Pacific (which were stopped in 1996). 1997 General election called by President Chirac; victory for Socialist Party (PS); Lionel Jospin (PS) appointed prime minister. 1999 Two-thirds of France declared disaster zone after powerful storms caused widespread damage. 2000 Air France Concorde crash killed 113 people. Disruptive protests over fuel prices. Fears over BSE in French cattle. 2001 High-profile corruption scandal, relating to state-owned oil company Elf Aquitaine, led to trial of former foreign minister Roland Dumas. Bertand Delanoi became first socialist mayor of Paris since 1871. 2002 Chirac re-elected president, beating Jean-Marie Le Pen of far-right National Front (FN); Jospin replaced as prime minister by conservative Jean-Pierre Raffarin; parliamentary election victory for Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP, superseding RPR); euro replaced franc as currency. 2003 11,000 people estimated to have died in severe August heatwave. 2004 Nicolas Sarkozy became UMP leader. 2005 Referendum rejected proposed new European Union (EU) constitution; resignation of Raffarin. Rioting in poor, mainly immigrant communities in Paris and other cities over unemployment and discrimination. 2006 New youth employment laws withdrawn after mass demonstrations; new restrictions on immigration. 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy elected president, defeating socialist candidate Ségolène Royal; UMP won parliamentary elections, but with reduced majority.
© Research Machines plc 2008. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.
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France Flag
Red and blue were taken from the arms of Paris. White was the colour of the Bourbon dynasty. Effective date: 5 March 1848.
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Locator map for the European country of France. It is bounded to the northeast by Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany, to the east by Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the southwest by Spain and Andorra, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
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