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France is a country in the middle of western Europe. The island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea also belongs to France. France also has territories in the Caribbean, off the east coast of America, and also in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. We are only looking at the part of France that is in Europe. This is often known as Metropolitan France.

France is bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, in the south by Spain and the Mediterranean Sea and in the north by the English Channel, which the French call La Manche. Eastern France has borders with five other European countries.

The land is mainly flat but in the south there are the Pyrenees Mountains and in the east are the Alps.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of France, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 46 00N
Longitude - 2 00E

The capital of France is Paris.

France is a semi-presidential republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government. The French President does have quite a lot of power. Presidents are elected for a seven year term.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 must vote.

The currency in France is the euro. France was a founding member of what is now the European Union.

French is the official languages.

Check the weather in Paris now.

This is the time in Paris now

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The French flag is three vertical bands of blue, white and red and is known as the tricolore. The flag dates from 1790 and the time of the French revolution. The blue and red were the colours and the army of Paris while white was the ancient French colour.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the the French National Anthem called The Song Of Marseille. It was adopted in 1795, replaced in 1799 and restored in 1870. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Arise children of the fatherland
The day of glory has arrived
Against us tyranny’s
Bloody standard is raised
The bloody standard is raised
Listen to the sound in the fields
The howling of these fearsome soldiers
They are coming into our midst
To cut the throats of your sons and consorts

CHORUS

To arms, citizens,
Form your battalions,
Let's march, let's march!
Let an impure blood
Soak our fields!

The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of France is 549,970 sq kms which is the 2nd largest in Europe.

France has lakes, rivers and canals which total 1,530 sq kms.

France has boundaries with 8 countries

• Spain 646 kms
• Belgium 556 kms
• Switzerland 525 kms
• Italy 476 kms
• Germany 418 kms
• Luxembourg 69 kms
• Andorra 55 kms
• Monaco 6 kms

France has a coastline of 3,427 kms which is the 10th longest in Europe

The highest point in France is Mont Blanc Olympus at 4,807 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of France is 62.81 million people, making it the 3rd largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 32.08 million are females and 30.73 million are males.

A person from France is called French.

To be a citizen of France, one of your parents must be a citizen of France. It is not sufficient to be born in France. You have to live in France for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in France, by population are:-

• Paris 2,138551 people
• Marseille 794,811
• Lyon 473,317
• Toulouse 433,055
• Nice 338,620

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



79.5% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in France is 12.3 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in France is 9.3 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 2.9 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 3.6 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 42.9 and for males is 39.5. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 28.1.

The elderly dependency ratio is 30.2. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.3. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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France spends 11.5% of its total income on health care.

There are 3.19 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 6.4 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

21.8% of the population are estimated as obese.

100% of French people have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

98.6% of the urban population and 98.9% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

France releases 385.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 3rd highest in Europe.

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France spends 5.5% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in France. Primary education is for five years until age 11 and secondary education must continue till 18. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes at the end of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas and Easter, and a one week break in the middle of each of the first two terms.

We have no figures for the number of people who are able to read and write by the age of 15.

24.8% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 24.1% are unemployed while with males 25.1% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in France is 30.48 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

9.7% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 294 paved airports in France, which is the 2nd highest number in Europe.


There are 29,640 kilometres of railways in France, the 2nd longest in Europe.


There are 1,028,446 kilometres of roads in France, which means France is in 1st place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 10 major national newspapers in France.

There are 66.7 million mobile phone users.

58% of the people have a fixed landline.



56.4 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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