Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations. It plays an influential global role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO, the G-7, the G-20, the EU, and other multilateral organizations. France rejoined NATO's integrated military command structure in 2009, reversing then President Charles DE GAULLE's 1966 decision to withdraw French forces from NATO. Since 1958, it has constructed a hybrid presidential-parliamentary governing system resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier, more purely parliamentary administrations.
- Capital
- Paris
- Government
- semi-presidential republic
- Population
- 68,512,806
- Area
- 643,801 sq km ; 551,500 sq km (metropolitan France)
- Location
- metropolitan France: Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK;
- Climate
- metropolitan France: generally cool winters and mild summers, but mild winters and hot summers along the Mediterranean;
- Natural resources
- metropolitan France: coal; iron ore; bauxite; zinc; uranium; antimony…
- Languages
- French (official) 100%; declining regional dialects and languages (Provençal; Breton; Alsatian…
- Religions
- Roman Catholic 47%; Muslim 4%; Protestant 2%; Buddhist 2%…
- Independence
- no official date of independence: 486 (Frankish tribes unified under Merovingian kingship)…
- Administrative divisions
- 18 regions (régions, singular - région); Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Bretagne (Brittany), Centre-Val…
- Currency
- euros (EUR)
- Export partners
- Germany 11%; Italy 9%; USA 8%; Belgium 8%…
- Import partners
- Germany 15%; Belgium 11%; Netherlands 9%; Spain 8%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain