Etymology and pronunciation

Originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin , or "realm of the Franks". Modern France is still named today in Italian and Spanish, while in German, in Dutch and in Swedish all mean "Land/realm of the Franks".

The name of the Franks is related to the English word frank ("free"): the latter stems from the Old French franc ("free, noble, sincere"), ultimately from Medieval Latin francus ("free, exempt from service; freeman, Frank"), a generalization of the tribal name that emerged as a Late Latin borrowing of the reconstructed Frankish endonym *Frank. It has been suggested that the meaning "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation, or more generally because they had the status of freemen in contrast to servants or slaves.

The etymology of *Frank is uncertain. It is traditionally derived from the Proto-Germanic word , which translates as "javelin" or "lance" (the throwing axe of the Franks was known as the francisca), although these weapons may have been named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around.

In English, 'France' is pronounced in American English and or in British English. The pronunciation with is mostly confined to accents with the trap-bath split such as Received Pronunciation, though it can be also heard in some other dialects such as Cardiff English, in which is in free variation with .

History

Prehistory (before the 6th century BC)

The oldest traces of human life in what is now France date from approximately 1.8 million years ago. Over the ensuing millennia, humans were confronted by a harsh and variable climate, marked by several glacial periods. Early hominids led a nomadic hunter-gatherer life. France has a large number of decorated caves from the upper Palaeolithic era, including one of the most famous and best preserved, Lascaux (approximately 18,000 BC). At the end of the last glacial period (10,000 BC), the climate became milder; from approximately 7,000 BC, this part of Western Europe entered the Neolithic era and its inhabitants became sedentary.

After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia, metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium, initially working gold, copper and bronze, as well as later iron. France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the exceptionally dense Carnac stones site (approximately 3,300 BC).

Antiquity (6th century BC–5th century AD)

In 600 BC, Ionian Greeks from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (present-day Marseille), on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This makes it France's oldest city. At the same time, some Gallic Celtic tribes penetrated parts of Eastern and Northern France, gradually spreading through the rest of the country between the 5th and 3rd century BC. The concept of Gaul emerged during this period, corresponding to the territories of Celtic settlement ranging between the Rhine, the Atlantic Ocean, the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. The borders of modern France roughly correspond to ancient Gaul, which was inhabited by Celtic Gauls. Gaul was then a prosperous country, of which the southernmost part was heavily subject to Greek and Roman cultural and economic influences.

Around 390 BC, the Gallic chieftain Brennus and his troops made their way to Italy through the Alps, defeated the Romans in the Battle of the Allia, and besieged and ransomed Rome. The Gallic invasion left Rome weakened, and the Gauls continued to harass the region until 345 BC when they entered into a formal peace treaty with Rome. But the Romans and the Gauls would remain adversaries for the next centuries, and the Gauls would continue to be a threat in Italy.

Around 125 BC, the south of Gaul was conquered by the Romans, who called this region Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), which over time evolved into the name Provence in French. Julius Caesar conquered the remainder of Gaul and overcame a revolt carried out by the Gallic chieftain Vercingetorix in 52 BC. According to Plutarch and the writings of scholar Brendan Woods, the Gallic Wars resulted in 800 conquered cities, 300 subdued tribes, one million men sold into slavery, and another three million dead in battle.

Gaul was divided by Augustus into Roman provinces. Many cities were founded during the Gallo-Roman period, including Lugdunum (present-day Lyon), which is considered the capital of the Gauls. These cities were built in traditional Roman style, with a forum, a theatre, a circus, an amphitheatre and thermal baths. The Gauls mixed with Roman settlers and eventually adopted Roman culture and Roman speech (Latin, from which the French language evolved). The Roman polytheism merged with the Gallic paganism into the same syncretism.

From the 250s to the 280s AD, Roman Gaul suffered a serious crisis with its fortified borders being attacked on several occasions by barbarians. Nevertheless, the situation improved in the first half of the 4th century, which was a period of revival and prosperity for Roman Gaul. In 312, Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity. Subsequently, Christians, who had been persecuted until then, increased rapidly across the entire Roman Empire. But, from the beginning of the 5th century, the Barbarian Invasions resumed. Teutonic tribes invaded the region from present-day Germany, the Visigoths settling in the southwest, the Burgundians along the Rhine River Valley, and the Franks (from whom the French take their name) in the north.

Early Middle Ages (5th–10th century)

At the end of the Antiquity period, ancient Gaul was divided into several Germanic kingdoms and a remaining Gallo-Roman territory, known as the Kingdom of Syagrius. Simultaneously, Celtic Britons, fleeing the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, settled the western part of Armorica. As a result, the Armorican peninsula was renamed Brittany, Celtic culture was revived and independent petty kingdoms arose in this region.

The first leader to make himself king of all the Franks was Clovis I, who began his reign in 481, routing the last forces of the Roman governors of the province in 486. Clovis claimed that he would be baptized a Christian in the event of his victory against the Visigoths, which was said to have guaranteed the battle. Clovis regained the southwest from the Visigoths, was baptized in 508, and made himself master of what is now western Germany.

Clovis I was the first Germanic conqueror after the fall of the Roman Empire to convert to Catholic Christianity, rather than Arianism; thus France was given the title "Eldest daughter of the Church" (La fille aînée de l'Église|links=no) by the papacy, and French kings would be called "the Most Christian Kings of France" ().

The Franks embraced the Christian Gallo-Roman culture and ancient Gaul was eventually renamed Francia ("Land of the Franks"). The Germanic Franks adopted Romanic languages, except in northern Gaul where Roman settlements were less dense and where Germanic languages emerged. Clovis made Paris his capital and established the Merovingian dynasty, but his kingdom would not survive his death. The Franks treated land purely as a private possession and divided it among their heirs, so four kingdoms emerged from Clovis's: Paris, Orléans, Soissons, and Rheims. The last Merovingian kings lost power to their mayors of the palace (head of household). One mayor of the palace, Charles Martel, defeated an Islamic invasion of Gaul at the Battle of Tours (732) and earned respect and power within the Frankish kingdoms. His son, Pepin the Short, seized the crown of Francia from the weakened Merovingians and founded the Carolingian dynasty. Pepin's son, Charlemagne, reunited the Frankish kingdoms and built a vast empire across Western and Central Europe.

Proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III and thus establishing in earnest the French Government's longtime historical association with the Catholic Church, Charlemagne tried to revive the Western Roman Empire and its cultural grandeur. Charlemagne's son, Louis I (Emperor 814–840), kept the empire united; however, this Carolingian Empire would not survive his death. In 843, under the Treaty of Verdun, the empire was divided between Louis' three sons, with East Francia going to Louis the German, Middle Francia to Lothair I, and West Francia to Charles the Bald. West Francia approximated the area occupied by, and was the precursor to, modern France.

During the 9th and 10th centuries, continually threatened by Viking invasions, France became a very decentralized state: the nobility's titles and lands became hereditary, and the authority of the king became more religious than secular and thus was less effective and constantly challenged by powerful noblemen. Thus was established feudalism in France. Over time, some of the king's vassals would grow so powerful that they often posed a threat to the king. For example, after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror added "King of England" to his titles, becoming both the vassal to (as Duke of Normandy) and the equal of (as king of England) the king of France, creating recurring tensions.

High and Late Middle Ages (10th–15th century)

The Carolingian dynasty ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of the Franks. His descendantsthe Capetians, the House of Valois and the House of Bourbonprogressively unified the country through wars and dynastic inheritance into the Kingdom of France, which was fully declared in 1190 by Philip II of France (Philippe Auguste). Later kings would expand their directly possessed domaine royal to cover over half of modern continental France by the 15th century, including most of the north, centre and west of France. During this process, the royal authority became more and more assertive, centered on a hierarchically conceived society distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners.

The French nobility played a prominent role in most Crusades to restore Christian access to the Holy Land. French knights made up the bulk of the steady flow of reinforcements throughout the two-hundred-year span of the Crusades, in such a fashion that the Arabs uniformly referred to the crusaders as Franj caring little whether they really came from France. The French Crusaders also imported the French language into the Levant, making French the base of the lingua franca (litt. "Frankish language") of the Crusader states. French knights also made up the majority in both the Hospital and the Temple orders. The latter, in particular, held numerous properties throughout France and by the 13th century were the principal bankers for the French crown, until Philip IV annihilated the order in 1307. The Albigensian Crusade was launched in 1209 to eliminate the heretical Cathars in the southwestern area of modern-day France. In the end, the Cathars were exterminated and the autonomous County of Toulouse was annexed into the crown lands of France.

From the 11th century, the House of Plantagenet, the rulers of the County of Anjou, succeeded in establishing its dominion over the surrounding provinces of Maine and Touraine, then progressively built an "empire" that spanned from England to the Pyrenees and covering half of modern France. Tensions between the kingdom of France and the Plantagenet empire would last a hundred years, until Philip II of France conquered, between 1202 and 1214 most of the continental possessions of the empire, leaving England and Aquitaine to the Plantagenets. Following the Battle of Bouvines, the Angevin court retreated to England, but persistent Capetian–Plantagenet rivalry would pave the way for another conflict, the Hundred Years' War.

Charles IV the Fair died without an heir in 1328. Under the rules of the Salic law the crown of France could not pass to a woman nor could the line of kingship pass through the female line. Accordingly, the crown passed to Philip of Valois, a cousin of Charles, rather than through the female line to Charles' nephew, Edward of Plantagenet, who would soon become Edward III of England. During the reign of Philip of Valois, the French monarchy reached the height of its medieval power. Philip's seat on the throne was contested by Edward III of England in 1337, on the eve of the first wave of the Black Death, and England and France went to war in what would become known as the Hundred Years' War. The exact boundaries changed greatly with time, but French landholdings of the English Kings remained extensive for decades. With charismatic leaders, such as Joan of Arc and La Hire, strong French counterattacks won back most English continental territories. Like the rest of Europe, France was struck by the Black Death; half of the 17 million population of France died.

Early modern period (15th century–1789)

:Main articles: French Renaissance (c. 1400–c. 1650), Early modern France (1500–1789), French Wars of Religion (1562–1598) and Ancien Régime (c. 1400–1792)

The French Renaissance saw a spectacular cultural development and the first standardisation of the French language, which would become the official language of France and the language of Europe's aristocracy. It also saw a long set of wars, known as the Italian Wars, between France and the House of Habsburg. French explorers, such as Jacques Cartier or Samuel de Champlain, claimed lands in the Americas for France, paving the way for the expansion of the First French colonial empire. The rise of Protestantism in Europe led France to a civil war known as the French Wars of Religion, where, in the most notorious incident, thousands of Huguenots were murdered in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572. The Wars of Religion were ended by Henry IV's Edict of Nantes, which granted some freedom of religion to the Huguenots. Spanish troops, the terror of Western Europe, assisted the Catholic side during the Wars of Religion in 1589–1594, and invaded northern France in 1597; after some skirmishing in the 1620s and 1630s, Spain and France returned to all-out war between 1635 and 1659. The war cost France 300,000 casualties.

Under Louis XIII, the energetic Cardinal Richelieu promoted the centralisation of the state and reinforced the royal power by disarming domestic power holders in the 1620s. He systematically destroyed castles of defiant lords and denounced the use of private violence (dueling, carrying weapons and maintaining private armies). By the end of the 1620s, Richelieu established "the royal monopoly of force" as the doctrine. During Louis XIV's minority and the regency of Queen Anne and Cardinal Mazarin, a period of trouble known as the Fronde occurred in France. This rebellion was driven by the great feudal lords and sovereign courts as a reaction to the rise of royal absolute power in France.

The monarchy reached its peak during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV. By turning powerful feudal lords into courtiers at the Palace of Versailles, Louis XIV's personal power became unchallenged. Remembered for his numerous wars, he made France the leading European power. France became the most populous country in Europe and had tremendous influence over European politics, economy, and culture. French became the most-used language in diplomacy, science, literature and international affairs, and remained so until the 20th century. France obtained many overseas possessions in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Louis XIV also revoked the Edict of Nantes, forcing thousands of Huguenots into exile.

Under Louis XV, Louis XIV's great-grandson, France lost New France and most of its Indian possessions after its defeat in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). Its European territory kept growing, however, with notable acquisitions such as Lorraine (1766) and Corsica (1770). An unpopular king, Louis XV's weak rule, his ill-advised financial, political and military decisions as well as the debauchery of his court discredited the monarchy, which arguably paved the way for the French Revolution 15 years after his death.

Louis XVI, Louis XV's grandson, actively supported the Americans, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain (realised in the 1783 Treaty of Paris). The financial crisis aggravated by France's involvement in the American Revolutionary War was one of many contributing factors to the French Revolution. Much of the Enlightenment occurred in French intellectual circles, and major scientific breakthroughs and inventions, such as the discovery of oxygen (1778) and the first hot air balloon carrying passengers (1783), were achieved by French scientists. French explorers, such as Bougainville and Lapérouse, took part in the voyages of scientific exploration through maritime expeditions around the globe. The Enlightenment philosophy, in which reason is advocated as the primary source for legitimacy and authority, undermined the power of and support for the monarchy and helped pave the way for the French Revolution.

Revolutionary France (1789–1799)

Facing financial troubles, King Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General (gathering the three Estates of the realm) in May 1789 to propose solutions to his government. As it came to an impasse, the representatives of the Third Estate formed into a National Assembly, signalling the outbreak of the French Revolution. Fearing that the king would suppress the newly created National Assembly, insurgents stormed the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a date which would become France's National Day.

In early August 1789, the National Constituent Assembly abolished the privileges of the nobility such as personal serfdom and exclusive hunting rights. Through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (27 August 1789) France established fundamental rights for men. The Declaration affirms "the natural and imprescriptible rights of man" to "liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression". Freedom of speech and press were declared, and arbitrary arrests outlawed. It called for the destruction of aristocratic privileges and proclaimed freedom and equal rights for all men, as well as access to public office based on talent rather than birth. In November 1789, the Assembly decided to nationalise and sell all property of the Roman Catholic Church which had been the largest landowner in the country. In July 1790, a Civil Constitution of the Clergy reorganized the French Catholic Church, cancelling the authority of the Church to levy taxes, et cetera. This fueled much discontent in parts of France, which would contribute to the civil war breaking out some years later. While King Louis XVI still enjoyed popularity among the population, his disastrous flight to Varennes (June 1791) seemed to justify rumors he had tied his hopes of political salvation to the prospects of foreign invasion. His credibility was so deeply undermined that the abolition of the monarchy and establishment of a republic became an increasing possibility.

In August 1791, the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia in the Declaration of Pillnitz threatened revolutionary France to intervene by force of arms to restore the French absolute monarchy. In September 1791, the National Constituent Assembly forced King Louis XVI to accept the French Constitution of 1791, thus turning the French absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. In the newly established Legislative Assembly (October 1791), enmity developed and deepened between a group, later called the 'Girondins', who favored war with Austria and Prussia, and a group later called 'Montagnards' or 'Jacobins', who opposed such a war. A majority in the Assembly in 1792 however saw a war with Austria and Prussia as a chance to boost the popularity of the revolutionary government, and thought that France would win a war against those gathered monarchies. On 20 April 1792, therefore, they declared war on Austria.

On 10 August 1792, an angry crowd threatened the palace of King Louis XVI, who took refuge in the Legislative Assembly. A Prussian Army invaded France later in August 1792. In early September, Parisians, infuriated by the Prussian Army capturing Verdun and counter-revolutionary uprisings in the west of France, murdered between 1,000 and 1,500 prisoners by raiding the Parisian prisons. The Assembly and the Paris City Council seemed unable to stop that bloodshed. The National Convention, chosen in the first elections under male universal suffrage, on 20 September 1792 succeeded the Legislative Assembly and on 21 September abolished the monarchy by proclaiming the French First Republic.

Ex-King Louis XVI was convicted of treason and guillotined in January 1793.

France had declared war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic in November 1792 and did the same on Spain in March 1793; in the spring of 1793, Austria and Prussia invaded France; in March, France created a "sister republic" in the "Republic of Mainz".

Also in March 1793, the civil war of the Vendée against Paris started, evoked by both the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 1790 and the nationwide army conscription early 1793; elsewhere in France rebellion was brewing too. A factionalist feud in the National Convention, smoldering ever since October 1791, came to a climax with the group of the 'Girondins' on 2 June 1793 being forced to resign and leave the convention. The counter-revolution, begun in March 1793 in the Vendée, by July had spread to Brittany, Normandy, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Toulon, and Lyon. Paris' Convention government between October and December 1793 with brutal measures managed to subdue most internal uprisings, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives. Some historians consider the civil war to have lasted until 1796 with a toll of possibly 450,000 lives. By the end of 1793 the allies had been driven from France. France in February 1794 abolished slavery in its American colonies, but would reintroduce it later.

Political disagreements and enmity in the National Convention between October 1793 and July 1794 reached unprecedented levels, leading to dozens of Convention members being sentenced to death and guillotined. Meanwhile, France's external wars in 1794 were going prosperous, for example in Belgium. In 1795, the government seemed to return to indifference towards the desires and needs of the lower classes concerning freedom of (Catholic) religion and fair distribution of food. Until 1799, politicians, apart from inventing a new parliamentary system (the 'Directory'), busied themselves with dissuading the people from Catholicism and from royalism.

Napoleon and 19th century (1799–1914)

Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the Republic in 1799 becoming First Consul and later Emperor of the French Empire (1804–1814; 1815). As a continuation of the wars sparked by the European monarchies against the French Republic, changing sets of European Coalitions declared wars on Napoleon's Empire. His armies conquered most of continental Europe with swift victories such as the battles of Jena-Auerstadt or Austerlitz. Members of the Bonaparte family were appointed as monarchs in some of the newly established kingdoms.

These victories led to the worldwide expansion of French revolutionary ideals and reforms, such as the metric system, the Napoleonic Code and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In June 1812, Napoleon attacked Russia, reaching Moscow. Thereafter his army disintegrated through supply problems, disease, Russian attacks, and finally winter. After the catastrophic Russian campaign, and the ensuing uprising of European monarchies against his rule, Napoleon was defeated and the Bourbon monarchy restored. About a million Frenchmen died during the Napoleonic Wars. After his brief return from exile, Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, the monarchy was re-established (1815–1830), with new constitutional limitations.

The discredited Bourbon dynasty was overthrown by the July Revolution of 1830, which established the constitutional July Monarchy. In that year, French troops conquered Algeria, establishing the first colonial presence in Africa since Napoleon's abortive invasion of Egypt in 1798. In 1848 general unrest led to the February Revolution and the end of the July Monarchy. The abolition of slavery and introduction of male universal suffrage, which were briefly enacted during the French Revolution, were re-enacted in 1848. In 1852, the president of the French Republic, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, Napoleon I's nephew, was proclaimed emperor of the Second Empire, as Napoleon III. He multiplied French interventions abroad, especially in Crimea, in Mexico and Italy which resulted in the annexation of the Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Napoleon III was unseated following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and his regime was replaced by the Third Republic. By 1875, the French conquest of Algeria was complete and approximately 825,000 Algerians were killed as a result.

France had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century, but in the 19th and 20th centuries, its global overseas colonial empire extended greatly and became the second largest in the world behind the British Empire. Including metropolitan France, the total area of land under French sovereignty almost reached 13 million square kilometers in the 1920s and 1930s, 8.6% of the world's land. Known as the Belle Époque, the turn of the century was a period characterised by optimism, regional peace, economic prosperity and technological, scientific and cultural innovations. In 1905, state secularism was officially established.

Contemporary period (1914–present)

France was a member of the Triple Entente when World War I broke out. A small part of Northern France was occupied, but France and its allies emerged victorious against the Central Powers at a tremendous human and material cost. World War I left 1.4 million French soldiers dead, 4% of its population. Between 27 and 30% of soldiers conscripted from 1912 to 1915 were killed. The interbellum years were marked by intense international tensions and a variety of social reforms introduced by the Popular Front government (annual leave, eight-hour workdays, women in government).

