France

French Republic République française (French)
Flag Coat of arms[I]
Motto: "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" ("Liberty, Equality, Fraternity")
Anthem: "La Marseillaise"
Diplomatic emblem
France on the globe centred on Europe Metropolitan France (European part of France) in Europe France and its neighbors Show France, its overseas territories and its exclusive economic zones Location of France (blue or dark green) – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in the European Union (green)
Capital and largest city	Paris 48°51′N 2°21′E / 48.850°N 2.350°E / 48.850; 2.350
Official language and national language	French[II]
Nationality (2021)[3]	92.2% French 7.8% other
Religion (2021)[4]	50% Christianity 33% irreligion 4% Islam 4% other religions
Demonym(s)	French
Government	Unitary semi-presidential republic
• President	Emmanuel Macron
• Prime Minister	François Bayrou
• President of the Senate	Gérard Larcher
• President of the National Assembly	Yaël Braun-Pivet
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	National Assembly
Establishment
• Kingdom of the West Franks – Treaty of Verdun	10 August 843
• French Republic – French First Republic	22 September 1792
• Current constitution – French Fifth Republic	4 October 1958
Area
• Total	643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi) (including metropolitan France and overseas France and excluding Terre Adelie[6]) (42nd)
• Water (%)	0.86[5]
• Metropolitan France (IGN)	551,695 km2 (213,011 sq mi)[III] (50th)
• Metropolitan France (Cadastre)	543,940.9 km2 (210,016.8 sq mi)[IV][7] (50th)
Population
• January 2024 estimate	68,373,433[8] (20th)
• Density	106.20274/km2 (106th)
• Metropolitan France, estimate as of January 2024[update]	66,142,961[9] (23rd)
• Density	122/km2 (316.0/sq mi) (89th)
GDP (PPP)	2024 estimate
• Total	$4.359 trillion[10] (9th)
• Per capita	$65,940[10] (22nd)
GDP (nominal)	2024 estimate
• Total	$3.174 trillion[10] (7th)
• Per capita	$48,011[10] (22nd)
Gini (2022)	29.8[11] low inequality
HDI (2022)	0.910[12] very high (28th)
Currency	Euro (€) (EUR)[V] CFP franc (XPF)[VI]
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET[VII])
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Calling code	+33[VIII]
ISO 3166 code	FR
Internet TLD	.fr[IX]
Source gives area of metropolitan France as 551,500 km2 (212,900 sq mi) and lists overseas regions separately, whose areas sum to 89,179 km2 (34,432 sq mi). Adding these give the total shown here for the entire French Republic. The World Factbook reports the total as 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi).

France,^[X] officially the French Republic,^[XI] is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, giving it one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north, Germany to the northeast, Switzerland to the east, Italy and Monaco to the southeast, Andorra and Spain to the south, and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its eighteen integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of 643,801 km² (248,573 sq mi) and have a total population of nearly 68.4 million as of January 2024^[update]. France is a semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre.

Metropolitan France was settled during the Iron Age by Celtic tribes known as Gauls before Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, leading to a distinct Gallo-Roman culture. In the Early Middle Ages, the Franks formed the Kingdom of Francia, which became the heartland of the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned the empire, with West Francia evolving into the Kingdom of France. In the High Middle Ages, France was a powerful but decentralized feudal kingdom, but from the mid-14th to the mid-15th centuries, France was plunged into a dynastic conflict with England known as the Hundred Years' War. In the 16th century, French culture flourished during the French Renaissance and a French colonial empire emerged. Internally, France was dominated by the conflict with the House of Habsburg and the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots. France was successful in the Thirty Years' War and further increased its influence during the reign of Louis XIV.

The French Revolution of 1789 overthrew the Ancien Régime and produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. France reached its political and military zenith in the early 19th century under Napoleon Bonaparte, subjugating part of continental Europe and establishing the First French Empire. The collapse of the empire initiated a period of relative decline, in which France endured the Bourbon Restoration until the founding of the French Second Republic which was succeeded by the Second French Empire upon Napoleon III's takeover. His empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. This led to the establishment of the Third French Republic, and subsequent decades saw a period of economic prosperity and cultural and scientific flourishing known as the Belle Époque. France was one of the major participants of World War I, from which it emerged victorious at great human and economic cost. It was among the Allies of World War II, but it surrendered and was occupied in 1940. Following its liberation in 1944, the short-lived Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the defeat in the Algerian War. The current Fifth Republic was formed in 1958 by Charles de Gaulle. Algeria and most French colonies became independent in the 1960s, with the majority retaining close economic and military ties with France.

France retains its centuries-long status as a global centre of art, science, and philosophy. It hosts the fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the world's leading tourist destination, receiving 100 million foreign visitors in 2023. A developed country, France has a high nominal per capita income globally, and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world by both nominal GDP and PPP-adjusted GDP. It is a great power, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and an official nuclear-weapon state. France is a founding and leading member of the European Union and the eurozone, as well as a member of the Group of Seven, NATO, OECD, and Francophonie.

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