Natural hazards:
metropolitan France: flooding; avalanches; midwinter windstorms; drought; forest fires in south near the Mediterranean
overseas departments: hurricanes (cyclones); flooding; volcanic activity (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion)
Environment - current issues:
some forest damage from acid rain; air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; water pollution from urban wastes, agricultural runoff
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85,
Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources,
Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life
Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
largest West European nation
People ::France
Population:
64,768,389 country comparison to the world: 21 note: the above figure is for metropolitan France and its four overseas regions; the metropolitan France population is 62,814,233 (July 2010 est.)
Age structure:
0–14 years: 18.6% (male 6,129,729/female 5,838,925)
15–64 years: 65% (male 20,963,124/female 20,929,280)
65 years and over: 16.4% (male 4,403,248/female 6,155,767) (2010 est.)
Median age:
total: 39.7 years
male: 38.2 years
female: 41.2 years (2010 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.525% (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 152
Birth rate:
12.43 births/1,000 population (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 160
Death rate:
8.65 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 82
Net migration rate:
1.47 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 47
Urbanization:
urban population: 77% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 0.8% annual rate of change (2005–10 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.051 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2010 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 3.31 deaths/1,000 live births country comparison to the world: 215 male: 3.63 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 2.98 deaths/1,000 live births (2010 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 81.09 years country comparison to the world: 12 male: 77.91 years
female: 84.44 years (2010 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.97 children born/woman (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 131
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.4% (2007 est.) country comparison to the world: 83
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
140,000 (2007 est.) country comparison to the world: 38
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
1,600 (2007 est.) country comparison to the world: 65
Nationality:
noun: Frenchman(men), Frenchwoman(women)
adjective: French
Ethnic groups:
Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Indochinese,
Basque minorities
overseas departments: black, white, mulatto, East Indian, Chinese, Amerindian
Religions:
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4%
overseas departments: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan
Languages:
French (official) 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)
overseas departments: French, Creole patois
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 16 years
male: 16 years
female: 17 years (2008)
Education expenditures:
5.6% of GDP (2006) country comparison to the world: 42
Government ::France
Country name:
conventional long form: French Republic
conventional short form: France
local long form: Republique francaise
local short form: France
Government type:
republic
Capital:
name: Paris
geographic coordinates: 48 52 N, 2 20 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
note: applies to metropolitan France only, not to its overseas departments, collectivities, or territories
Administrative divisions:
26 regions (regions, singular - region); Alsace, Aquitaine,
Auvergne, Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy), Bourgogne (Burgundy),
Bretagne (Brittany), Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse (Corsica),
Franche-Comte, Guadeloupe, Guyane (French Guiana), Haute-Normandie
(Upper Normandy), Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin,
Lorraine, Martinique, Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la