In 1940, France was invaded by Nazi Germany and Italy. Metropolitan France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north, an Italian occupation zone in the southeast and Vichy France, a newly established authoritarian regime collaborating with Germany, in the south, while Free France, the government-in-exile led by Charles de Gaulle, was set up in London. From 1942 to 1944, about 160,000 French citizens, including around 75,000 Jews, were deported to death camps and concentration camps in Germany and occupied Poland. In September 1943, Corsica was the first French metropolitan territory to liberate itself from the Axis. On 6 June 1944, the Allies invaded Normandy and in August they invaded Provence. Over the following year the Allies and the French Resistance emerged victorious over the Axis powers and French sovereignty was restored with the establishment of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF). This interim government, established by de Gaulle, aimed to continue to wage war against Germany and to purge collaborators from office. It also made several important reforms (suffrage extended to women, creation of a social security system).

The GPRF laid the groundwork for a new constitutional order that resulted in the Fourth Republic, which saw spectacular economic growth (les Trente Glorieuses). France was one of the founding members of NATO (1949). France attempted to regain control of French Indochina but was defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954 at the climactic Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Only months later, France faced another anti-colonialist conflict in Algeria. The systematic torture and repression, as well as the extrajudicial killings that were perpetrated to keep control of Algeria, then considered as an integral part of France and home to over one million European settlers, wracked the country and nearly led to a coup and civil war.

In 1958, the weak and unstable Fourth Republic gave way to the Fifth Republic, which included a strengthened Presidency. In the latter role, Charles de Gaulle managed to keep the country together while taking steps to end the Algerian War. The war was concluded with the Évian Accords in 1962 that led to Algerian independence. The Algerian independence came at a high price: namely, the large toll on the Algerian population. It resulted in half million to a million deaths and over 2 million internally displaced Algerians. A vestige of the colonial empire are the French overseas departments and territories.

In the context of the Cold War, De Gaulle pursued a policy of "national independence" towards the Western and Eastern blocs. To this end, he withdrew from NATO's military integrated command (while remaining in the NATO alliance itself), launched a nuclear development programme and made France the fourth nuclear power. He restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the American and Soviet spheres of influence. However, he opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring a Europe of sovereign nations. In the wake of the series of worldwide protests of 1968, the revolt of May 1968 had an enormous social impact. In France, it is considered to be the watershed moment when a conservative moral ideal (religion, patriotism, respect for authority) shifted towards a more liberal moral ideal (secularism, individualism, sexual revolution). Although the revolt was a political failure (as the Gaullist party emerged even stronger than before) it announced a split between the French people and de Gaulle who resigned shortly after.

In the post-Gaullist era, France remained one of the most developed economies in the world, but faced several economic crises that resulted in high unemployment rates and increasing public debt. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries France has been at the forefront of the development of a supranational European Union, notably by signing the Maastricht Treaty (which created the European Union) in 1992, establishing the Eurozone in 1999 and signing the Lisbon Treaty in 2007. France has also gradually but fully reintegrated into NATO and has since participated in most NATO sponsored wars.

Since the 19th century France has received many immigrants. These have been mostly male foreign workers from European Catholic countries who generally returned home when not employed. During the 1970s France faced economic crisis and allowed new immigrants (mostly from the Maghreb) to permanently settle in France with their families and to acquire French citizenship. It resulted in hundreds of thousands of Muslims (especially in the larger cities) living in subsidised public housing and suffering from very high unemployment rates. Simultaneously France renounced the assimilation of immigrants, where they were expected to adhere to French traditional values and cultural norms. They were encouraged to retain their distinctive cultures and traditions and required merely to integrate.

Since the 1995 Paris Métro and RER bombings, France has been sporadically targeted by Islamist organisations, notably the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015 which provoked the largest public rallies in French history, gathering 4.4 million people, the November 2015 Paris attacks which resulted in 130 deaths, the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004, as well as the 2016 Nice truck attack, which caused 87 deaths during Bastille Day celebrations. Opération Chammal, France's military efforts to contain ISIS, killed over 1,000 ISIS troops between 2014 and 2015.

Geography

Location and borders

The vast majority of France's territory and population is situated in Western Europe and is called Metropolitan France, to distinguish it from the country's various overseas polities. It is bordered by the North Sea in the north, the English Channel in the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Mediterranean sea in the southeast. Its land borders consist of Belgium and Luxembourg in the northeast, Germany and Switzerland in the east, Italy and Monaco in the southeast, and Andorra and Spain in the south and southwest. With the exception of the northeast, most of France's land borders are roughly delineated by natural boundaries and geographic features: to the south and southeast, the Pyrenees and the Alps and the Jura, respectively, and to the east, the Rhine river. Due to its shape, France is often referred to as ("The Hexagon"). Metropolitan France includes various coastal islands, of which the largest is Corsica. Metropolitan France is situated mostly between latitudes 41° and 51° N, and longitudes 6° W and 10° E, on the western edge of Europe, and thus lies within the northern temperate zone. Its continental part covers about 1000 km from north to south and from east to west.

France has several overseas regions across the world, which are organized as follows:

• In South America: French Guiana.

• In the Atlantic Ocean: Saint Pierre and Miquelon and, in the Antilles: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy.

• In the Pacific Ocean: French Polynesia, the special collectivity of New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and Clipperton Island.

• In the Indian Ocean: Réunion island, Mayotte, Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Islands, St. Paul and Amsterdam islands, and the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean

• In the Antarctic: Adélie Land.

France has land borders with Brazil and Suriname via French Guiana and with the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the French portion of Saint Martin.

Metropolitan France covers , the largest among European Union members. France's total land area, with its overseas departments and territories (excluding Adélie Land), is , 0.45% of the total land area on Earth. France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the Alps in the southeast, the Massif Central in the south central and Pyrenees in the southwest.

Due to its numerous overseas departments and territories scattered across the planet, France possesses the second-largest Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 mi2), just behind the EEZ of the United States, which covers 11,351,000 km2 (4,383,000 mi2), but ahead of the EEZ of Australia, which covers 8,148,250 km2 (4,111,312 mi2). Its EEZ covers approximately 8% of the total surface of all the EEZs of the world.

Geology, topography and hydrography

Metropolitan France has a wide variety of topographical sets and natural landscapes. Large parts of the current territory of France were raised during several tectonic episodes like the Hercynian uplift in the Paleozoic Era, during which the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central, the Morvan, the Vosges and Ardennes ranges and the island of Corsica were formed. These massifs delineate several sedimentary basins such as the Aquitaine basin in the southwest and the Paris basin in the north, the latter including several areas of particularly fertile ground such as the silt beds of Beauce and Brie. Various routes of natural passage, such as the Rhône Valley, allow easy communications. The Alpine, Pyrenean and Jura mountains are much younger and have less eroded forms. At above sea level, Mont Blanc, located in the Alps on the French and Italian border, is the highest point in Western Europe. Although 60% of municipalities are classified as having seismic risks, these risks remain moderate.

The coastlines offer contrasting landscapes: mountain ranges along the French Riviera, coastal cliffs such as the Côte d'Albâtre, and wide sandy plains in the Languedoc. Corsica lies off the Mediterranean coast. France has an extensive river system consisting of the four major rivers Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, the Rhône and their tributaries, whose combined catchment includes over 62% of the metropolitan territory. The Rhône divides the Massif Central from the Alps and flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the Camargue. The Garonne meets the Dordogne just after Bordeaux, forming the Gironde estuary, the largest estuary in Western Europe which after approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Other water courses drain towards the Meuse and Rhine along the north-eastern borders. France has of marine waters within three oceans under its jurisdiction, of which 97% are overseas.

Climate

The French metropolitan territory is relatively large, so the climate is not uniform, giving rise to the following climate nuances:

• The hot-summer mediterranean climate (Csa) is found along the Gulf of Lion. Summers are hot and dry, while winters are mild and wet. Cities affected by this climate: Arles, Avignon, Fréjus, Hyères, Marseille, Menton, Montpellier, Nice, Perpignan, Toulon.

• The warm-summer mediterranean climate (Csb) is found in the northern part of Brittany. Summers are warm and dry, while winters are cool and wet. Cities affected by this climate: Belle Île, Saint-Brieuc.

• The humid subtropical climate (Cfa) is found in the Garonne and Rhône's inland plains. Summers are hot and wet, while winters are cool and damp. Cities affected by this climate: Albi, Carcassonne, Lyon, Orange, Toulouse, Valence.

• The oceanic climate (Cfb) is found around the coasts of the Bay of Biscay, and a little bit inland. Summers are pleasantly warm and wet, while winters are cool and damp. Cities affected by this climate: Amiens, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brest, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Dunkirk, Lille, Nantes, Orléans, Paris, Reims, Tours.

• The degraded oceanic climate (degraded-Cfb) is found in the interior plains and in the intra-alpine valleys, far from the ocean (or sea). Summers are hot and wet, while winters are cold and gloomy. Cities affected by this climate: Annecy, Besançon, Bourges, Chambéry, Clermont-Ferrand, Colmar, Dijon, Grenoble, Langres, Metz, Mulhouse, Nancy, Strasbourg.

• The subalpine oceanic climate (Cfc) is found at the foot of all the mountainous regions of France. Summers are short, cool and wet, while winters are moderately cold and damp. No major cities are affected by this climate.

• The warm-summer mediterranean continental climate (Dsb) is found in all the mountainous regions of Southern France between 700 and 1,400 metres a.s.l. Summers are pleasantly warm and dry, while winters are very cold and snowy. City affected by this climate: Barcelonnette.

• The cool-summer mediterranean continental climate (Dsc) is found in all the mountainous regions of Southern France between 1,400 and 2,100 metres a.s.l. Summers are cool, short and dry, while winters are very cold and snowy. Place affected by this climate: Isola 2000.

• The warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) is found in all the mountainous regions of the Northern half of France between 500 and 1,000 metres a.s.l. Summers are pleasantly warm and wet, while winters are very cold and snowy. Cities affected by this climate: Chamonix, Mouthe. In January 1985, in Mouthe, the temperature has dropped under −41 °C.

• The subalpine climate (Dfc) is found in all the mountainous regions of the northern half of France between 1,000 and 2,000 metres a.s.l. Summers are cool, short and wet, while winters are very cold and snowy. Places affected by this climate: Cauterets Courchevel, Alpe d'Huez, Les 2 Alpes, Peyragudes, Val-Thorens.

• The alpine tundra climate (ET) is found in all the mountainous regions of France, generally above 2,000 or 2,500 metres a.s.l. Summers are chilly and wet, while winters are extremely cold, long and snowy. Mountains affected by this climate: Aiguilles-Rouges, Aravis, the top of Crêt de la neige (rare, altitude 1,718 m) and the top of Grand-Ballon (rare, altitude 1,423 m).

• The ice cap climate (EF) is found in all the mountainous regions of France that have a glacier. Summers are cold and wet, while winters are extremely cold, long and snowy. Mountains affected by this climate: Aiguille du midi, Barre des Écrins, Belledonne, Grand-Casse, Mont Blanc (4,810 m), Pic du Midi de Bigorre.

• In the overseas regions, there are three broad types of climate:

　• A tropical climate (Am) in most overseas regions including eastern French Guiana: high constant temperature throughout the year with a dry and a wet season.

　• An equatorial climate (Af) in western French Guiana: high constant temperature with even precipitation throughout the year.

　• A subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc), characterised by mild, wet summers and cool, but generally not cold, damp winters. Cities or places affected by this climate: Port-aux-Français, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

　• An ice cap climate (EF): extremely cold year-round in Adélie Land.

Climate change in France includes above average heating.

Environment

France was one of the first countries to create an environment ministry, in 1971. Although it is one of the most industrialised countries in the world, France is ranked only 19th by carbon dioxide emissions, behind less populous nations such as Canada or Australia. This is due to the country's heavy investment in nuclear power following the 1973 oil crisis, which now accounts for 75 percent of its electricity production and results in less pollution. According to the 2018 Environmental Performance Index conducted by Yale and Columbia, France was the second-most environmentally-conscious country in the world (after Switzerland), compared to tenth place in 2016 and 27th in 2014.

Like all European Union state members, France agreed to cut carbon emissions by at least 20% of 1990 levels by the year 2020, compared to the United States plan to reduce emissions by 4% of 1990 levels. , French carbon dioxide emissions per capita were lower than that of China's. The country was set to impose a carbon tax in 2009 at 17 euros per tonne of carbon emitted, which would have raised 4 billion euros of revenue annually. However, the plan was abandoned due to fears of burdening French businesses.

Forests account for 31 percent of France's land area—the fourth-highest proportion in Europe—representing an increase of 7 percent since 1990. French forests are some of the most diverse in Europe, comprising more than 140 species of trees. France had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.52/10, ranking it 123rd globally out of 172 countries. There are nine national parks and 46 natural parks in France, with the government planning to convert 20% of its Exclusive economic zone into a Marine protected area by 2020. A regional nature park (parc naturel régional|links=no or PNR) is a public establishment in France between local authorities and the national government covering an inhabited rural area of outstanding beauty, to protect the scenery and heritage as well as setting up sustainable economic development in the area. A PNR sets goals and guidelines for managed human habitation, sustainable economic development and protection of the natural environment based on each park's unique landscape and heritage. The parks foster ecological research programs and public education in the natural sciences. there are 54 PNRs in France.

Administrative divisions

The French Republic is divided into 18 regions (located in Europe and overseas), five overseas collectivities, one overseas territory, one special collectivity – New Caledonia and one uninhabited island directly under the authority of the Minister of Overseas France – Clipperton.

Regions

Since 2016 France is mainly divided into 18 administrative regions: 13 regions in metropolitan France (including the territorial collectivity of Corsica), and five located overseas. The regions are further subdivided into 101 departments, which are numbered mainly alphabetically. This number is used in postal codes and was formerly used on vehicle number plates. Among the 101 departments of France, five (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion) are in overseas regions (ROMs) that are also simultaneously overseas departments (DOMs), enjoy exactly the same status as metropolitan departments and are an integral part of the European Union.

The 101 departments are subdivided into 335 arrondissements, which are, in turn, subdivided into 2,054 cantons. These cantons are then divided into 36,658 communes, which are municipalities with an elected municipal council. Three communes—Paris, Lyon and Marseille—are subdivided into 45 municipal arrondissements.

The regions, departments and communes are all known as territorial collectivities, meaning they possess local assemblies as well as an executive. Arrondissements and cantons are merely administrative divisions. However, this was not always the case. Until 1940, the arrondissements were territorial collectivities with an elected assembly, but these were suspended by the Vichy regime and definitely abolished by the Fourth Republic in 1946.

Overseas territories and collectivities

In addition to the 18 regions and 101 departments, the French Republic has five overseas collectivities (French Polynesia, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna), one sui generis collectivity (New Caledonia), one overseas territory (French Southern and Antarctic Lands), and one island possession in the Pacific Ocean (Clipperton Island).

Overseas collectivities and territories form part of the French Republic, but do not form part of the European Union or its fiscal area (with the exception of St. Bartelemy, which seceded from Guadeloupe in 2007). The Pacific Collectivities (COMs) of French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia continue to use the CFP franc whose value is strictly linked to that of the euro. In contrast, the five overseas regions used the French franc and now use the euro.

Politics

Government

The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic with strong democratic traditions. The Constitution of the Fifth Republic was approved by referendum on 28 September 1958. It greatly strengthened the authority of the executive in relation to Parliament. The executive branch itself has two leaders. The president of the Republic, currently Emmanuel Macron, is the head of state, elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year term (formerly 7 years). The prime minister, currently Jean Castex, is the head of government, appointed by the president of the Republic to lead the Government of France.

The French Parliament is a bicameral legislature comprising a National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) and a Senate. The National Assembly deputies represent local constituencies and are directly elected for 5-year terms. The Assembly has the power to dismiss the government; thus the majority in the Assembly determines the choice of government. Senators are chosen by an electoral college for 6-year terms (originally 9-year terms); one half of the seats are submitted to election every 3 years.

The Senate's legislative powers are limited; in the event of disagreement between the two chambers, the National Assembly has the final say. The Government has a strong influence in shaping the agenda of Parliament.

Until World War II, Radicals were a strong political force in France, embodied by the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party which was the most important party of the Third Republic. Since World War II, they were marginalized while French politics became characterized by two politically opposed groupings: one left-wing, centred on the French Section of the Workers' International and its successor the Socialist Party (since 1969); and the other right-wing, centred on the Gaullist Party, whose name changed over time to the Rally of the French People (1947), the Union of Democrats for the Republic (1958), the Rally for the Republic (1976), the Union for a Popular Movement (2007) and The Republicans (since 2015). In the 2017 presidential and legislative elections, radical centrist party En Marche! became the dominant force, overtaking both Socialists and Republicans.

As of 2017, voter turnout was 75 percent during recent elections, higher than the OECD average of 68 percent.

Law

France uses a civil legal system, wherein law arises primarily from written statutes; judges are not to make law, but merely to interpret it (though the amount of judicial interpretation in certain areas makes it equivalent to case law in a common law system). Basic principles of the rule of law were laid in the Napoleonic Code (which was, in turn, largely based on the royal law codified under Louis XIV). In agreement with the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, law should only prohibit actions detrimental to society. As Guy Canivet, first president of the Court of Cassation, wrote about the management of prisons: Freedom is the rule, and its restriction is the exception; any restriction of Freedom must be provided for by Law and must follow the principles of necessity and proportionality. That is, Law should lay out prohibitions only if they are needed, and if the inconveniences caused by this restriction do not exceed the inconveniences that the prohibition is supposed to remedy.

French law is divided into two principal areas: private law and public law. Private law includes, in particular, civil law and criminal law. Public law includes, in particular, administrative law and constitutional law. However, in practical terms, French law comprises three principal areas of law: civil law, criminal law, and administrative law. Criminal laws can only address the future and not the past (criminal ex post facto laws are prohibited). While administrative law is often a subcategory of civil law in many countries, it is completely separated in France and each body of law is headed by a specific supreme court: ordinary courts (which handle criminal and civil litigation) are headed by the Court of Cassation and administrative courts are headed by the Council of State.

To be applicable, every law must be officially published in the Journal officiel de la République française.

France does not recognise religious law as a motivation for the enactment of prohibitions; it has long abolished blasphemy laws and sodomy laws (the latter in 1791). However, "offences against public decency" (contraires aux bonnes mœurs) or disturbing public order (trouble à l'ordre public) have been used to repress public expressions of homosexuality or street prostitution. Since 1999, civil unions for homosexual couples are permitted, and since 2013, same-sex marriage and LGBT adoption are legal. Laws prohibiting discriminatory speech in the press are as old as 1881. Some consider hate speech laws in France to be too broad or severe, undermining freedom of speech.

France has laws against racism and antisemitism, while the 1990 Gayssot Act prohibits Holocaust denial.

Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed by the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State is the basis for laïcité (state secularism): the state does not formally recognize any religion, except in Alsace-Moselle. Nonetheless, it does recognize religious associations. The Parliament has listed many religious movements as dangerous cults since 1995, and has banned wearing conspicuous religious symbols in schools since 2004. In 2010, it banned the wearing of face-covering Islamic veils in public; human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch described the law as discriminatory towards Muslims. However, it is supported by most of the population.

Foreign relations

France is a founding member of the United Nations and serves as one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto rights. In 2015, France was described as being "the best networked state in the world", because it is a country that "is member of more multi-lateral organisations than any other country".

France is a member of the G8, World Trade Organization (WTO), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Indian Ocean Commission (COI). It is an associate member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and a leading member of the International Francophone Organisation (OIF) of 84 fully or partly French-speaking countries.

As a significant hub for international relations, France hosts the second largest assembly of diplomatic missions in the world and the headquarters of international organisations including the OECD, UNESCO, Interpol, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and la Francophonie.

Postwar French foreign policy has been largely shaped by membership of the European Union, of which it was a founding member. Since the 1960s, France has developed close ties with reunified Germany to become the most influential driving force of the EU. In the 1960s, France sought to exclude the British from the European unification process, seeking to build its own standing in continental Europe. However, since 1904, France has maintained an "Entente cordiale" with the United Kingdom, and there has been a strengthening of links between the countries, especially militarily.

France is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), but under President de Gaulle, it excluded itself from the joint military command to protest the Special Relationship between the United States and Britain and to preserve the independence of French foreign and security policies. However, as a result of Nicolas Sarkozy's pro-American politics (much criticised in France by the leftists and by a part of the right), France re-joined the NATO joint military command on 4 April 2009.

In the early 1990s, the country drew considerable criticism from other nations for its underground nuclear tests in French Polynesia. France vigorously opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, straining bilateral relations with the United States and the United Kingdom.

France retains strong political and economic influence in its former African colonies (Françafrique) and has supplied economic aid and troops for peacekeeping missions in Ivory Coast and Chad. Recently, after the unilateral declaration of independence of Northern Mali by the Tuareg MNLA and the subsequent regional Northern Mali conflict with several Islamist groups including Ansar Dine and MOJWA, France and other African states intervened to help the Malian Army to retake control.

In 2017, France was the fourth-largest donor (in absolute terms) of development aid in the world, behind the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. This represents 0.43% of its GNP, the 12th highest among the OECD. The organisation managing the French help is the French Development Agency, which finances primarily humanitarian projects in sub-Saharan Africa. The main goals of this support are "developing infrastructure, access to health care and education, the implementation of appropriate economic policies and the consolidation of the rule of law and democracy".

Military

The French Armed Forces (Forces armées françaises) are the military and paramilitary forces of France, under the President of the Republic as supreme commander. They consist of the French Army (Armée de Terre), French Navy (Marine Nationale, formerly called Armée de Mer), the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l』Espace), and the Military Police called National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie nationale), which also fulfils civil police duties in the rural areas of France. Together they are among the largest armed forces in the world and the largest in the EU. According to a 2018 study by Crédit Suisse, the French Armed Forces are ranked as the world's sixth-most powerful military, and the most powerful in Europe, only behind Russia.

While the Gendarmerie is an integral part of the French armed forces (gendarmes are career soldiers), and therefore under the purview of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, it is operationally attached to the Ministry of the Interior as far as its civil police duties are concerned.

When acting as general purpose police force, the Gendarmerie encompasses the counter terrorist units of the Parachute Intervention Squadron of the National Gendarmerie (Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), the Search Sections of the National Gendarmerie (Sections de Recherche de la Gendarmerie Nationale), responsible for criminal enquiries, and the Mobile Brigades of the National Gendarmerie (Brigades mobiles de la Gendarmerie Nationale, or in short Gendarmerie mobile) which have the task to maintain public order.

The following special units are also part of the Gendarmerie: the Republican Guard (Garde républicaine) which protects public buildings hosting major French institutions, the Maritime Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie maritime) serving as Coast Guard, the Provost Service (Prévôté), acting as the Military Police branch of the Gendarmerie.

As far as the French intelligence units are concerned, the Directorate-General for External Security (Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure) is considered to be a component of the Armed Forces under the authority of the Ministry of Defense. The other, the Central Directorate for Interior Intelligence (Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur) is a division of the National Police Force (Direction générale de la Police Nationale), and therefore reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior. There has been no national conscription since 1997.

France has a special military corps, the French Foreign Legion, founded in 1830, which consists of foreign nationals from over 140 countries who are willing to serve in the French Armed Forces and become French citizens after the end of their service period. The only other countries having similar units are Spain (the Spanish Foreign Legion, called Tercio, was founded in 1920) and Luxembourg (foreigners can serve in the National Army provided they speak Luxembourgish).

France is a permanent member of the Security Council of the UN, and a recognised nuclear state since 1960. France has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. France's annual military expenditure in 2018 was US$63.8 billion, or 2.3% of its GDP, making it the fifth biggest military spender in the world after the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, and India.

French nuclear deterrence, (formerly known as "Force de Frappe"), relies on complete independence. The current French nuclear force consists of four Triomphant class submarines equipped with submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In addition to the submarine fleet, it is estimated that France has about 60 ASMP medium-range air-to-ground missiles with nuclear warheads, of which around 50 are deployed by the Air and Space Force using the Mirage 2000N long-range nuclear strike aircraft, while around 10 are deployed by the French Navy's Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM) attack aircraft, which operate from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The new Rafale F3 aircraft will gradually replace all Mirage 2000N and SEM in the nuclear strike role with the improved ASMP-A missile with a nuclear warhead.

France has major military industries with one of the largest aerospace industries in the world. Its industries have produced such equipment as the Rafale fighter, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the Exocet missile and the Leclerc tank among others. Despite withdrawing from the Eurofighter project, France is actively investing in European joint projects such as the Eurocopter Tiger, multipurpose frigates, the UCAV demonstrator nEUROn and the Airbus A400M. France is a major arms seller, with most of its arsenal's designs available for the export market with the notable exception of nuclear-powered devices.

France has consistently developed its cybersecurity capabilities, which are regularly ranked as some of the most robust of any nation of the world.

The Bastille Day military parade held in Paris each 14 July for France's national day, called Bastille Day in English-speaking countries (referred to in France as Fête nationale), is the oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe.

Other smaller parades are organised across the country.

Government finance

The Government of France has run a budget deficit each year since the early 1970s. , French government debt levels reached 2.2 trillion euros, the equivalent of 96.4% of French GDP. In late 2012, credit rating agencies warned that growing French Government debt levels risked France's AAA credit rating, raising the possibility of a future downgrade and subsequent higher borrowing costs for the French authorities.

However, in July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the French government issued 10-years bonds which had negative interest rates, for the first time in its history. France also possesses in 2020 the fourth-largest gold reserves in the world.

Economy

A member of the Group of Seven (formerly Group of Eight) leading industrialized countries, , it is ranked as the world's tenth largest and the EU's second largest economy by purchasing power parity. France joined 11 other EU members to launch the euro in 1999, with euro coins and banknotes completely replacing the French franc (₣) in 2002.

France has a diversified economy, that is dominated by the service sector (which represented in 2017 78.8% of its GDP), whilst the industrial sector accounted for 19.5% of its GDP and the primary sector accounted for the remaining 1.7%. The fifth largest trading nation in the world (and second in Europe after Germany). It is the third largest manufacturing country in Europe behind Germany and Italy. France is also the most visited destination in the world, as well the European Union's leading agricultural power.

France was in 2019 the largest Foreign Direct Investment recipient in Europe, Europe's second largest spender in Research and development, ranked among the 10 most innovative countries in the world by the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index, as well as the 15th most competitive nation globally, according to the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report (up 2 notches compared to 2018).

According to the IMF, in 2020, France was the world's 20th country by GDP per capita with $39,257 per inhabitant. In 2019, France was listed on the United Nations's Human Development Index with a value of 0.901 (indicating very high human development) and 23rd on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2019.

In 2018, France was the 5th largest trading nation in the world, as well as the second-largest trading nation in Europe (after Germany).

Financial services, banking and the insurance sector are an important part of the economy. Three largest financial institutions cooperatively owned by their customers are located in France. The Paris stock exchange (links=no|La Bourse de Paris) is an old institution, created by Louis XV in 1724. In 2000, the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels merged into Euronext. In 2007, Euronext merged with the New York stock exchange to form NYSE Euronext, the world's largest stock exchange. Euronext Paris, the French branch of the NYSE Euronext group is Europe's 2nd largest stock exchange market, behind the London Stock Exchange.

French companies have maintained key positions in the insurance and banking industries: AXA was in 2019 the world's third largest insurance company by total non banking assets. The leading French banks are BNP Paribas and the Crédit Agricole, both ranking among the top 10 largest banks by assets according to a 2020 S&P Global Market Intelligence report. According to the same source, Société Générale and Groupe BPCE were in 2020 the world's 17th and 19th largest banks, respectively.

France is a member of the Eurozone (around 330 million consumers) which is part of the European Single Market (more than 500 million consumers). Several domestic commercial policies are determined by agreements among European Union (EU) members and by EU legislation. France introduced the common European currency, the Euro in 2002.

Agriculture

France has historically been a large producer of agricultural products. Extensive tracts of fertile land, the application of modern technology, and EU subsidies have combined to make France the leading agricultural producer and exporter in Europe (representing 20% of the EU's agricultural production) and the world's third biggest exporter of agricultural products.

Wheat, poultry, dairy, beef, and pork, as well as internationally recognized processed foods are the primary French agricultural exports. Rosé wines are primarily consumed within the country, but Champagne and Bordeaux wines are major exports, being known worldwide. EU agriculture subsidies to France have decreased in recent years but still amounted to $8 billion in 2007. That same year, France sold 33.4 billion euros of transformed agricultural products. France produces rum via sugar cane-based distilleries almost all of which are located in overseas territories such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Réunion. Agriculture is an important sector of France's economy: 3.8% of the active population is employed in agriculture, whereas the total agri-food industry made up 4.2% of French GDP in 2005.

Tourism

With 89 million international tourist arrivals in 2018, France is ranked as the first tourist destination in the world, ahead of Spain (83 million) and the United States (80 million). It is third in income from tourism due to shorter duration of visits. The most popular tourist sites include (annual visitors): Eiffel Tower (6.2 million), Château de Versailles (2.8 million), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (2 million), Pont du Gard (1.5 million), Arc de Triomphe (1.2 million), Mont Saint-Michel (1 million), Sainte-Chapelle (683,000), Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg (549,000), Puy de Dôme (500,000), Musée Picasso (441,000), and Carcassonne (362,000).

Paris region

France, especially Paris, has some of the world's largest and most renowned museums, including the Louvre, which is the most visited art museum in the world (5.7 million), the Musée d'Orsay (2.1 million), mostly devoted to Impressionism, the Musée de l'Orangerie (1.02 million), which is home to eight large Water Lily murals by Claude Monet, as well as the Centre Georges Pompidou (1.2 million), dedicated to contemporary art. Disneyland Paris is Europe's most popular theme park, with 15 million combined visitors to the resort's Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park in 2009.

French Riviera

With more than 10 millions tourists a year, the French Riviera (French: Côte d'Azur), in Southeast France, is the second leading tourist destination in the country, after the Paris region. It benefits from 300 days of sunshine per year, of coastline and beaches, 18 golf courses, 14 ski resorts and 3,000 restaurants. Each year the Côte d'Azur hosts 50% of the world's superyacht fleet.

Châteaux

With 6 millions tourists a year, the castles of the Loire Valley (French: châteaux) and the Loire Valley itself are the third leading tourist destination in France; this World Heritage site is noteworthy for its architectural heritage, in its historic towns but in particular its castles, such as the Châteaux d'Amboise, de Chambord, d'Ussé, de Villandry, Chenonceau and Montsoreau. The Château de Chantilly, Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte, all three located near Paris, are also visitor attractions.

Other protected areas

France has 37 sites inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage List and features cities of high cultural interest, beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, as well as rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity (green tourism). Small and picturesque French villages are promoted through the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (literally "The Most Beautiful Villages of France"). The "Remarkable Gardens" label is a list of the over 200 gardens classified by the Ministry of Culture. This label is intended to protect and promote remarkable gardens and parks. France attracts many religious pilgrims on their way to St. James, or to Lourdes, a town in the Hautes-Pyrénées that hosts several million visitors a year.

Energy

Électricité de France (EDF), the main electricity generation and distribution company in France, is also one of the world's largest producers of electricity. In 2018, it produced around 20% of the European Union's electricity, primarily from nuclear power. France is the smallest emitter of carbon dioxide among the G8, due to its heavy investment in nuclear power. , 72% of the electricity produced by France is generated by 58 nuclear power plants. In this context, renewable energies are having difficulty taking off. France also uses hydroelectric dams to produce electricity, such as the Eguzon dam, Étang de Soulcem and Lac de Vouglans.

Transport

The railway network of France, which stretches is the second most extensive in Western Europe after that of Germany. It is operated by the SNCF, and high-speed trains include the Thalys, the Eurostar and TGV, which travels at in commercial use. The Eurostar, along with the Eurotunnel Shuttle, connects with the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel. Rail connections exist to all other neighboring countries in Europe, except Andorra. Intra-urban connections are also well developed with both underground services (Paris, Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes) and tramway services (Nantes, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Montpellier...) complementing bus services.

There are approximately of serviceable roadway in France, ranking it the most extensive network of the European continent. The Paris region is enveloped with the most dense network of roads and highways that connect it with virtually all parts of the country. French roads also handle substantial international traffic, connecting with cities in neighboring Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Andorra and Monaco. There is no annual registration fee or road tax; however, usage of the mostly privately owned motorways is through tolls except in the vicinity of large communes. The new car market is dominated by domestic brands such as Renault, Peugeot and Citroën. France possesses the Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest bridge, and has built many important bridges such as the Pont de Normandie. Diesel and gasoline fuelled cars and lorries cause a large part of the country's air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

There are 464 airports in France. Charles de Gaulle Airport, located in the vicinity of Paris, is the largest and busiest airport in the country, handling the vast majority of popular and commercial traffic and connecting Paris with virtually all major cities across the world. Air France is the national carrier airline, although numerous private airline companies provide domestic and international travel services. There are ten major ports in France, the largest of which is in Marseille, which also is the largest bordering the Mediterranean Sea. of waterways traverse France including the Canal du Midi, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean through the Garonne river.

Science and technology

Since the Middle Ages, France has been a major contributor to scientific and technological achievement. Around the beginning of the 11th century, Pope Sylvester II, born Gerbert d'Aurillac, reintroduced the abacus and armillary sphere, and introduced Arabic numerals and clocks to Northern and Western Europe. The University of Paris, founded in the mid-12th century, is still one of the most important universities in the Western world. In the 17th century, mathematician René Descartes defined a method for the acquisition of scientific knowledge, while Blaise Pascal became famous for his work on probability and fluid mechanics. They were both key figures of the Scientific Revolution, which blossomed in Europe during this period. The Academy of Sciences was founded by Louis XIV to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is one of the earliest academies of sciences.

The Age of Enlightenment was marked by the work of biologist Buffon and chemist Lavoisier, who discovered the role of oxygen in combustion, while Diderot and D'Alembert published the Encyclopédie, which aimed to give access to "useful knowledge" to the people, a knowledge that they can apply to their everyday life. With the Industrial Revolution, the 19th century saw spectacular scientific developments in France with scientists such as Augustin Fresnel, founder of modern optics, Sadi Carnot who laid the foundations of thermodynamics, and Louis Pasteur, a pioneer of microbiology. Other eminent French scientists of the 19th century have their names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

Famous French scientists of the 20th century include the mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré, physicists Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie, who remained famous for their work on radioactivity, the physicist Paul Langevin and virologist Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of HIV AIDS. Hand transplantation was developed on 23 September 1998 in Lyon by a team assembled from different countries around the world including Jean-Michel Dubernard who, shortly thereafter, performed the first successful double hand transplant. Telesurgery was developed by Jacques Marescaux and his team on 7 September 2001 across the Atlantic Ocean (New-York-Strasbourg, Lindbergh Operation). A face transplant was first done on 27 November 2005 by Dr. Bernard Devauchelle.

France was the fourth country to achieve nuclear capability and has the third largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world. It is also a leader in civilian nuclear technology. France was the third nation, after the former USSR and the United States, to launch its own space satellite and remains the biggest contributor to the European Space Agency (ESA). The European Airbus, formed from the French group Aérospatiale along with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA), designs and develops civil and military aircraft as well as communications systems, missiles, space rockets, helicopters, satellites, and related systems. France also hosts major international research instruments such as the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility or the Institut Laue–Langevin and remains a major member of CERN. It also owns Minatec, Europe's leading nanotechnology research center.

The SNCF, the French national railroad company, has developed the TGV, a high speed train which holds a series of world speed records. The TGV has been the fastest wheeled train in commercial use since reaching a speed of on 3 April 2007. Western Europe is now serviced by a network of TGV lines.

The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) has been ranked by the Nature Index 2020 as the fourth institution with highest share of articles published in scientific journals in the world. France itself was the 6th nation globally with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2020, which is valid for the calendar year 2019.

, 69 French people have been awarded a Nobel Prize and 12 have received the Fields Medal.

Demographics

With an estimated May 2021 population of 67.413 million people, France is the 20th most populous country in the world, the third-most populous in Europe (after Russia and Germany), and the second most populous in the European Union (after Germany).

France is an outlier among developed countries in general, and European countries in particular, in having a relatively high rate of natural population growth: by birth rates alone, it was responsible for almost all natural population growth in the European Union in 2006. Between 2006 and 2016, France saw the second highest overall increase in population in the EU, and was one of only four EU countries where natural births accounted for most population growth. This was the highest rate since the end of the baby boom in 1973, and coincides with the rise of the total fertility rate from a nadir of 1.7 in 1994 to 2.0 in 2010.

the fertility rate declined slightly to 1.84 children per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1, and considerably below the high of 4.41 in 1800. France's fertility rate and crude birth rate nonetheless remain among the highest in the EU. However, like many developed nations, France's population is aging; the average age is 41.7 years, while about a fifth of French people are 65 or over. Average life expectancy at birth is 82.7 years, the 12th highest in the world.

From 2006 to 2011 population growth averaged 0.6 percent per year; since 2011, annual growth has been between 0.4 and 0.5 percent annually. Immigrants are major contributors to this trend; in 2010, 27 percent of newborns in metropolitan France had at least one foreign-born parent and 24 percent had at least one parent born outside of Europe (excluding French overseas territories).

Ethnic groups

Most French people are of Celtic (Gauls) origin, with an admixture of Italic (Romans) and Germanic (Franks) groups. Different regions reflect this diverse heritage, with notable Breton elements in western France, Aquitanian in the southwest, Scandinavian in the northwest, Alemannic in the northeast and Ligurian in the southeast.

Large-scale immigration over the last century and a half has led to a more multicultural society. In 2004, the Institut Montaigne estimated that within Metropolitan France, 51 million people were White (85% of the population), 6 million were Northwest African (10%), 2 million were Black (3.3%), and 1 million were Asian (1.7%).

Since the French Revolution, and as codified in the 1958 French Constitution, it is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and ancestry. In 2008, the TeO ("Trajectories and origins") poll conducted jointly by INED and the French National Institute of Statistics estimated that 5 million people were of Italian ancestry (the largest immigrant community), followed by 3 million to 6 million of Northwest African ancestry, 2.5 million of Sub-Saharan African origin, 500,000 ethnic Armenian, and 200,000 people of Turkish ancestry. There are also sizable minorities of other European ethnic groups, namely Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Greek. France has a significant Gitan (Romani) population, numbering between 20,000 and 400,000. Many foreign Roma are expelled back to Bulgaria and Romania frequently.

It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population is descended at least partially from the different waves of immigration the country has received since the early 20th century; between 1921 and 1935 alone, about 1.1 million net immigrants came to France. The next largest wave came in the 1960s, when around 1.6 million pieds noirs returned to France following the independence of its Northwest African possessions, Algeria and Morocco. They were joined by numerous former colonial subjects from North and West Africa, as well as numerous European immigrants from Spain and Portugal.

France remains a major destination for immigrants, accepting about 200,000 legal immigrants annually. In 2005, it was Western Europe's leading recipient of asylum seekers, with an estimated 50,000 applications (albeit 15% decrease from 2004). In 2010, France received about 48,100 asylum applications—placing it among the top five asylum recipients in the world and in subsequent years it saw the number of applications increase, ultimately doubling to 100,412 in 2017. The European Union allows free movement between the member states, although France established controls to curb Eastern European migration, and immigration remains a contentious political issue.

In 2008, the INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) estimated that the total number of foreign-born immigrants was around 5 million (8% of the population), while their French-born descendants numbered 6.5 million, or 11% of the population. Thus, nearly a fifth of the country's population were either first or second-generation immigrants, of which more than 5 million were of European origin and 4 million of Maghrebi ancestry. In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137,000 persons, mostly from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey.

In 2014, the INSEE published a study which reported doubling of the number of Spanish immigrants, Portuguese and Italians in France between 2009 and 2012. According to the French Institute, this increase resulting from the financial crisis that hit several European countries in that period, has pushed up the number of Europeans installed in France. Statistics on Spanish immigrants in France show a growth of 107 percent between 2009 and 2012, i.e. in this period went from 5300 to 11,000 people. Of the total of 229,000 foreigners who were in France in 2012, nearly 8% were Portuguese, 5% British, 5% Spanish, 4% Italians, 4% Germans, 3% Romanians, and 3% Belgians.

Major cities

France is a highly urbanized country, with its largest cities (in terms of metropolitan area population in 2016) being Paris (12,568,755 inh.), Lyon (2,310,850), Marseille (1,756,296), Toulouse (1,345,343), Bordeaux (1,232,550), Lille (1,187,824), Nice (1,006,402), Nantes (961,521), Strasbourg (785,839) and Rennes (727,357). (Note: There are significant differences between the metropolitan population figures just cited and those in the following table, which indicates the population of the communes). Rural flight was a perennial political issue throughout most of the 20th century.

Language

According to Article 2 of the Constitution, the official language of France is French, a Romance language derived from Latin. Since 1635, the Académie française has been France's official authority on the French language, although its recommendations carry no legal weight. There are also regional languages spoken in France, such as Occitan, Breton, Catalan, Flemish (Dutch dialect), Alsatian (German dialect), Basque, and Corsican. Italian was the official language of Corsica until 9 May 1859.

The Government of France does not regulate the choice of language in publications by individuals but the use of French is required by law in commercial and workplace communications. In addition to mandating the use of French in the territory of the Republic, the French government tries to promote French in the European Union and globally through institutions such as the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. The perceived threat from anglicisation has prompted efforts to safeguard the position of the French language in France. Besides French, there exist 77 vernacular minority languages of France, eight spoken in French metropolitan territory and 69 in the French overseas territories.

From the 17th to the mid-20th century, French served as the pre-eminent international language of diplomacy and international affairs as well as a lingua franca among the educated classes of Europe. The dominant position of French language in international affairs was overtaken by English, since the emergence of the United States as a major power.

For most of the time in which French served as an international lingua franca, it was not the native language of most Frenchmen: a report in 1794 conducted by Henri Grégoire found that of the country's 25 million people, only three million spoke French natively; the rest spoke one of the country's many regional languages, such as Alsatian, Breton or Occitan. Through the expansion of public education, in which French was the sole language of instruction, as well as other factors such as increased urbanisation and the rise of mass communication, French gradually came to be adopted by virtually the entire population, a process not completed until the 20th century.

As a result of France's extensive colonial ambitions between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to the Americas, Africa, Polynesia, South-East Asia, as well as the Caribbean. French is the second most studied foreign language in the world after English, and is a lingua franca in some regions, notably in Africa. The legacy of French as a living language outside Europe is mixed: it is nearly extinct in some former French colonies (The Levant, South and Southeast Asia), while creoles and pidgins based on French have emerged in the French departments in the West Indies and the South Pacific (French Polynesia). On the other hand, many former French colonies have adopted French as an official language, and the total number of French speakers is increasing, especially in Africa.

It is estimated that between 300 million and 500 million people worldwide can speak French, either as a mother tongue or a second language.

According to the 2007 Adult Education survey, part of a project by the European Union and carried in France by the INSEE and based on a sample of 15,350 persons, French was the native language of 87.2% of the total population, or roughly 55.81 million people, followed by Arabic (3.6%, 2.3 million), Portuguese (1.5%, 960,000), Spanish (1.2%, 770,000) and Italian (1.0%, 640,000). Native speakers of other languages made up the remaining 5.2% of the population.

Religion

France is a secular country in which freedom of religion is a constitutional right. French religious policy is based on the concept of laïcité, a strict separation of church and state under which public life is kept completely secular.

According to a survey held in 2016 by Institut Montaigne and Institut français d'opinion publique (IFOP), 51.1% of the total population of France was Christian, 39.6% had no religion (atheism or agnosticism), 5.6% were Muslims, 2.5% were followers of other faiths, and the remaining 0.4% were undecided about their faith. Estimates of the number of Muslims in France vary widely. In 2003, the French Ministry of the Interior estimated the total number of people of Muslim background to be between 5 and 6 million (8–10%). The current Jewish community in France is the largest in Europe and the third-largest in the world after Israel and the United States, ranging between 480,000 and 600,000, about 0.8% of the population as of 2016.

Catholicism has been the predominant religion in France for more than a millennium, though it is not as actively practised today as it was. Among the 47,000 religious buildings in France, 94% are Roman Catholic. During the French Revolution, activists conducted a brutal campaign of de-Christianisation, ending the Catholic Church as the state religion. In some cases clergy and churches were attacked, with iconoclasm stripping the churches of statues and ornaments. After alternating between royal and secular republican governments during the 19th century, in 1905 France passed the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, which established the principle of laïcité.

To this day, the government is prohibited from recognizing any specific right to a religious community (except for legacy statutes like those of military chaplains and the local law in Alsace-Moselle). It recognizes religious organisations according to formal legal criteria that do not address religious doctrine. Conversely, religious organisations are expected to refrain from intervening in policy-making. Certain groups, such as Scientology, Children of God, the Unification Church, and the Order of the Solar Temple are considered cults ("sectes" in French), and therefore do not have the same status as recognized religions in France. Secte is considered a pejorative term in France.

Health

The French health care system is one of universal health care largely financed by government national health insurance. In its 2000 assessment of world health care systems, the World Health Organization found that France provided the "close to best overall health care" in the world. The French healthcare system was ranked first worldwide by the World Health Organization in 1997. In 2011, France spent 11.6% of GDP on health care, or US$4,086 per capita, a figure much higher than the average spent by countries in Europe but less than in the United States. Approximately 77% of health expenditures are covered by government funded agencies.

Care is generally free for people affected by chronic diseases (affections de longues durées) such as cancer, AIDS or cystic fibrosis. Average life expectancy at birth is 78 years for men and 85 years for women, one of the highest of the European Union and the World. There are 3.22 physicians for every 1000 inhabitants in France, and average health care spending per capita was US$4,719 in 2008.

, approximately 140,000 inhabitants (0.4%) of France are living with HIV/AIDS.

Even if the French have the reputation of being one of the thinnest people in developed countries,

France—like other rich countries—faces an increasing and recent epidemic of obesity, due mostly to the replacement in French eating habits of traditional healthy French cuisine by junk food. The French obesity rate is still far below that of the United States—currently equal to American rate in the 1970s—and is still the lowest of Europe. Authorities now regard obesity as one of the main public health issues and fight it fiercely. Rates of childhood obesity are slowing in France, while continuing to grow in other countries.

Education

In 1802, Napoleon created the lycée, the second and final stage of secondary education that prepares students for higher education studies or a profession. Nevertheless, Jules Ferry is considered the father of the French modern school, leading reforms in the late 19th century that established free, secular, and compulsory education (currently mandatory until the age of 16).

French education is centralized and divided into three stages: Primary, secondary, and higher education. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, ranked France's education as below OECD average in 2018. Primary and secondary education are predominantly public, run by the Ministry of National Education. While training and remuneration of teachers and the curriculum are the responsibility of the state centrally, the management of primary and secondary schools is overseen by local authorities. Primary education comprises two phases, nursery school (école maternelle) and elementary school (école élémentaire). Nursery school aims to stimulate the minds of very young children and promote their socialization and development of a basic grasp of language and number. Around the age of six, children transfer to elementary school, whose primary objectives are learning about writing, arithmetic and citizenship. Secondary education also consists of two phases. The first is delivered through colleges (collège) and leads to the national certificate (Diplôme national du brevet). The second is offered in high schools (lycée) and finishes in national exams leading to a baccalaureate (baccalauréat, available in professional, technical or general flavors) or certificate of professional competence (certificat d'aptitude professionelle).

Higher education is divided between public universities and the prestigious and selective Grandes écoles, such as Sciences Po Paris for Political studies, HEC Paris for Economics, Polytechnique, the École des hautes études en sciences sociales for Social studies and the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris that produce high-profile engineers, or the École nationale d'administration for careers in the Grands Corps of the state. The Grandes écoles have been criticized for alleged elitism, producing many if not most of France's high-ranking civil servants, CEOs, and politicians.

Culture

France has been a centre of Western cultural development for centuries. Many French artists have been among the most renowned of their time; France is still recognised in the world for its rich cultural tradition.

The successive political regimes have always promoted artistic creation. The creation of the Ministry of Culture in 1959 helped preserve the cultural heritage of the country and make it available to the public. The Ministry of Culture has been very active since its creation, granting subsidies to artists, promoting French culture in the world, supporting festivals and cultural events, protecting historical monuments. The French government also succeeded in maintaining a cultural exception to defend audiovisual products made in the country.

France receives the highest number of tourists per year, largely thanks to the numerous cultural establishments and historical buildings implanted all over the territory. It counts 1,200 museums welcoming more than 50 million people annually. The most important cultural sites are run by the government, for instance through the public agency Centre des monuments nationaux, which is responsible for approximately 85 national historical monuments. The 43,180 buildings protected as historical monuments include mainly residences (many castles) and religious buildings (cathedrals, basilicas, churches), but also statues, memorials and gardens. The UNESCO inscribed 45 sites in France on the World Heritage List.

Art

The origins of French art were very much influenced by Flemish art and by Italian art at the time of the Renaissance. Jean Fouquet, the most famous medieval French painter, is said to have been the first to travel to Italy and experience the Early Renaissance at first hand. The Renaissance painting School of Fontainebleau was directly inspired by Italian painters such as Primaticcio and Rosso Fiorentino, who both worked in France. Two of the most famous French artists of the time of Baroque era, Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, lived in Italy.

The 17th century was the period when French painting became prominent and individualised itself through classicism. Prime Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert founded in 1648 the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture under Louis XIV to protect these artists; in 1666 he also created the still-active French Academy in Rome to have direct relations with Italian artists.

French artists developed the rococo style in the 18th century, as a more intimate imitation of old baroque style, the works of the court-endorsed artists Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard being the most representative in the country. The French Revolution brought great changes, as Napoleon favoured artists of neoclassic style such as Jacques-Louis David and the highly influential Académie des Beaux-Arts defined the style known as Academism. At this time France had become a centre of artistic creation, the first half of the 19th century being dominated by two successive movements, at first Romanticism with Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix, then Realism with Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet, a style that eventually evolved into Naturalism.

In the second part of the 19th century, France's influence over painting became even more important, with the development of new styles of painting such as Impressionism and Symbolism. The most famous impressionist painters of the period were Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir. The second generation of impressionist-style painters, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Georges Seurat, were also at the avant-garde of artistic evolutions, as well as the fauvist artists Henri Matisse, André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Cubism was developed by Georges Braque and the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, living in Paris. Other foreign artists also settled and worked in or near Paris, such as Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani and Wassily Kandinsky.

Many museums in France are entirely or partly devoted to sculptures and painting works. A huge collection of old masterpieces created before or during the 18th century are displayed in the state-owned Musée du Louvre, such as the Mona Lisa, also known as "La Joconde". While the Louvre Palace has been for a long time a museum, the Musée d'Orsay was inaugurated in 1986 in the old railway station Gare d'Orsay, in a major reorganisation of national art collections, to gather French paintings from the second part of the 19th century (mainly Impressionism and Fauvism movements). The musée d'Orsay was voted in 2018 the best museum in the world.

Modern works are presented in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which moved in 1976 to the Centre Georges Pompidou. These three state-owned museums welcome close to 17 million people a year. Other national museums hosting paintings include the Grand Palais (1.3 million visitors in 2008), but there are also many museums owned by cities, the most visited being the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (0.8 million entries in 2008), which hosts contemporary works. Outside Paris, all the large cities have a Museum of Fine Arts with a section dedicated to European and French painting. Some of the finest collections are in Lyon, Lille, Rouen, Dijon, Rennes and Grenoble.

Architecture

During the Middle Ages, many fortified castles were built by feudal nobles to mark their powers. Some French castles that survived are Chinon, Château d'Angers, the massive Château de Vincennes and the so-called Cathar castles. During this era, France had been using Romanesque architecture like most of Western Europe. Some of the greatest examples of Romanesque churches in France are the Saint Sernin Basilica in Toulouse, the largest romanesque church in Europe, and the remains of the Cluniac Abbey.

The Gothic architecture, originally named Opus Francigenum meaning "French work", was born in Île-de-France and was the first French style of architecture to be copied in all Europe. Northern France is the home of some of the most important Gothic cathedrals and basilicas, the first of these being the Saint Denis Basilica (used as the royal necropolis); other important French Gothic cathedrals are Notre-Dame de Chartres and Notre-Dame d'Amiens. The kings were crowned in another important Gothic church: Notre-Dame de Reims. Aside from churches, Gothic Architecture had been used for many religious palaces, the most important one being the Palais des Papes in Avignon.

The final victory in the Hundred Years' War marked an important stage in the evolution of French architecture. It was the time of the French Renaissance and several artists from Italy were invited to the French court; many residential palaces were built in the Loire Valley, from 1450 with as a first reference the Château de Montsoreau. Such residential castles were the Château de Chambord, the Château de Chenonceau, or the Château d'Amboise.

Following the renaissance and the end of the Middle Ages, Baroque architecture replaced the traditional Gothic style. However, in France, baroque architecture found a greater success in the secular domain than in a religious one. In the secular domain, the Palace of Versailles has many baroque features. Jules Hardouin Mansart, who designed the extensions to Versailles, was one of the most influential French architect of the baroque era; he is famous for his dome at Les Invalides. Some of the most impressive provincial baroque architecture is found in places that were not yet French such as the Place Stanislas in Nancy. On the military architectural side, Vauban designed some of the most efficient fortresses in Europe and became an influential military architect; as a result, imitations of his works can be found all over Europe, the Americas, Russia and Turkey.

After the Revolution, the Republicans favoured Neoclassicism although it was introduced in France prior to the revolution with such buildings as the Parisian Pantheon or the Capitole de Toulouse. Built during the first French Empire, the Arc de Triomphe and Sainte Marie-Madeleine represent the best example of Empire style architecture.

Under Napoleon III, a new wave of urbanism and architecture was given birth; extravagant buildings such as the neo-baroque Palais Garnier were built. The urban planning of the time was very organised and rigorous; for example, Haussmann's renovation of Paris. The architecture associated to this era is named Second Empire in English, the term being taken from the Second French Empire. At this time there was a strong Gothic resurgence across Europe and in France; the associated architect was Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. In the late 19th century, Gustave Eiffel designed many bridges, such as Garabit viaduct, and remains one of the most influential bridge designers of his time, although he is best remembered for the iconic Eiffel Tower.

In the 20th century, French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier designed several buildings in France. More recently, French architects have combined both modern and old architectural styles. The Louvre Pyramid is an example of modern architecture added to an older building. The most difficult buildings to integrate within French cities are skyscrapers, as they are visible from afar. For instance, in Paris, since 1977, new buildings had to be under . France's largest financial district is La Defense, where a significant number of skyscrapers are located. Other massive buildings that are a challenge to integrate into their environment are large bridges; an example of the way this has been done is the Millau Viaduct. Some famous modern French architects include Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault, Christian de Portzamparc or Paul Andreu.

Literature

The earliest French literature dates from the Middle Ages, when what is now known as modern France did not have a single, uniform language. There were several languages and dialects, and writers used their own spelling and grammar. Some authors of French medieval texts are unknown, such as Tristan and Iseult and Lancelot-Grail. Other authors are known, for example Chrétien de Troyes and Duke William IX of Aquitaine, who wrote in Occitan.

Much medieval French poetry and literature were inspired by the legends of the Matter of France, such as The Song of Roland and the various chansons de geste. The Roman de Renart, written in 1175 by Perrout de Saint Cloude, tells the story of the medieval character Reynard ('the Fox') and is another example of early French writing. An important 16th-century writer was François Rabelais, whose novel Gargantua and Pantagruel has remained famous and appreciated until now. Michel de Montaigne was the other major figure of the French literature during that century. His most famous work, Essais, created the literary genre of the essay. French poetry during that century was embodied by Pierre de Ronsard and Joachim du Bellay. Both writers founded the La Pléiade literary movement.

During the 17th century, Madame de La Fayette published anonymously La Princesse de Clèves, a novel that is considered to be one of the first psychological novels of all time. Jean de La Fontaine is one of the most famous fabulists of that time, as he wrote hundreds of fables, some being far more famous than others, such as The Ant and the Grasshopper. Generations of French pupils had to learn his fables, that were seen as helping teaching wisdom and common sense to the young people. Some of his verses have entered the popular language to become proverbs, such as "À l'œuvre, on connaît l'artisan."workman is known by his chips.

Jean Racine, whose incredible mastery of the alexandrine and of the French language has been praised for centuries, created plays such as Phèdre or Britannicus. He is, along with Pierre Corneille (Le Cid) and Molière, considered as one of the three great dramatists of France's golden age. Molière, who is deemed to be one of the greatest masters of comedy of the Western literature, wrote dozens of plays, including Le Misanthrope, L'Avare, Le Malade imaginaire, as well as Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. His plays have been so popular around the world that French language is sometimes dubbed as "the language of Molière" (la langue de Molière), just like English is considered as "the language of Shakespeare".

French literature and poetry flourished even more in the 18th and 19th centuries. Denis Diderot's best-known works are Jacques the Fatalist and Rameau's Nephew. He is however best known for being the main redactor of the Encyclopédie, whose aim was to sum up all the knowledge of his century (in fields such as arts, sciences, languages, and philosophy) and to present them to the people, to fight ignorance and obscurantism. During that same century, Charles Perrault was a prolific writer of famous children's fairy tales including Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard. At the start of the 19th century, symbolist poetry was an important movement in French literature, with poets such as Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé.

The 19th century saw the writings of many renowned French authors. Victor Hugo is sometimes seen as "the greatest French writer of all time" for excelling in all literary genres. The preface of his play Cromwell is considered to be the manifesto of the Romantic movement. Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles are considered as "poetic masterpieces", Hugo's verse having been compared to that of Shakespeare, Dante and Homer. His novel Les Misérables is widely seen as one of the greatest novel ever written and The Hunchback of Notre Dame has remained immensely popular.

Other major authors of that century include Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte-Cristo), Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), Émile Zola (Les Rougon-Macquart), Honoré de Balzac (La Comédie humaine), Guy de Maupassant, Théophile Gautier and Stendhal (The Red and the Black, The Charterhouse of Parma), whose works are among the most well known in France and the world. The Prix Goncourt is a French literary prize first awarded in 1903. Important writers of the 20th century include Marcel Proust, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Antoine de Saint Exupéry wrote Little Prince, which has remained popular for decades with children and adults around the world. , French authors had more Literature Nobel Prizes than those of any other nation. The first Nobel Prize in Literature was a French author, while France's latest Nobel prize in literature is Patrick Modiano, who was awarded the prize in 2014. Jean-Paul Sartre was also the first nominee in the committee's history to refuse the prize in 1964.

Philosophy

Medieval philosophy was dominated by Scholasticism until the emergence of Humanism in the Renaissance. Modern philosophy began in France in the 17th century with the philosophy of René Descartes, Blaise Pascal and Nicolas Malebranche. Descartes was the first Western philosopher since ancient times to attempt to build a philosophical system from the ground up rather than building on the work of predecessors." His Meditations on First Philosophy changed the primary object of philosophical thought and raised some of the most fundamental problems for foreigners such as Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Berkeley, and Kant.

French philosophers produced some of the most important political works of the Age of Enlightenment. In The Spirit of the Laws, Baron de Montesquieu theorised the principle of separation of powers, which has been implemented in all liberal democracies since it was first applied in the United States. Voltaire came to embody the Enlightenment with his defence of civil liberties, such as the right to a free trial and freedom of religion.

19th-century French thought was targeted at responding to the social malaise following the French Revolution. Rationalist philosophers such as Victor Cousin and Auguste Comte, who called for a new social doctrine, were opposed by reactionary thinkers such as Joseph de Maistre, Louis de Bonald and Félicité Robert de Lamennais, who blamed the rationalist rejection of traditional order. De Maistre is considered, together with the Englishman Edmund Burke, one of the founders of European conservatism, while Comte is regarded as the founder of positivism, which Émile Durkheim reformulated as a basis for social research.

In the 20th century, partly as a reaction to the perceived excesses of positivism, French spiritualism thrived with thinkers such as Henri Bergson and it influenced American pragmatism and Whitehead's version of process philosophy. Meanwhile, French epistemology became a prominent school of thought with Jules Henri Poincaré, Gaston Bachelard, Jean Cavaillès and Jules Vuillemin. Influenced by German phenomenology and existentialism, the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre gained a strong influence after World War II, and late-20th-century-France became the cradle of postmodern philosophy with Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault.

Music

France has a long and varied musical history. It experienced a golden age in the 17th century thanks to Louis XIV, who employed a number of talented musicians and composers in the royal court. The most renowned composers of this period include Marc-Antoine Charpentier, François Couperin, Michel-Richard Delalande, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Marin Marais, all of them composers at the court. After the death of the "Roi Soleil", French musical creation lost dynamism, but in the next century the music of Jean-Philippe Rameau reached some prestige, and today he is still one of the most renowned French composers. Rameau became the dominant composer of French opera and the leading French composer for the harpsichord.

French composers played an important role during the music of the 19th and early 20th century, which is considered to be the Romantic music era. Romantic music emphasised a surrender to nature, a fascination with the past and the supernatural, the exploration of unusual, strange and surprising sounds, and a focus on national identity. This period was also a golden age for operas. French composers from the Romantic era included: Hector Berlioz (best known for his Symphonie fantastique), Georges Bizet (best known for Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas), Gabriel Fauré (best known for his Pavane, Requiem, and nocturnes), Charles Gounod (best known for his Ave Maria and his opera Faust), Jacques Offenbach (best known for his 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann), Édouard Lalo (best known for his Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra and his Cello Concerto in D minor), Jules Massenet (best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty, the most frequently staged are Manon (1884) and Werther (1892)) and Camille Saint-Saëns (he has many frequently-performed works, including The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah (Opera), Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and his Symphony No. 3).

Later came precursors of modern classical music. Érik Satie was a key member of the early-20th-century Parisian avant-garde, best known for his Gymnopédies. Francis Poulenc's best known works are his piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957) and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir and orchestra. Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy are the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed. Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of atonality. The two composers invented new musical forms and new sounds. Ravel's piano compositions, such as Jeux d'eau, Miroirs, Le tombeau de Couperin and Gaspard de la nuit, demand considerable virtuosity. His mastery of orchestration is evident in the Rapsodie espagnole, Daphnis et Chloé, his arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and his orchestral work Boléro (1928). More recently, the middle of the 20th century, Maurice Ohana, Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Boulez contributed to the evolutions of contemporary classical music.

French music then followed the rapid emergence of pop and rock music at the middle of the 20th century. Although English-speaking creations achieved popularity in the country, French pop music, known as chanson française, has also remained very popular. Among the most important French artists of the century are Édith Piaf, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, Charles Aznavour and Serge Gainsbourg. Although there are very few rock bands in France compared to English-speaking countries, bands such as Noir Désir, Mano Negra, Niagara, Les Rita Mitsouko and more recently Superbus, Phoenix and Gojira, or Shaka Ponk, have reached worldwide popularity.

Other French artists with international careers have been popular in several countries, most notably female singers Dalida, Mireille Mathieu, Mylène Farmer, Alizée and Nolwenn Leroy, electronic music pioneers Jean-Michel Jarre, Laurent Garnier and Bob Sinclar, later Martin Solveig and David Guetta. In the 1990s and 2000s (decade), electronic duos Daft Punk, Justice and Air also reached worldwide popularity and contributed to the reputation of modern electronic music in the world.

Among current musical events and institutions in France, many are dedicated to classical music and operas. The most prestigious institutions are the state-owned Paris National Opera (with its two sites Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille), the Opéra National de Lyon, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. As for music festivals, there are several events organised, the most popular being Eurockéennes (a word play which sounds in French as "European"), Solidays and Rock en Seine. The Fête de la Musique, imitated by many foreign cities, was first launched by the French Government in 1982. Major music halls and venues in France include Le Zénith sites present in many cities and other places in Paris (Paris Olympia, Théâtre Mogador, Élysée Montmartre).

Cinema

France has historical and strong links with cinema, with two Frenchmen, Auguste and Louis Lumière (known as the Lumière Brothers) credited with creating cinema in 1895. The world's first female filmmaker, Alice Guy-Blaché, was also from France. Several important cinematic movements, including the late 1950s and 1960s Nouvelle Vague, began in the country. It is noted for having a strong film industry, due in part to protections afforded by the Government of France. France remains a leader in filmmaking, producing more films than any other European country. The nation also hosts the Cannes Festival, one of the most important and famous film festivals in the world.

Apart from its strong and innovative film tradition, France has also been a gathering spot for artists from across Europe and the world. For this reason, French cinema is sometimes intertwined with the cinema of foreign nations. Directors from nations such as Poland (Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Żuławski), Argentina (Gaspar Noé, Edgardo Cozarinsky), Russia (Alexandre Alexeieff, Anatole Litvak), Austria (Michael Haneke) and Georgia (Géla Babluani, Otar Iosseliani) are prominent in the ranks of French cinema. Conversely, French directors have had prolific and influential careers in other countries, such as Luc Besson, Jacques Tourneur or Francis Veber in the United States.

Although the French film market is dominated by Hollywood, France is the only nation in the world where American films make up the smallest share of total film revenues, at 50%, compared with 77% in Germany and 69% in Japan. French films account for 35% of the total film revenues of France, which is the highest percentage of national film revenues in the developed world outside the United States, compared to 14% in Spain and 8% in the UK. France is in 2013 the 2nd exporter of films in the world after the United States.

Until recently, France had for centuries been the cultural center of the world, although its dominant position has been surpassed by the United States. Subsequently, France takes steps in protecting and promoting its culture, becoming a leading advocate of the cultural exception. The nation succeeded in convincing all EU members to refuse to include culture and audiovisuals in the list of liberalised sectors of the WTO in 1993. Moreover, this decision was confirmed in a voting in the UNESCO in 2005: the principle of "cultural exception" won an overwhelming victory with 198 countries voting for it and only 2 countries, the United States and Israel, voting against.

Fashion

Fashion has been an important industry and cultural export of France since the 17th century, and modern "haute couture" originated in Paris in the 1860s. Today, Paris, along with London, Milan, and New York City, is considered one of the world's fashion capitals, and the city is home or headquarters to many of the premier fashion houses. The expression Haute couture is, in France, a legally protected name, guaranteeing certain quality standards.

The association of France with fashion and style (link=no|la mode) dates largely to the reign of Louis XIV when the luxury goods industries in France came increasingly under royal control and the French royal court became, arguably, the arbiter of taste and style in Europe. But France renewed its dominance of the high fashion (link=no|couture ) industry in the years 1860–1960 through the establishing of the great couturier houses such as Chanel, Dior, and Givenchy. The French perfume industry is world leader in its sector and is centered on the town of Grasse.

In the 1960s, the elitist "Haute couture" came under criticism from France's youth culture. In 1966, the designer Yves Saint Laurent broke with established Haute Couture norms by launching a prêt-à-porter ("ready to wear") line and expanding French fashion into mass manufacturing. With a greater focus on marketing and manufacturing, new trends were established by Sonia Rykiel, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix in the 1970s and 1980s. The 1990s saw a conglomeration of many French couture houses under luxury giants and multinationals such as LVMH.

According to 2017 data compiled by Deloitte, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH), a French brand, is the largest luxury company in the world by sales, selling more than twice the amount of its nearest competitor. Moreover, France also possesses 3 of the top 10 luxury goods companies by sales (LVMH, Kering SA, L'Oréal), more than any other country in the world.

Media

Best-selling daily national newspapers in France are Le Parisien Aujourd'hui en France (with 460,000 sold daily), Le Monde and Le Figaro, with around 300,000 copies sold daily, but also L'Équipe, dedicated to sports coverage. In the past years, free dailies made a breakthrough, with Metro, 20 Minutes and Direct Plus distributed at more than 650,000 copies respectively. However, the widest circulations are reached by regional daily Ouest France with more than 750,000 copies sold, and the 50 other regional papers have also high sales. The sector of weekly magazines is stronger and diversified with more than 400 specialized weekly magazines published in the country.

The most influential news magazines are the left-wing Le Nouvel Observateur, centrist L'Express and right-wing Le Point (more than 400.000 copies), but the highest circulation for weeklies is reached by TV magazines and by women's magazines, among them Marie Claire and ELLE, which have foreign versions. Influential weeklies also include investigative and satirical papers Le Canard Enchaîné and Charlie Hebdo, as well as Paris Match. Like in most industrialized nations, the print media have been affected by a severe crisis in the past decade. In 2008, the government launched a major initiative to help the sector reform and become financially independent, but in 2009 it had to give 600,000 euros to help the print media cope with the economic crisis, in addition to existing subsidies.

In 1974, after years of centralised monopoly on radio and television, the governmental agency ORTF was split into several national institutions, but the three already-existing TV channels and four national radio stations remained under state-control. It was only in 1981 that the government allowed free broadcasting in the territory, ending state monopoly on radio. French television was partly liberalized in the next two-decade with the creation of several commercial channels, mainly thanks to cable and satellite television. In 2005 the national service Télévision Numérique Terrestre introduced digital television all over the territory, allowing the creation of other channels.

The four existing national channels are owned by state-owned consortium France Télévisions, funded by advertising revenue and TV licence fees. Public broadcasting group Radio France run five national radio stations. Among these public media are Radio France Internationale, which broadcasts programs in French all over the world, and Franco-German TV channel TV5 Monde. In 2006, the government created global news channel France 24. Long-established TV channels TF1 (privatized in 1987), France 2 and France 3 have the highest shares, while radio stations RTL, Europe 1 and state-owned France Inter are the least listened to.

Society

According to a BBC poll in 2010, based on 29,977 responses in 28 countries, France is globally seen as a positive influence in the world's affairs: 49% have a positive view of the country's influence, whereas 19% have a negative view. The Nation Brand Index of 2008 suggested that France has the second best international reputation, only behind Germany. A global opinion poll for the BBC saw France ranked the fourth most positively viewed nation in the world (behind Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom) in 2014.

According to a poll in 2011, the French were found to have the highest level of religious tolerance and to be the country where the highest proportion of the population defines its identity primarily in term of nationality and not religion. , 75% of French had a favourable view of the United States, making France one of the most pro-American countries in the world. , the favourable view of the United States had dropped to 46%. In January 2010, the magazine International Living ranked France as "best country to live in", ahead of 193 other countries, for the fifth year running.

The OECD Better Life Index states that "France performs well in many measures of well-being relative to most other countries in the Better Life Index."

The French Revolution continues to permeate the country's collective memory. The tricolour flag of France, the anthem "La Marseillaise", and the motto Liberté, égalité, fraternité, defined in Title 1 of the Constitution as national symbols, all emerged during the cultural ferment of the early revolution, along with Marianne, a common national personification. In addition, Bastille Day, the national holiday, commemorates the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789.

A common and traditional symbol of the French people is the Gallic rooster. Its origins date back to Antiquity, since the Latin word Gallus meant both "rooster" and "inhabitant of Gaul". Then this figure gradually became the most widely shared representation of the French, used by French monarchs, then by the Revolution and under the successive republican regimes as representation of the national identity, used for some stamps and coins.

France is one of the world leaders of gender equality in the workplace: as of 2017, it has 36.8% of its corporate board seats held by women, which makes it the leader of the G20 for that metric; and was ranked in 2019 by the World Bank as one of the only 6 countries in the world where women have the same work rights as men.

France is one of the most liberal countries in the world when it comes to LGBT rights: a 2020 Pew Research Center poll found that 86% of the French think that same-sex relationships should be accepted by society, one of the highest acceptance rates in the world (comparable to that of other Western European nations). France legalized same-sex marriage and adoption in 2013. The government has used its diplomatic clout to support LGBT rights throughout the world, notably in the United Nations.

In 2020, France was ranked 5th in the Environmental Performance Index (behind the United Kingdom), out of 180 countries ranked by Yale University in that study. Being the host country of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, the French government was instrumental in securing the 2015 Paris agreement, a success that has been credited to its "openness and experience in diplomacy".

Cuisine

French cuisine is renowned for being one of the finest in the world. According to the regions, traditional recipes are different, the North of the country prefers to use butter as the preferred fat for cooking, whereas olive oil is more commonly used in the South. Moreover, each region of France has iconic traditional specialties: Cassoulet in the Southwest, Choucroute in Alsace, Quiche in the Lorraine region, Beef bourguignon in the Bourgogne, provençal Tapenade, etc. France's most renowned products are wines, including Champagne, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, and Beaujolais as well as a large variety of different cheeses, such as Camembert, Roquefort and Brie. There are more than 400 different varieties.

A meal often consists of three courses, hors d'œuvre or entrée (introductory course, sometimes soup), plat principal (main course), fromage (cheese course) or dessert, sometimes with a salad offered before the cheese or dessert. Hors d'œuvres could include terrine de saumon au basilic, lobster bisque, foie gras, French onion soup or a croque monsieur. The plat principal could include a pot au feu or steak frites. The dessert could be mille-feuille pastry, a macaron, an éclair, crème brûlée, mousse au chocolat, crêpes, or Café liégeois.

French cuisine is also regarded as a key element of the quality of life and the attractiveness of France. A French publication, the Michelin guide, awards Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a star can have dramatic effects on the success of a restaurant. By 2006, the Michelin Guide had awarded 620 stars to French restaurants, at that time more than any other country, although the guide also inspects more restaurants in France than in any other country (by 2010, Japan was awarded as many Michelin stars as France, despite having half the number of Michelin inspectors working there).

In addition to its wine tradition, France is also a major producer of beer and rum. The three main French brewing regions are Alsace (60% of national production), Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Lorraine. France produces rum via distilleries located on islands such as Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

Sports

France hosts "the world's biggest annual sporting event", the Tour de France, and other popular sports played in France include: football, judo, tennis, rugby union and pétanque. France has hosted events such as the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and will host the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The country also hosted the 1960 European Nations' Cup, UEFA Euro 1984, UEFA Euro 2016 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Stade de France in Saint-Denis is France's largest stadium and was the venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2007 Rugby World Cup finals. Since 1903, France is famous for its 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race. Several major tennis tournaments take place in France, including the Paris Masters and the French Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. French martial arts include Savate and Fencing.

France has a close association with the Modern Olympic Games; it was a French aristocrat, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who suggested the Games' revival, at the end of the 19th century. After Athens was awarded the first Games, in reference to the Olympics' Greek origins, Paris hosted the second Games in 1900. Paris was the first home of the International Olympic Committee, before it moved to Lausanne. Since 1900, France has hosted the Olympics on 4 further occasions: the 1924 Summer Olympics, again in Paris and three Winter Games (1924 in Chamonix, 1968 in Grenoble and 1992 in Albertville).

Similar to the Olympics, France introduced Olympics for the deaf people (Deaflympics) in 1924 with the idea of a French deaf car mechanic, Eugène Rubens-Alcais who paved the way to organise the inaugural edition of the Summer Deaflympics in Paris.

Both the national football team and the national rugby union team are nicknamed "Les Bleus" in reference to the team's shirt colour as well as the national French tricolour flag. Football is the most popular sport in France, with over 1,800,000 registered players, and over 18,000 registered clubs. The football team is among the most successful in the world, with two FIFA World Cup victories in 1998 and 2018, one FIFA World Cup second place in 2006, and two UEFA European Championships in 1984 and 2000.

The top national football club competition is Ligue 1. France has produced some of the greatest players in the world, including three time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, three time Ballon d'Or recipient Michel Platini, record holder for most goals scored at a World Cup Just Fontaine, first football player to receive the Légion d'honneur Raymond Kopa, and the record goalscorer for the French national team Thierry Henry.

The French Open, also called Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. It is the premier clay court tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments.

Rugby union is popular, particularly in Paris and the southwest of France. The national rugby union team has competed at every Rugby World Cup, and takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship.

國名

中文的「法國」是「法蘭西國家」之簡稱，「法蘭西」一詞最早源於拉丁文中的「Francia」，意指「法蘭克人之國」，現今意大利語和西班牙語中仍稱法國為Francia，而法國國名的英語France、德語Frankreich和荷蘭語Frankrijk也擁有與Francia相同的詞根。

有關「法蘭克」一詞的由來，則有不同的理論：有指此衍生於原始日耳曼語中意指「自由」的「frank」一詞，因為羅馬征服高盧後，只有法蘭克人不用納稅；也有說法指其來源于意為「長矛」或「標槍」的「」一詞，因為該民族所用之投擲斧名稱為「」。另外，根據捷克歷史學家所載，「法蘭西」亦建基於「」一稱。此乃公元前61年、卡姆布里族（）其中一任君王之名字，而此君王的主權一直延伸至萊茵河以西、遠至斯特拉斯堡及比利時之地。

在漢字文化圈中，法國的常用漢字表記有法蘭西和佛蘭西兩種形式。漢語和越南語中使用「法蘭西」（Pháp Lan Tây／法蘭西）的表記，簡稱法國（Pháp quốc），而日語和朝鮮語中則沿用「佛蘭西」的表記（日語：；朝鮮語：），簡稱佛國（仏國；불국／佛國）。第二次世界大戰後的日語與韓語（大韓民國標準語）中，佛蘭西的漢字表記形式不再廣泛使用，而改用音譯的形式，日語以片假名寫為，韓語（大韓民國標準語）為。在希伯來語中法國的名稱為（Tzarfat）。毛利語稱法國為Wīwī，源自法語的「Oui, oui」（是，是）。

歷史

遠古時代

法國在距今180萬年前已有人類居住，彼時的人類曾經歷冰河期間多變的惡劣氣候，從事著類似遊牧民族的狩獵採集生活。法國境內有大量刻有原始壁畫的洞窟，最早可追溯至舊石器時代晚期，其中多爾多涅省的拉斯科洞窟壁畫（約于前18,000年所作）最為著名。

末次冰期末期（前10,000年左右），法國氣候轉向溫和。約前7,000年該地域進入新石器時代，同時此地的人類漸趨向定居生活。前4,000年至前3,000年，該地人口激增，農業技術迅猛發展，開始採集金礦、銅礦和青銅礦，爾後亦能採集鐵礦。法國境內亦有大量新石器時代的巨石文化遺址，包括石塊異常密集的卡納克巨石林（約前3,300年）。

古典時代

前600年，來自伊奧尼亞的一支希臘人在地中海岸建立了馬薩利亞殖民地，是法國最古老的城市。一些凱爾特人部落同期遷入該地，並通過在前5世紀至前3世紀經的遷徙繁衍，分布地域幾近覆蓋法國全境。這些居住于今日之法國的凱爾特人即為高盧人，他們居住的地區被稱為高盧，東至萊茵河，西抵大西洋，南達比利牛斯山和地中海，與今日法國邊境相仿。高盧地區經濟繁榮，南部地區受到了希臘和羅馬文化的深刻影響。

前390年左右，高盧酋長布倫努斯率軍穿越阿爾卑斯山前往今意大利，在中擊敗羅馬軍隊，侵入羅馬。高盧人得以一度支配羅馬地區，羅馬國家實力大大削弱。前345年，高盧與羅馬議和。前125年，羅馬征服高盧南部，建立諾斯特拉行省。尤利烏斯·凱撒征服高盧全境，且于前52年平息了酋長維欽托利的叛亂，此後奧古斯都將高盧分區建省。許多法國城市皆于此時期建立，高盧行省首府盧格杜努姆（今里昂）成為羅馬帝國西部的重要城市之一。這一時期建立起的城市具有濃厚的羅馬風格，建有廣場、劇場、圓形廣場、圓形競技場和早期水療系統。高盧人逐漸羅馬化，汲取羅馬文化習俗、並開始使用羅馬語言。宗教方面，當時的羅馬與凱爾特的多神論亦出現綜攝現象。

250年至280年，高盧邊境地區屢遭蠻族侵襲。4世紀上半葉，這種狀況有所改善，高盧地區迎來複興和發展。312年，羅馬皇帝君士坦丁大帝皈依基督教，基督教開始在羅馬帝國全境迅速傳播。5世紀起，蠻族對羅馬掀起大規模入侵，羅馬帝國陷入崩潰，歐洲民族大遷徙于此時開始。汪達爾、蘇維匯和奄蔡等日耳曼部族穿越萊茵河，進入高盧、西班牙和其它曾屬于羅馬帝國的地區定居。

中古前期

古典時代晚期，高盧被數個日耳曼國家瓜分，羅馬領地西亞格里烏斯王國成為僅存的高盧人屬地。同時，為逃離不列顛盎格魯-撒克遜人的定居潮，一支凱爾特布立吞人遷至今法國西北部的布列塔尼半島。凱爾特布立吞人的定居給當地帶來凱爾特文化的烙印，隨後布列塔尼開始形成小國林立的局面。信仰異教的法蘭克人原居于高盧北部，他們于5世紀末在克洛維一世的率領下征服高盧的北部和中部地區，498年克洛維一世摒棄阿里烏教派、皈依羅馬天主教，成為首位皈依基督的日耳曼征服者。因此法國被教宗稱為「教會的長女」（），國王也被冠以「最為基督」（）之銜。

法蘭克人接受了高盧羅馬文化，改說羅曼語族語言。克洛維定巴黎為首都，建立墨洛溫王朝。克洛維死後，王朝陷入分裂，克洛維的四個兒子按照法蘭克人的習慣，將法蘭克國家一分為四，分別是巴黎、奧爾良、蘇瓦松和蘭斯。隨後的時期，法蘭克王權旁落，國家大權被原主理政事的宮相把持，稱為「」。其中一位宮相查理·馬特功勳卓著，他因為在圖爾戰役中挫敗倭馬亞王朝穆斯林的入侵，而贏得法蘭克人的尊重。查理·馬特之子矮子丕平篡奪了墨洛溫王朝的王位，自立為王，開啟加洛林王朝。矮子丕平之子查理大帝統一了法蘭克諸國，建立跨越西歐與中歐的龐大帝國，史稱「查理曼帝國」。800年，查理大帝于羅馬由教宗良三世加冕，自立神聖羅馬帝國皇帝，法國政府與天主教會歷史悠久的聯繫也自此開始。查理大帝試圖恢復西羅馬帝國，繼承其文化上的宏大功業。查理大帝死後，其子虔誠者路易保持了短時間內的安定統一，但在路易死後，加洛林帝國也陷入分裂。龐大的帝國被路易的三個兒子一分為三，東法蘭克歸日耳曼人路易，中法蘭克歸洛泰爾一世，西法蘭克歸禿頭查理。其中，西法蘭克被看作是現代法國的前身。

在9至10世紀，法國開始出現封建雛形。彼時維京人開始入侵，同時貴族頭銜和土地開始世襲享有、王權與神權的聯繫趨向緊密，王權削弱，遭到貴族挑戰。1066年黑斯廷斯戰役，諾曼底公爵威廉征服英格蘭，自立為「英格蘭國王」，原在法國身為公爵的他擁有了與法國國王平等的頭銜，一度造成危機和緊張局勢。

中古後期

987年，加洛林王朝絕嗣其對法國的統治走到盡頭。這年法蘭西公爵、巴黎伯爵于格·卡佩繼承法蘭克王座，開啟卡佩王朝。1190年，腓力二世自立為「法蘭西國王」，首次使用「法蘭西」作為國名，為後世沿用。

法國在十字軍東征運動中扮演了重要的角色，近兩百年間，東征的法蘭西騎士源源不斷，是十字軍的主力之一——無論對壘的十字軍是否屬于法國所派，阿拉伯人皆稱之為「法蘭克人」。法國十字軍亦將古法語傳播到中東的黎凡特地區，法語成為在當地建立的十字軍國家的通用語。此外，法蘭西騎士亦是醫院騎士團和聖殿騎士團的主力軍。聖殿騎士團在法蘭西擁有大量財產，13世紀一度掌控法蘭西國王御庫。1307年腓力四世為解決財務問題，編織「異端」罪名主使剷除了聖殿騎士團。1209年，教宗為剷除法蘭西南部的卡特里派，出動阿爾比十字軍征討之，並將其基本消滅。卡特里派的信徒圖盧茲公國被併入法蘭西。此後法蘭西國王皆著力于擴張領土，與今日的法國相比，法蘭西王國已經控制了北部和中部的大部分地區。根植于等級森嚴的貴族、神官、平民的分級制度，法蘭西王權越發穩定。

1328年查理四世離世、膝下無嗣。根據薩利克繼承法，女性及女性系後裔無權繼承王位，所以查理四世之妹，法蘭西的伊莎貝拉的子嗣、英格蘭國王愛德華三世無權繼承王位，而合法的繼承人則是瓦盧瓦伯爵的後裔腓力。腓力即位成為腓力六世，開啟瓦盧瓦王朝。為爭奪法蘭西王位，愛德華三世于1337年發動曠日持久的英法百年戰爭。戰爭開始的數十年內英軍攻勢凌厲，占領廣闊的法蘭西領土。然而在隨後的數十年內，聖女貞德和拉海爾等出色的軍事領袖率領法軍扭轉戰局，最終法國獲得勝利，保住了瓦盧瓦王朝的王位。英法交戰正值黑死病肆虐之時，橫掃歐洲的黑死病大大削弱了法蘭西的國力，其近半數人口死于這種致命的瘟疫。

近世歷史

15世紀法國興起文藝複興，創造了矚目的文化成就。法語藉由《維萊科特雷法令》取代拉丁語成為法蘭西的官方語言，隨後又風靡于歐洲上層社會。文藝複興時期，法蘭西與他國的戰爭並未停歇，1494年至1559年法蘭西圍繞意大利地區同神聖羅馬帝國發生多次武裝衝突，史稱意大利戰爭。宗教改革同樣影響法國。在法蘭西，雨格諾派是新教勢力的代表，雨格諾派與天主教會的爭鬥引發宗教戰爭，這期間發生臭名昭著的聖巴托洛繆大屠殺，數千名雨格諾派信徒喪命。1589年納瓦拉國王恩里克繼承法國王位，稱亨利四世，開啟波旁王朝的統治。1598年亨利四世頒布《南特敕令》，肯定雨格諾派的合法性，宗教分裂的亂局一度終結。地理大發現後，新大陸亦出現法國探險家的身影，例如雅克·卡蒂埃和薩米埃爾·德尚普蘭。根植于法國探險家的探索與皮毛貿易活動，法國殖民者在北美洲開拓廣大的殖民地，是為新法蘭西。

路易十三統治時期，在宰相黎塞留主導下，法國國力日益強盛，在歐洲的影響力也空前加強。路易十三的繼承者路易十四年幼時，法國由安妮女王和馬扎然攝政。此時段發生反對君主專制的投石黨亂，而當時法國正與西班牙交戰，法國一度面臨內憂外患。投石黨亂平息後，法蘭西貴族勢力不再對王權構成威脅，這為隨後路易十四時期君主專制的空前加強打下基礎。法蘭西王國的國力于路易十四統治期間達至巔峰，路易十四把大貴族集中在凡爾賽宮居住，將整個法國的官僚機構集中于他的周圍，人治不可挑戰。經過數次爭霸戰爭，法國在路易十四統治期間成為歐洲第一人口大國，國力上，也是歐洲的頭號強國，在歐洲政治、經濟和文化上的地位舉足輕重。法語成為歐洲上層社會首崇的語言，在外交、科學和文學上皆為最為通用之語言，直至20世紀才漸為英語取代。法國在美洲、非洲和亞洲都擁有殖民地，稱為法蘭西第一殖民帝國。宗教方面，路易十四撕毀《南特敕令》，囚禁上千名雨格諾派信徒，維護天主教支配地位。

路易十四的曾孫路易十五繼承了太陽王的王位，沿用其君主專制。法國的霸主地位在路易十四統治後期開始動搖，法國在七年戰爭（1754－1763）中戰敗，失去在美洲和印度的廣大殖民地。不過，法國在歐洲的領地不減反增，洛林和科西嘉島分別在1766年和1770年成為法國的一部分。相比于祖父路易十四，路易十五的治國才能遜色很多——法國王權開始遭到威脅，他死後15年，法國即爆發反對君主制的大革命。路易十六是路易十五之孫，他以大量資金支持美國獨立，釀成財政危機，為大革命埋下禍根。路易十六統治時期，啟蒙思潮興起，法國科學家也創造有科學成就——1778年安托萬·拉瓦錫發現氧氣；1783年孟格菲兄弟發明載人熱氣球。法國探險家路易·安托萬·布幹維爾和拉彼魯茲伯爵參與全球航行與地理勘探。啟蒙思潮宣揚理性主義，主張將理性主義作為統治合法性和權威性的來源和判斷標準，這動搖了法國君主專制的思想根基。

近代歷史

為尋求解決財政問題，法王路易十六于1789年5月召開三級會議，但會議很快陷入殭局。第三等級平民的代表對于自身權利不滿，自行組織國民議會，公開反對王權權威。數日內局勢緊張，巴黎陷入暴動，7月14日，憤怒的示威者攻占了法國王權的象徵巴士底獄。7月14日被視作法國大革命爆發的標誌，這一天隨後被定為法國國慶日。8月26日《人權宣言》頒布，這是法國大革命的綱領性文件，據此法國確立基本的人權。宣言強調「自由、財產、安全和反抗壓迫是天賦不可剝奪的人權」，肯定言論自由以及司法公正。它呼籲廢止王室與貴族的特權，主張人人生而自由平等的權利。1791年6月20日路易十六出逃，打破了民眾對于君主立憲的幻想，儘管路易十六隨後同意簽署新憲法實行君主立憲，多數民眾自此開始傾向廢除君主制、建立共和。而廢除君主或是削弱王權的嘗試遭到歐洲其他國家的反對，奧地利和普魯士國王發表過《皮爾尼茨宣言》警告革命者不要進一步侵犯路易十六的權力。1792年4月20日法國對奧地利宣戰，法國大革命戰爭爆發。戰爭期間法國國內暴亂接連不斷，8月10日民眾攻占杜伊勒里宮，拘禁國王、王后，九月屠殺隨後發生。9月22日法蘭西第一共和國成立。1793年路易十六被判叛國，被送上斷頭台。

新生的共和國面臨內憂外患——歐洲列強不斷施加壓力，國內反革命暴亂不斷。9月，羅伯斯庇爾建立專政統治，稱為雅各賓專政。1793年至1794年，有16,00至40,00人被處決；法國西部，「藍黨」（Bleus，革命支持者）與「白黨」（Blancs，君主制支持者）的衝突不斷。

在隨後的戰爭中，外國的幹涉（第一次反法同盟）和國內的反革命暴動都被挫敗，共和國得以存活。法軍甚至攻入國外，在鄰國建立一系列共和國家，是為「」。熱月政變終結了羅伯斯庇爾的專政，但熱月黨人的統治並不持久。1799年英國組成第二次反法同盟進攻法蘭西共和國，軍人勢力逐漸控制法國政局。熱月黨人的督政府于1799年被軍人拿破崙·波拿巴等人發動的霧月政變推翻。拿破崙隨後成為了新建立的執政府「第一執政」，攬得大權，1802年擊敗第二次反法同盟。1804年拿破崙稱帝，建立法蘭西第一帝國，1805年他又自立為意大利國王。拿破崙的軍事和政治行動改變了歐洲局面，也引發前後共持續12年的拿破崙戰爭。拿破崙是出色的軍事家，他帶領的法軍曾一路高歌猛進，攻占歐洲廣闊的領土。拿破崙的經典戰例包括耶拿會戰和奧斯特里茨戰役。拿破崙的征服改寫歐洲的政治地圖，他的家族成員成為一些新建王國的君主。拿破崙的征服也在全世界傳播法國的理念和改革，包括米制、拿破崙法典和人權的觀念。法軍的攻勢止于俄國，拿破崙對俄國的進攻遭到失敗。隨後的第六次反法同盟擊敗拿破崙的帝國，1814年，波旁王朝複闢。1815年拿破崙的短暫複闢也隨著滑鐵盧戰役的敗退而宣告結束。

複闢的波旁王朝被1830年的七月革命推翻，七月王朝建立。1848年，歐洲掀起革命浪潮，七月王朝未能倖免，被二月革命推翻，隨後第二共和國建立。第二共和國政府重啟第一共和時期的改革，再次廢除奴隸制，並推行普選。1852年總統路易-拿破崙·波拿巴（拿破崙之侄）稱帝成為「拿破崙三世」，建立法蘭西第二帝國。拿破崙三世希望提升國際地位，參與和幹涉多場戰爭，如克里米亞戰爭、法墨戰爭、第二次意大利獨立戰爭。在意大利，法國吞併原屬撒丁王國的薩伏依和尼斯，得到領土利益。1870年普法戰爭法國戰敗，御駕親征的拿破崙三世黯然下台。新建的共和政府挫敗巴黎的無產階級公社起事，建立較為穩定的共和政權，史稱第三共和。此時期歐洲步入新帝國主義時期，法國也參與歐洲列強在全球範圍內對于殖民地和勢力範圍的爭奪。19世紀至20世紀，法國奪得幅員遼闊的殖民地（尤其在非洲），建立領土遍布全球的殖民帝國，僅次于大英帝國。在20世紀20年代至30年代，法國的領土面積達到1,300萬平方公里，占世界總陸地面積的8.6%。在19世紀與20世紀之交，法國國內和國際局勢趨于穩定，經濟獲得長足發展，科學技術和文化事業也日臻成熟，樂觀主義成為社會的一種現象。這段時期被稱為「美好年代」（Belle Époque）。1905年法國通過法案完成政教分離。

現代歷史

在第一次世界大戰中，法國是協約國的一員，與德國和奧匈帝國作戰。在戰爭中，法國北部的一小部分領土被德軍占領，但是最終法國以慘痛的代價贏得勝利。124萬名法軍士兵喪命，占法國總人口的4%，其中在1912年至1915年間徵召的士兵有27%－30%的死亡率。戰間期法國左翼政治聯盟人民陣線曾贏得立法選舉，得以在全國推行多項改革，包括年假、八小時工作制和婦女參政等。

1940年第二次世界大戰期間，法軍沒能阻擋住納粹德國的凌厲攻勢，1940年6月22日本土宣告淪陷，第三共和國滅亡。1940年7月10日，國會決定將權力移交給老元帥菲利普·貝當，法國本土被德國劃分為北方的軍事管轄區和南方的自由地區，其中自由地區由貝當政府統治，政府設在維希，故名「維希政權」，正式國名為法蘭西國（l'État français），受德國控制，實施了一連串壓制言論自由的舉措；除了政治層面以外，亦加強國家對經濟、宗教與社會等各層面的管控。法國的國家格言更從「自由、平等、博愛」被置換成了「勞動、家庭、祖國」（Travail, Famille, Patrie）。夏爾·戴高樂領導自由法國運動繼續抵抗，並在倫敦設立有流亡政府。自1942年至1944年，大約160,000名法國公民（其中有約75,000名猶太人）被送往在德國和波蘭的滅絕營和集中營。1944年6月6日，盟軍在諾曼底登陸，8月攻入普羅旺斯。翌年法國解放，戴高樂成立法蘭西共和國臨時政府接管法國本土，繼續與德國交戰，並著手清算通敵者。臨時政府亦推行了一些改革，包括給予女性選舉權和建立社會保障系統等。戰後臨時政府實施新憲法，建立法蘭西第四共和國，同時法國是1949年建立的北大西洋公約組織的創始成員。在印度支那半島，法軍試圖恢復殖民統治，但在奠邊府戰役中慘敗，敗給越南獨立同盟會。在阿爾及利亞，法國亦陷入反殖民戰爭泥潭。法國國內政局受阿爾及利亞危機影響，衝突不斷，關于是否繼續控制這個有超過100萬歐洲人定居的北非殖民地的爭議，使內戰險些上演。

1958年，法國政局動蕩，內閣更換頻繁，加上阿爾及利亞獨立戰爭拖累國力受損。當年5月，部分軍官在阿爾及爾發起，5月25日在法國南部也發生反政府暴亂，迫使時任總統勒內·科蒂任命當時已下野的戴高樂擔任總理。10月5日，戴高樂宣告建立法蘭西第五共和國。11月進行國民議會選舉，以戴高樂為首的保衛新共和聯盟取勝。欠缺穩定性的第四共和國憲法被新憲法取代，擴大了總統的權力，首任總統即是二戰期間的英雄戴高樂。戴高樂政府試圖終止反殖民戰爭，以保証國家的統一。1962年法國簽署《》結束戰爭，阿爾及利亞獲得獨立。餘下的法國殖民地，被稱為海外省和海外領地。法國在戰後的1945年至1975年經濟出現快速增長、建立高度發達的社會福利體系，稱為黃金三十年。在美蘇冷戰的國際背景下，戴高樂實行「民族獨立」的政策，他主導法國退出北約的軍事一體化組織，著手執行，使法國最終擁有世界第三大核武貯備量。為團結歐洲國家以與美蘇抗衡，他與西德簽署《愛麗舍條約》，恢復雙方的合作關係，推動法德和解。1968年法國爆發五月風暴學生運動，社會反響巨大。這次運動被看作是法國由保守道德思想（如宗教、權威尊重和愛國主義）轉向自由道德思想（世俗主義、個人主義、性革命）的分水嶺。儘管亂局被政府平息，但此次運動表現出的政府與部分民眾的隔閡，使得政府失去部分民心。1969年，戴高樂失敗，宣布辭去總統職務。

在後戴高樂時代，法國雖仍是世界上最為發達的經濟體之一，但面臨著多項經濟問題，有著高失業率和高公共債務。在20世紀與21世紀之交，法國站在歐洲一體化發展的最前沿。1992年法國簽署《馬斯特里赫特條約》，1999年參與建立歐元區，2007年又簽署《里斯本條約》。法國的注意力也重新轉向北約，參與大部分與北約成員國相關的軍事行動。

自19世紀起，便有大量移民定居法國。最初他們大多數是來自歐洲天主教國家的男性外籍工人，失業時多數亦會選擇回國。20世紀70年代，法國面臨經濟危機、開始放寬移民政策，給予移民永久定居權，遂迎來新移民（大多數來自非洲馬格里布地區）。放開移民亦導致社會問題，數十萬穆斯林享受公共住房補貼的同時，擁有著高失業率，這個現象在大城市最為明顯。法國放棄同化政策，不再強制要求移民遵守法國傳統價值觀以及文化規範。政府允許移民保留他們自己的文化習俗，僅需融入社會。

21世紀初恐怖主義興起，法國亦遭到波及，面臨恐怖襲擊威脅。2015年1月的查理周刊總部槍擊案引發法國曆史上最大規模的愛國遊行，有超過440萬人參加，即2015年共和遊行。2015年11月巴黎再遭恐怖襲擊，造成137人死亡。這次襲擊事件是二戰以來法國領土上傷亡人數最多的事件，也是馬德里三一一連環爆炸案以來歐盟國家傷亡最為慘重的襲擊事件。2016年法國國慶日，尼斯遭到恐怖襲擊，85人死亡、202人受傷。法國自2015年11月13日遭受恐怖攻擊以來，因為斷續發生的恐怖攻擊而數次延長緊急狀態，最新的一次延長預計延長至2017年11月1日。

地理

領土地形

法國的歐洲部分稱為法國本土，位于歐洲大陸西端41°至51°N、6°W至10°E之間，南北東西均橫跨約1000公里，領土形狀呈六邊形，屬于溫帶。法國本土北達北海，西北及英吉利海峽，西抵大西洋，南至地中海，與東北部的比利時和盧森堡、東部的德國與瑞士、東南的意大利和摩納哥以及西南的西班牙和安道爾接壤。法國南部和東部的國境線分布的山峰山脈有比利牛斯山脈、阿爾卑斯山脈和侏羅山，河流有萊茵河。在地中海上，轄有科西嘉島和眾多海岸群島。

法國在世界範圍內擁有眾多海外省和海外領地，這些領土之間的行政區劃等級和管轄形式有所不同，它們分別位于：

• 南美洲：法屬圭亞那

• 大西洋：聖皮埃爾和密克隆以及安的列斯群島的瓜德羅普、馬提尼克、聖馬丁以及聖巴泰勒米

• 太平洋：法屬波利尼西亞、新喀里多尼亞、瓦利斯和富圖納以及克利珀頓島

• 印度洋：留尼旺、法屬印度洋諸島、克羅澤群島、凱爾蓋朗群島、聖保羅島以及阿姆斯特丹島

• 南極洲：阿黛利地（爭議）

其中，法屬圭亞那與巴西和蘇里南接壤，法屬聖馬丁與荷屬聖馬丁接壤。

法國的歐洲領土面積為，為歐盟成員國中最大。法國國土（包括海外領地，不包括阿黛利地）的總面積為，占世界陸地總面積的0.45%。憑藉分布于全球範圍的海外領地，法國擁有的專屬經濟區，次于美國、領先後一名的澳大利亞而位居世界第二，其專屬經濟區占世界總經濟區面積的8%。

法國國土地形種類多樣，在西北部有沿海平原，在東南和西南部分別有阿爾卑斯山脈和比利牛斯山脈，中南部則是中央高原。位于法國和意大利邊境的勃朗峰海拔，是歐洲海拔最高的山峰。法國的大部分地區形成于不同的斷塊活動分期，其中、中央高原、、佛日山脈、阿登山脈和科西嘉島形成于古生代的。阿爾卑斯山脈、比利牛斯山脈和侏羅山則顯得年輕一些，侵蝕形式更少。法國60%的城市具有地震風險，但近年來地震帶保持穩定。幾大地塊將法國分為數個沉積盆地，包括西南部的阿基坦盆地和北部肥沃的巴黎盆地。法國的沿海沿河地區風景各異，如藍色海岸的山地、止于斷崖的高原，索洛涅地區的森林濕地以及隆格多克的寬闊平原。

法國境內河流眾多，縱橫交錯。法國的河流系統主要由四大河流組成，即盧瓦爾河、塞納河、加龍河和羅訥河，流域覆蓋62%的土地。萊茵河與默茲河有時也被納入法國的河流系統，但它們在法國並不如在歐洲重要。其中，羅訥河于卡馬格注入地中海，將中央高原與阿爾卑斯山脈隔開。巴黎的塞納河左岸涵蓋塞納河畔一個整體的扇形區域，在巴黎市區內如果乘船由塞納河順流而下，船首左側所展現的，即是塞納河左岸風光。塞納河左岸是巴黎建市初期的見証人，它的腹地集中巴黎創立初期的歷史遺蹟。

File:Pointe du van.jpg|布列塔尼

File:Most beautiful villages of the world montsoreau 2.jpg|盧瓦爾河谷的蒙索羅

File:Kerguelen CookGlacier.JPG|凱爾蓋朗群島冰川

File:Lac des Perches.JPG|阿爾薩斯孚日山脈

File:Usson JPG01.jpg|法國中央高原上的于松鎮

File:Weinberg Cote de Nuits.jpg|勃艮第尼伊丘產區的葡萄園

File:Lavender field.jpg|border|普羅旺斯的薰衣草園

File:Aiguille du Dru 3.jpg|border|阿爾卑斯山的高山氣候地貌

File:Piana Dardo dans les Calanche.jpg|border|科西嘉島的半乾旱氣候地貌

File:Bora Bora - Mt Otemanu.jpg|border|法屬波利尼西亞的熱帶氣候地貌

氣候生態

根據柯本氣候分類法，法國本土大部分的平原地區（科西嘉島除外）屬于海洋性氣候，冬溫夏涼，常年有雨，南部的平原或丘陵地區屬于地中海式氣候，夏幹冬雨。月平均氣溫：1月西部及南部約4－7°C，東部及北部約1－3°C；7月北部及西部約16－18°C，南部及東部約21－24°C。年降水量600－800毫米，山區達1500毫米以上。氣候類型細節如下：

• 法國大部分沿海地區屬于海洋性氣候，其中西部北起佛蘭德、南至巴斯克的沿海地帶最為顯著；偏南面地區因緯度原因更加溫暖；西北面較南部涼爽，平均風力強度較大。

• 偏內陸地區仍屬于海洋性氣候，但與沿海地區有所區別，稱為「半海洋性氣候」。例如在巴黎與山中盆地地區的季節天氣變化較強，秋冬季降雨較少。此氣候區是強海洋性氣候區與大陸性氣候區的過渡地帶。

　• 中部和北部平原地區的海洋性氣候與巴黎盆地地區的海洋性氣候變體相似，因此有時被稱為「巴黎氣候」（parisien）。

　• 北部和東部地區偏大陸性氣候，夏季炎熱多雨，冬季寒冷乾燥。

• 法國南部的地中海沿岸地區（如羅訥河下游谷地）屬于地中海式氣候。

• 阿爾卑斯山脈、比利牛斯山脈、孚日山脈、侏羅山和中央高原地區屬于高山氣候。

• 法國大部分海外領地屬于熱帶氣候，全年高溫多雨，法屬圭亞那屬于熱帶性更為顯著的熱帶雨林氣候；而聖皮埃爾和密克隆以及法屬南部和南極領地則屬于副極地氣候，全年寒冷乾燥。

法國于1971年設立環境部，是世界上最早設立環境部的國家。雖然法國是世界上工業化程度最高的國家之一，但是其二氧化碳排放量較其它發展中國家少，位列世界第19位。這與1973年石油危機後法國大力發展低污染的核電技術不無關係，現今法國總發電量的75%來自核能。與其它歐盟成員國相同，法國同意削減溫室氣體排放量，定于2020年削減1990年水平的20%，相比之下，美國僅計劃削減1990年水平的4%。法國的人均二氧化碳排放量也保持在較低水平，低于人口眾多的中國（2009年數據）。2009年，法國曾計劃徵收17歐元/噸的碳稅，這將為法國政府提供每年大約40億歐元的收入，但該計劃最終因經濟效益原因流產。

法國28%的國土為森林所覆蓋，而其中一些富多樣化的森林擁有超過140個樹種。法國擁有9個國家公園和46個自然公園，而政府定于在2020年將20%的專屬經濟區建為。法國政府亦在一些景致美麗的村落設立地區自然公園（），以保証當地經濟的可持續發展、保護自然環境和文化遺產不受破壞，同時也促進自然科學層面上生態研究和公共教育的發展。截至2014年，這樣的地區公園有49座。

在2016年美耶魯大學與哥倫比亞大學發布的環境績效指數列表中，法國以88.20的分數位列世界第10位。

行政區劃

法國的一級行政區為大區（région），全國共有18個大區（包括科西嘉），其中5個是海外大區（DOM）；過去本土大區共有21個，2014年經投票後合併部分大區成為13個本土大區。大區又被分為101個省（département），按照字母順序編號，用于郵政編碼（亦曾用于車牌號碼）。在101個省中，有5個海外省（與海外大區重疊），其與本土省享有相同的地位。101個省又被分為335個區（arrondissement），區又被分為2,054個縣（canton），縣被分為36,658個市鎮（commune），由選舉產生的市議會治理。人口最多的三個市鎮（巴黎、馬賽、里昂）又劃分為45個市區。大區、省與市鎮被稱為領土集體（collectivité territoriale），擁有本地議會和行政長官；區與選區則沒有這樣的設定。1940年以前，區也屬于領土集體，擁有議會，這被維希政權暫停，1946年被第四共和正式廢止。

法國擁有瓜德羅普、法屬圭亞那、馬提尼克、留尼汪、馬約特5個海外大區，法屬波利尼西亞、聖巴泰勒米、法屬聖馬丁、聖皮埃爾和密克隆、瓦利斯和富圖納、新喀里多尼亞5個定義各異的海外集體（COM），法屬南部領地1個海外領地，以及1個由政府直接管理的克利珀頓島。海外地區為法蘭西共和國的一部分，但並非歐盟的一部分（聖巴泰勒米除外）。法屬波利尼西亞、新喀里多尼亞和瓦利斯和富圖納組成太平洋集體，統一使用太平洋法郎，與歐元之間採取固定匯率；其它海外地區現使用歐元。

法國是一個單一制國家，上述的任何部分都不握有主權。

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政治

法蘭西共和國是實行半總統制的單一制共和國，具有悠久的民主傳統。法蘭西第五共和國憲法于1958年9月28日由法國民眾全體公民投票通過，決定第五共和國的國家政體運作方式。此後憲法經歷多次修訂，它大幅度地增強行政機關與議會的關係。所有行政機關共有兩位領袖，一是共和國總統，二是總理。

總統是法國的國家元首，擁有任免總理，主持內閣會議和頒布法律的權力，同時也是國家軍隊的最高司令，由普選直接產生，經過兩輪投票，獲過半數支持的候選人當選總統。總統任期原本為七年，2000年9月24日法國全民公投之後確立總統任期由七年縮短為五年，並最多可連任二次。總統主持內閣會議，頒布法律；總統亦是三軍統帥。另外，根據憲法第16條，在面臨重大危機時，總統擁有採取非常措施的權力，例如宣布國家進入緊急狀態或啟動全國動員令等，並有權解散國民議會。目前的總統為埃馬紐埃爾·馬克龍，是法蘭西共和國的第二十五任總統，于2017年5月14日正式上任。

總理是法國的政府首腦。總理系由國民議會席次過半黨派（或聯盟）組成的聯合政府推舉而出，由總統任命。根據法國憲法第8條，有權任命政府內閣其他成員。根據憲法第20和21條，在總理的領導下，政府決定並主管國家的政策；領導政府的運作，保証法律的實施；政府向議會負責，並對議會的議事日程有很大的影響力。過去總統和總理曾經分別隸屬不同而互相對立的政黨，當總統所屬政黨在國會占過半，總統所委任的總理就是總統所屬政黨，變成由總統主政，總理負責組閣。相反，當在野黨在國會過半的話，那麼總統需任命在野黨所推舉的人為總理，由總理主政，總理的權力較大，形成「左右共治」的局面，這個情況在1986年至1988年、1993年至1995年，以及1997年至2002年出現過，但自從總統任期縮短至5年後，由于和國民議會選舉同年舉行，出現「左右共治」局面的概率微乎其微。愛德華·菲利普于2017年5月15日由埃馬紐埃爾·馬克龍任命為現任法國總理。

法國議會是兩院制機構，由國民議會（下院）和參議院（上院）組成。國民議會是國家的最高立法機關，總共有577名議員，每名議員代表單一的選區。議會成員由民眾直接選舉產生，任期5年。議會的多數派能夠左右政府的決策。議會可以通過不信任案，或者拒絕政府的施政綱領而迫使政府向總統提出集體辭職，但無權彈劾總統。參議院總共有348名參議員（在2010年席次由321席增至348席），參議員由一個選舉機構（取決于各地方議會的提名）選舉產生，任期為6年，自2008年9月起每3年重新選舉二分之一的參議員；參議院被視為法國地方勢力在議會內的代表，參議院的立法職能受到限制；當兩院意見不同時，國民議會擁有最後裁決權。政府對于議會議程的安排具有很大影響。

法律

法國法律制度屬于歐陸法系，是成文法律，不容許法官制定法律，法官只能夠根據法條來詮釋法律（在某些領域的司法解釋數量使得一些法律類似于遵循判決先例）。法國法律的基本法治精神仍然跟從《法國民法典》。根據《人權宣言》，只有危害社會的行為才會被禁止。前法國翻案法院首席法官曾關于監獄管理事務寫道：「自由是準則，對于自由的束縛是例外；任何對自由的束縛必須被依法進行，也必須遵循必要性原則與比例原則」——即法律只有在必要時、不會造成額外麻煩時，才能出台禁律禁令，才能「束縛自由」。

法國的法律體系分為兩大主要領域——私法與公法。前者包括民法與刑法，後者包括行政法和憲法。只有《》上出版的條款才擁有法律效力。其中，刑法遵循不溯及既往原則，追溯法令被禁止。就行政法而言，法國的行政法與一些國家行政法從屬于民法的情形不同，是與其它法律完全分開且獨立的。法國擁有兩套相互獨立的法院系統，即行政法院系統和普通法院系統，兩者並行運轉。兩個法院系統有各自管轄的訴訟案件並能夠作出最終的判決。行政法院系統，由行政法院、上訴行政法院和最高行政法院所組成，而普通法院系統則由基層法院（初審法庭、大審法庭、輕罪法院、重罪法院、商事法院、勞資調解委員會等）、上訴法院和翻案法院組成。為了解決兩個法院系統在管轄範圍上的爭議，法國還設立權限爭議法庭。

法國政府並未制定有宗教性質的法律，也並未將宗教當作發布禁令的動機或是目的，但對于宗教信仰自由的態度複雜。根據1789年《人權宣言》，信仰自由是憲法賦予公民的權利。自1905年政教分離法案實施以來，政府儘量避免宗教勢力和因素對于決策的幹預，但是近年來政府對于新興宗教的態度違反宗教自由的準則——1995年起許多新興信仰被議會認定為邪教；2004年法律禁止在學校穿戴宗教象徵物；2010年法律禁止在公共場合佩戴伊斯蘭面紗。一些人因此抱怨遭到歧視，造成不滿，亦有相關組織如國際特赦組織和人權觀察對上述法案提出了批評，但這些爭議法案仍得到大多數人支持。

法國的法律體系中，並無性悖軌法（1791年廢除）或是褻瀆法之類明文條例，但是「反道德」（contraires aux bonnes mœurs）和「擾亂公共秩序」（trouble à l'ordre public）的字眼曾常被用于限制街頭賣淫和同性戀的公眾表達，直至近年來LGBT平權運動在法國得到肯定。1999年，法國同性結合通過民事互助契約的登記成為可能；2013年5月，同性婚姻與LGBT收養完成合法化。法國于1881年便制定關於禁止歧視性言論的法案，但近年來，相關法案因侵犯言論自由的理由而遭到質疑和爭議。法國法律中亦有反對反猶主義以及種族主義的條款，如1990年的《》禁止了對于猶太人大屠殺的否認。

外交

法國是聯合國的創始會員國，亦為聯合國安全理事會常任理事國之一，擁有一票否決權。法國是八國集團、世界貿易組織、太平洋共同體、法語圈國際組織以及印度洋委員會的正式成員，亦是加勒比國家聯盟的聯繫成員國。作為國際關係的重要樞紐，法國擁有全世界第二大的外交網絡，駐外機構數量僅次于美國。法國是經濟合作與發展組織、聯合國教科文組織、國際刑警組織、國際度量衡局以及法語圈國際組織的總部所在地。

法國在1778年成為第一個和美國建交的國家，又在1964年成為第一個和中國建交的西方大國。

戰後法國的外交戰略受其歐盟成員身份影響很大。法國是歐洲各共同體的六大創始成員國之一，自20世紀60年代以來法國一直致力于與西德發展友好的外交關係。法德關係的升溫是歐洲走向聯合的一個重要驅動因素。在20世紀60年代，法國試圖將英國排除于歐洲聯合計劃之外，但是英法之間的歷史聯繫密不可分，使得意圖無法實現。法英關係非常親密：歷史上，雙方曾在1904年簽訂有「摯誠協定」結成英法協約；近年來英法合作頻繁，2010年簽訂有重要的《》，加強雙方的軍事防務合作。

早在1547年，法國就創立了世界上最早的外交部門制度，在1589年，四位法國國務大臣的職位變得專門化，其中一位便是外交大臣。

法國是北大西洋公約組織的成員。戴高樂總統任期奉行獨立的外交政策，退出北約的軍事指揮機構，並驅逐法國境內北約部隊。法國強烈反對2003年多國部隊武裝幹涉伊拉克，法美關係及法英關係一度緊張。薩科齊總統任期又奉行親美政策（被國內左派及部分右派批評），于2009年重返北約軍事組織。

20世紀90年代早期，法國曾因為在法屬波利尼西亞實行地下核試驗而受到國際批評。此外，法國在部分前法屬殖民地國家保持有強大的政治和經濟影響力，曾向科特迪瓦和乍得發放物資支援及出兵維和。2013年，法國出兵介入馬里北部衝突，協助馬里政府與阿扎瓦德民族解放運動、伊斯蘭衛士和等武裝組織作戰。

2015年，法國是世界第五大發展援助支出國，位于美國、英國、德國和日本之後。發展援助支出占法國GDP的0.37%，比率排名世界第十一。法國的發展援助由法國開發署管理運作，主要投資于撒哈拉以南非洲的人道主義支援，目標為幫助目標地區「發展基礎設施、衛生保健及教育事業，協助實行適合的經濟政策，鞏固民主法治」。

軍事

法國武裝力量（Forces armées françaises）的最高統帥為法國總統，由法國陸軍（Armée de Terre）、法國海軍（Marine Nationale）、法國空軍（Armée de l'Air）和國家憲兵（Gendarmerie nationale）組成。2014年，法國武裝力量共有約22萬名常備軍人，位列世界第24位。法國軍事發展歷史悠久，對歐洲歷史甚至世界歷史都有多次關鍵影響力，法國2019年常備軍費開銷為638億美元，占GDP2.3%，世界排行第五。法國是聯合國安全理事會常任理事國之一，亦是北約組織特許成員國，冷戰時期和諸多北約國家都進行過國內和國外的聯合行動。在北約以外，法國于非洲、中東和巴爾幹半島積極或消極地參與有各種單方或多方維和行動，也時常扮演領導角色。1997年以來，法國從未實施過徵兵。

由于國家憲兵的警察職能因素，其事實上由內政部管轄，而非國防部；國家憲兵幹預隊（Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale，GIGN）屬國家憲兵編制，當國家憲兵履行軍事任務時作為特種部隊出現。此外，國家憲兵的下屬單位還有，負責維護公共秩序；共和國衛隊，負責政府機構的警衛工作；，負責海岸警衛。就情報單位而言，對外安全總局是隸屬于國防部的對外情報機構；對內安全總局則是隸屬于內政部和的對內情報機構。法國外籍兵團是隸屬于法國陸軍的一支特殊部隊，于1830年建立，主要由來自140多個國家、意願效力法軍的外籍人員組成，其服役滿五年後可申請法國國籍。

法國是擁核國家，擁有世界第三大核武貯備量，簽署有《全面禁止核試驗條約》和《不擴散核武器條約》。曾經擁有核三位一體打擊能力。法國現有核力量包括4艘搭載潛射彈道導彈的凱旋級核潛艇，以及大約60枚搭載有核彈頭的ASMP中距空對地導彈。其中，約50枚用于武裝空軍的幻影2000N，10枚用于武裝海軍的超級軍旗攻擊機（SEM）。這兩種機種皆可作為戴高樂號航空母艦的艦載機，而可搭載ASMP-A型導彈的陣風戰鬥機將逐漸取代幻影2000N和SEM的核打擊機地位。

法國擁有規模龐大的軍事工業，其中以航空製造業為代表。陣風戰鬥機和飛魚反艦導彈即為其傑作。法國亦是歐洲武器聯合開發計劃的主要參與者，儘管其退出颱風戰鬥機的設計計劃，法國仍然是虎式直升機、歐洲多用途巡防艦、神經元無人作戰飛機和空中巴士A400M等開發計劃的主要貢獻者之一。除上述武器之外，著名的法國制武器還有FAMAS突擊步槍、PAMAS-G1手槍、勒克萊爾主戰坦克、VBCI裝步戰車、西北風級兩棲突擊艦、蘇弗朗級潛艦等。法國是世界上主要的軍火銷售商，法制武器于發展中國家市場中廣受歡迎，主要集中于導彈、軍艦和航天設備。

財政

法國政府的財政狀況並不樂觀。2012年，法國政府債務水平達到1.8萬億歐元，相當于GDP的90%。同年，信用評級機構警告法國政府的債務水平危及其AAA的信用評級，增加信用評級下調和借貸成本上升的風險。據歐盟的相關要求，法國必須將國債限制在經濟產出的60%（或是根據該上限自結構上下調比率），且公共赤字不能超過GDP的3%。

自20世紀70年代以來，法國政府長期存在財政赤字。弗朗索瓦·奧朗德總統反對，上任後宣稱要在2017年消除政府的財政赤字。在奧朗德所屬的社會黨于2012年國會選舉大獲全勝後，新任政府得以修改憲法，以實行財政改革。新政府取消對富人的減稅免稅政策，並將最大累進稅率提高到75%，帶來100多萬歐元的收入。政府恢復此前裁減的6萬個公共教育崗位，並調整租金的漲幅。政府亦為窮人建立額外的公共住房。此外，公民的退休年齡被延長至60歲，工齡滿42年的可領取全額退休金。法國政府債券的利率下降30%，達到紀錄最低點，較德國政府債券利率低50個基點。

經濟

法國按其GDP為全球第七大經濟體，具備世界第十大購買力。法國屬于歐元區和歐盟單一市場的一部分，2002年，歐元代替法郎成為國家的官方貨幣。2015年財富世界500強榜單中，有31家法國企業。根據世界貿易組織的統計，2009年，法國是世界第六大製成品出口國以及第四大進口國。2008年，法國獲得1180億美元的外商直接投資，位居經濟合作與發展組織成員國中的第三位，次于盧森堡和美國；同年法國企業對外投資2200億美元，位居經濟合作與發展組織成員國中的第二位，僅次于美國。在家庭總體財富方面，法國是最富有的歐洲國家（同時是世界第四）。法國人享有高水平的生活質量，教育水平和較長的預期壽命。

法國經濟是結合現代化的資本主義經濟以及政府干預的混合經濟，政府在各個行業的主要版塊仍有重要影響；在鐵路、電力、航空和電信領域，政府握有主要控制權。這使得法國經濟有較強的國家資本主義色彩。從20世紀90年代初開始，法國政府就一直在逐漸放寬對這些版塊的控管，並正在緩慢地釋出在法國電信、法國航空以及保險、金融、國防企業的控股份額。

金融服務業、銀行業和保險業是法國經濟的重要組成部分。巴黎証券交易所（La Bourse de Paris）歷史悠久，于1724年由路易十五設立，為歐洲第二大証券交易所，僅次于倫敦証券交易所。2000年3月，巴黎、布魯塞爾和阿姆斯特丹三家証券交易所合併為泛歐交易所，相提供全歐洲交易服務。2007年，泛歐交易所與紐約証券交易所合併為紐約泛歐証券交易所，成為世界最大的証券交易所。在世界保險業和銀行業中，法國企業具有重要的地位。法國巴黎銀行、法國農業信貸銀行分別為世界第一大和第六大銀行（根據資產排名，2010年統計），法國興業銀行2009年的總資產排名世界第八；安盛則是世界上最大的保險公司。

農業

法國農業人口占總人口的3.8%，農產品行業產值占法國2005年GDP的4.2%。肥沃的田土、先進的技術以及使法國成為歐洲領先的農業生產國，其農業生產量占歐洲總量的20%，是世界第三大農產品出口國。小麥、家禽、乳製品、牛肉、豬肉和國際認証加工食品是法國主要的農業出口品。牛奶及乳品、豬肉、家禽，以及蘋果的生產都集中在西部地區。牛肉產自法國中部，而葡萄酒的生產則分布于法國中部和南部地區。法國畜牧業在第二次世界大戰後發展較快。20世紀80年代初，畜牧業和種植業的產值比重大致保持在55%和45%左右。另外，農場平均規模不斷擴大，根據1980年度農業普查，平均規模已經超過25公頃。這些大農場主要分布在巴黎盆地。畜牧業集中在諾曼底、布列塔尼和法國中央高原。中央高原以養牛業為主，布列塔尼以養豬為主，西北部則以養羊為主。當地養禽業較普遍，鵝肝就是有名的出口食品。在酒品方面，桃紅葡萄酒主要供應國內消費，而法國產香檳酒和波爾多葡萄酒則世界聞名，亦是重要的出口品。達能集團是著名的法國乳製品加工商。法國農業依賴來自歐盟的補貼，為歐盟內反對降低補貼的主要國家。近年來，歐盟對于法國農業的補貼有所下降，但2007年仍達到80億美元。

工業

法國是七國集團的成員，是世界上工業最發達的國家之一，工業產值約占GDP的11.2%，傳統工業區域集中在巴黎盆地。法國的核電設備能力、民用航空技術和石油工業技術僅次于美國，居世界第二位；鋼鐵和紡織工業也具有較高地位。主要工業部門有汽車飛機製造、電子電器工業、化學工業和紡織工業等。其中航空工業極具實力，歐洲的空中客車集團總部位于法國圖盧茲，為歐洲航空工業的領航企業之一；達梭航太是軍用飛行器製造業的主要企業；法國亦擁有自有航天發射中心——圭亞那太空中心。此外，道達爾石油公司是石油巨頭之一，標緻雪鐵龍集團是歐洲第二大汽車製造商，米其林則是世界第二大輪胎及橡膠製品製造商。奢侈品和化妝品製造業是法國工業的特殊組成部分，為世界矚目的工業部門，主要的生產商有愛馬仕、路易威登、香奈兒、迪奧、伊夫聖洛朗和歐萊雅。法國的研究與發展經費高達國內生產總值（GDP）的2.26%，在經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）國家中排名第四。

服務業

服務業近年來發展較快，現為法國經濟最為重要的部門，2014年法國服務業人口占總就業人口的76.9%。法國連鎖式經營企業發達，擴展到零售、房地產、旅館、運輸、娛樂業等多種行業。著名的服務業企業有家樂福、歐尚、卡西諾和雅高等。

旅遊業

法國是世界上最受歡迎的旅遊目的地，2012年有8300萬名遊客赴法旅遊，其中並不包括停駐時間少于24小時的遊客，例如計劃赴西班牙和意大利旅遊但將法國作為中轉站的北歐遊客。在旅遊收入方面，法國則排名世界第三，這主要是因為遊客的停留時間較短。法國擁有37個聯合國教科文組織認定的世界文化遺產，同時擁有文化氛圍濃厚的城市、海灘和海岸度假勝地、滑雪度假村以及景色優美而寧靜的農村地區。「法國最美麗的村莊」組織致力于對適宜生態旅遊的村莊進行評級，而法國亦由文化及通信部評選出200多座景色怡人的花園，給予「」稱號，便于給予生態保護。此外，法國聖雅各伯朝聖之路和露德聖母朝聖地是重要的宗教性旅遊目的地，每年皆可吸引眾多基督教朝覲者。

法國（尤其是巴黎）擁有眾多世界知名的博物館，其中，盧浮宮是世界上遊覽人數第二多的藝術博物館，僅次于中國故宮博物院。奧賽博物館和蓬皮杜中心亦為著名的法國博物館，前者主要收集印象派藝術作品，後者主要收集當代藝術作品。巴黎迪士尼樂園度假區是歐洲最受歡迎的主題公園，2009年有1500萬名遊客遊覽度假區的迪士尼樂園和華特迪士尼影城。

藍色海岸（Côte d'Azur）每年大約接待1000萬名遊客，為法國第二大旅遊目的地，僅次于首都巴黎所在的法蘭西島大區，每年世界50%的豪華遊艇集結于此。藍色海岸每年大約有300天的日照時長和的海岸和海灘，18處高爾夫球場、14處滑雪度假村以及大約3,000家餐廳。盧瓦爾河流域是法國的另外一個主要旅遊目的地，被稱為「法國的花園」和「法語的搖籃」，以其高質量的建築遺產著稱，擁有眾多法式城堡（châteaux）。著名的城堡有昂布瓦斯城堡、香波爾城堡、于塞城堡、維朗德里城堡、舍農索城堡和蒙索羅城堡。

根據2003年的統計排名，法國最受歡迎的旅遊景點（按年遊客多寡排序）有埃菲爾鐵塔（620萬）、盧浮宮（570萬）、凡爾賽宮（280萬）、奧賽博物館（210萬）、巴黎凱旋門（120萬）、蓬皮杜中心（120萬）、聖米歇爾山（100萬）、香波爾城堡（71萬）、聖禮拜堂（68萬）、（55萬）、多姆山（50萬）、畢加索博物館（44萬）和卡爾卡松（36萬）。

能源

2012年，法國的發電量達到559 TW·h（國際能源署統計），位列世界第8位。法國電力公司是法國主要的發電及供電公司，也是世界上規模最大的電力供應商之一，2003年其發電量占歐盟總電量的22%。法國主要藉由核能發電，其在核科技上投資巨大。法國總發電量的75%來自全國59座核電站（2012年數據），比率為世界最高。得益于核能發電的廣泛應用，法國是八國集團中溫室氣體排放量最少的國家。此外，法國的水能和地熱資源的開發利用較為充分，國內的水電發電所有、和。2014年，法國19.5%的電力由可再生能源提供，其中13.8%來自水力、3.5%來自風力、1.2%來自太陽能、1.0%來自其它能源。

法國本土的主要礦產為鐵礦，蘊藏量約10億噸，但品質低、不利開採。非鐵金屬蘊藏量少。近年來，法國面臨資源枯竭、礦場關閉的問題（尤以煤礦為甚），礦產資源依賴進口。

交通

，法國鐵路總長，為歐洲第二長，僅次于德國。法國的鐵路運輸由法國國家鐵路（SNCF）運作，擁有大力士高速列車、歐洲之星和法國高速列車（TGV）三種高速列車，其中TGV列車達到的速度（商務），歐洲之星線路則通過英法海底隧道與英國相連。除安道爾外，法國與所有鄰國都設有跨國鐵路。市內軌道交通方面，除公共汽車運輸外，法國的地鐵（主要于巴黎、里昂、里爾、馬賽、圖盧茲、雷恩等）與有軌電車（主要于南特、斯特拉斯堡、波爾多、格勒諾布爾、蒙彼利埃等）建設同樣完備。

法國國內有大約長的可用公路，為歐洲之最。巴黎是國家道路網的中心，周邊地區布滿了密集的道路與高速公路網，與全國幾乎所有運輸網點相連接。跨國公路方面，法國公路網與鄰國比利時、盧森堡、德國、瑞士、意大利、西班牙、安道爾和摩納哥相連，運作跨國運輸。雖然法國不設年註冊費或路稅，但大部分私有高速公路為收費通過（一些大型市鎮的周邊地區除外）。法國的汽車市場基本為國內品牌控制，例如雷諾（2003年售出車輛占法國總售出車輛的27%）、標緻（20.1%）和雪鐵龍（13.5%）。在2004年，法國超過75%售出的汽車裝有柴油引擎，遠多于汽油引擎和液化石油氣引擎。世界上最高的橋梁米約高架橋位于法國，除此以外，法國亦建有許多重要橋梁，例如諾曼底大橋。

法國國內有464家機場，其中巴黎近郊的夏爾·戴高樂機場最為繁忙、規模最大，運作著繁重的民用運輸與商務運輸事務，同時也是全世界幾乎所有主要城市與巴黎的聯繫點。法國航空是法國的國家航空公司，除此之外亦有數個私有公司運作國內國際的旅行服務。

法國國內擁有10座主要港口，其中馬賽港規模最大，其亦是地中海規模最大的港口。法國國內的水路航線長，其中包括通過加龍河溝通地中海與大西洋的米迪運河。

科技

自中世紀起，法國就是世界科技發展的重要貢獻者之一。11世紀初，羅馬教宗西爾維斯特二世（法國人，本名熱爾貝·德奧里亞克）在北歐與西歐重新引入算盤、環形球儀、阿拉伯數字和鐘錶。12世紀中期成立的巴黎大學現今仍是西方世界最為重要的高等學府之一。17世紀，勒內·笛卡爾創立解析幾何，將當時完全分開的代數和幾何學聯繫到一起；布萊茲·帕斯卡是概率學和流體力學的奠基人。此二人都是當時席捲歐洲的科學革命的重要人物。為激勵和保護法國人的科學研究精神，17世紀，路易十四設立法國科學院，這是世界上最早的科學學院之一。該機構在17至18世紀站在歐洲科技發展的最前沿。

啟蒙時代法國的科技成就非凡，其中兩位科學巨人布豐和安托萬·拉瓦錫的著作和理論分別對于近代生態學和化學有著深遠影響。德尼·狄德羅和讓·勒朗·達朗貝爾主編了《百科全書》，它是歷史上第一部致力于普及科學和藝術知識的綜合性百科全書。19世紀，隨著工業革命的開展，法國科技依然碩果纍纍，湧現出一批批著名科學家。奧古斯丁·菲涅耳是近代光學的奠基人；尼古拉·卡諾為熱力學的研究提供了理論基礎；路易·巴斯德則是微生物學的先驅。巴黎埃菲爾鐵塔上所刻的72個姓名，其中絕大部分都是法國的傑出科學家。

20世紀法國的著名科學家包括數學家兼物理學家昂利·龐加萊；物理學家亨利·貝可勒爾、保羅·朗之萬、路易·德布羅意、皮埃爾·居里和瑪麗·居里，其中居里夫婦對于放射學的貢獻卓著；病毒學家呂克·蒙塔尼耶，是人類免疫缺陷病毒的發現者之一。1998年9月23日，一支由世界各國科學家組成的研究團隊在里昂成功實現手移植，這其中包括法國醫生，他成功地實行世界首例雙手移植手術。2001年9月7日團隊成功實現世界首例遠距外科手術，即。2005年11月27日實現了臉部移植。

法國是世界上第四個擁有核武器的國家，現擁有世界第三大核武貯備量，而且在民用核技術領域具有領軍地位。法國于1965年通過鑽石A型運載火箭發射其第一顆人造衛星，成為世界上第三個能夠完全自行發射人造衛星的國家。法國現為歐洲空間局的主要貢獻者（參見法國國家空間研究中心）。空中客車集團總部位于法國圖盧茲，主要負責民用／軍用飛行器以及通信系統、導彈、宇宙火箭、直升機、衛星和相關儀器的設計研發，其前身歐洲航空防務與航天公司由法國航空航天公司、和合併而成。1970年法國國有鐵路公司法國國家鐵路推出法國高速列車（TGV），2007年4月3日以574.8公里的時速創造輪軌列車的最快紀錄。如今法國TGV網絡同樣負責西歐的鐵路運輸。

，法國有67人獲得過諾貝爾獎（其中物理學獎13人、化學獎8人、生理學或醫學獎13人），12人獲得過菲爾茲獎。

人口

法國於2016年1月估計人口約有6,660萬人，若不包括海外領地和海外地區則為6,450萬人。法國人口數量位居世界第20，並居歐洲第三位。

法國人口增長相較於其他發達國家，尤其是歐洲國家相對特殊，擁有較高的出生率及自然增加率。法國於2006年的自然增長人口幾乎與歐盟相同，該年自然增長約30萬人，為1973年嬰兒潮結束以來的新高，並將總和生育率由1994年的1.7提高到2010年的2.0。

法國自2006年至2011年人口年均增長率為0.6%，移民人口生育率為人口增長的主要因素，於2010年，法國本土27%的新生兒中至少有父母一方為外國出生，並有24%新生兒的父母至少一方出生於歐洲以外地區。

民族

絕大多數法國人的先祖為凱爾特人（高盧人），同時具有拉丁（羅馬）及日耳曼（法蘭克）血統，他們被稱為法蘭西人，占全國總人口九成以上。國內的其他民族有阿爾薩斯人、巴斯克人、布列塔尼人、加泰羅尼亞人、科西嘉人、弗拉芒人和奧克人等。根據法國法律，大規模統計民族與血統資料是被禁止的。這項法律源自1789年的大革命，在1958年憲法中被重申。

20世紀起法國迎來大規模的移民，這使得法國社會趨向多元化。僅自1921年至1935年間，法國便迎來110萬淨移民；在20世紀60年代，阿爾及利亞戰爭又導致大約160萬「黑腳」（北非法裔居民）回國，而一些西班牙、葡萄牙、北非及西非人也趁此移民至法國。智庫2004年估計法國本土有5,100萬歐裔（占總人口85%）、600萬北非裔（占總人口10%）、200萬非裔（黑人，占總人口3.3%）以及100萬亞裔（1.7%）。2008年，法國國家統計與經濟研究所和聯合進行一項題為「軌跡與來源」的調查，表明法國有大約500萬意大利裔、300萬至600萬北非裔、250萬非裔（黑人）以及20萬土耳其裔。在法國，數量較多的其他歐裔居民大多為西班牙人、葡萄牙人、羅姆人、波蘭人和希臘人。

現今法國仍是主要的移民目的地之一，每年大約接收20萬合法移民；法國亦是西歐重要的難民接收國及庇護尋求地，2005年大約有5萬名難民或庇護尋求者。根據法國國家統計與經濟研究所2008年的估計，法國國內第一代移民總數為500萬，占總人口8%；第二代及後代移民約650萬，占人口的11%，因此從目前來看，法國大約五分之一的人口為移民（其中約有400萬北非裔）。2008年，法國新授予137,000人以公民身份，他們大多來自摩洛哥、阿爾及利亞和土耳其。2014年，法國國家統計與經濟研究所又發表研究稱，自2009年至2012年間，由于同時期的經濟危機（參見歐豬四國），法國的西班牙、葡萄牙以及意大利移民數量增加一倍，例如西班牙移民從5300人增長到11,000人，大約增加107%。在國內23萬外國人中，大約有8%葡萄牙人、5%英國人、5%西班牙人、4%意大利人、4%德國人、3%羅馬尼亞人和3%比利時人。而由于歐盟允許成員國公民的自由流動，法國近年來亦受到東歐移民潮較大影響，迫使其對東歐移民設置限制。移民正在成為法國的爭議政治問題之一。

主要城市

法國是高度城市化的國家，主要大城市如下：