- Merovingian and Carolingian age
- The emergence of France
- France, 1180 toc. 1490
- The French Revolution and Napoleon, 1789–1815
- France, 1815–1940
France
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
- What is France and where is it located?
- What is the capital city of France?
- What are some famous landmarks in France?
- What language is primarily spoken in France?
- What are some traditional French foods and dishes?
- What is the history of the French Revolution?
- How is France's government structured?
- What cultural contributions has France made to the world?
News•
France,country of northwesternEurope. Historically and culturally among the most important nations in the Western world, France has also played a highly significant role in international affairs, with former colonies in every corner of the globe. Bounded by theAtlantic Ocean and theMediterranean Sea, theAlps and thePyrenees, France has long provided a geographic, economic, and linguistic bridge joining northern and southern Europe. It is Europe’s most important agricultural producer and one of the world’s leading industrial powers.
France is among the globe’s oldest nations, the product of an alliance of duchies and principalities under a single ruler in theMiddle Ages. Today, as in that era, centralauthority is vested in the state, even though a measure ofautonomy has been granted to the country’srégions in recent decades. The French people look to the state as the primary guardian of liberty, and the state in turn provides a generous program of amenities for its citizens, from free education to health care and pension plans. Even so, this centralist tendency is often at odds with another long-standing theme of the French nation: the insistence on the supremacy of the individual. On this matter historianJules Michelet remarked, “England is an empire,Germany is a nation, a race, France is a person.” StatesmanCharles de Gaulle, too, famously complained, “Onlyperil can bring the French together. One can’t impose unity out of the blue on a country that has 265 kinds of cheese.”
- Head Of Government:
- Prime minister: Sébastien Lecornu
- Capital:
- Paris
- Population:
- (2025 est.) 66,607,000
- Currency Exchange Rate:
- 1 USD equals 0.860 euro
- Head Of State:
- President:Emmanuel Macron
- Form Of Government:
- republic with two legislative houses (Parliament; Senate [348], National Assembly [577])
- Official Language:
- French
- Official Religion:
- none
- Official Name:
- République Française (French Republic)
- Total Area (Sq Km):
- 543,941
- Total Area (Sq Mi):
- 210,016
- Monetary Unit:
- euro (€)
- Population Rank:
- (2025) 22
- Population Projection 2030:
- 68,379,000
- Density: Persons Per Sq Mi:
- (2025) 317.2
- Density: Persons Per Sq Km:
- (2025) 122.5
- Urban-Rural Population:
- Urban: (2018) 80.4%
- Rural: (2018) 19.6%
- Life Expectancy At Birth:
- Male: (2024) 80 years
- Female: (2024) 85.6 years
- Literacy: Percentage Of Population Age 15 And Over Literate:
- Male: (2000–2004) 99%
- Female: (2000–2004) 99%
- Gni (U.S.$ ’000,000):
- (2023) 3,085,397
- Gni Per Capita (U.S.$):
- (2023) 45,180
- Officially:
- French Republic
- French:
- France or République Française
This tendency towardindividualism joins with a pluralist outlook and a great interest in the larger world. Even though its imperialist stage was driven by the impulse to civilize that world according to French standards (la mission civilisatrice), the French still note approvingly the words of writerGustave Flaubert:
I am no more modern than I am ancient, no more French than Chinese; and the idea ofla patrie, the fatherland—that is, the obligation to live on a bit of earth coloured red or blue on a map, and to detest the other bits coloured green or black—has always seemed to me narrow, restricted, and ferociously stupid.
At once universal and particular, Frenchculture has spread far and greatly influenced the development of art and science, particularly anthropology, philosophy, andsociology.
France has also been influential in government and civil affairs, giving the world important democratic ideals in the age of theEnlightenment and theFrench Revolution and inspiring the growth of reformist and even revolutionary movements for generations. The presentFifth Republic has, however, enjoyed notable stability since its promulgation on September 28, 1958, marked by a tremendous growth in privateinitiative and the rise of centrist politics. Although France has engaged in long-running disputes with other European powers (and, from time to time, with theUnited States, its longtime ally), it emerged as a leading member in theEuropean Union (EU) and its predecessors. From 1966 to 1995 France did not participate in theintegrated military structure of theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), retaining full control over its own air, ground, and naval forces; beginning in 1995, however, France was represented on the NATO Military Committee, and in 2009 French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy announced that the country would rejoin the organization’s military command. As one of the five permanent members of theUnited Nations Security Council—together with the United States,Russia, theUnited Kingdom, andChina—France has the right to veto decisions put to the council.
The capital and by far the most important city of France isParis, one of the world’s preeminent cultural and commercial centres. A majestic city known as theville lumière, or “city of light,” Paris has often been remade, most famously in the mid-19th century under the command ofGeorges-Eugène, Baron Haussman, who was committed toNapoleon III’s vision of a modern city free of the choleric swamps and congested alleys of old, with broad avenues and a regular plan. Paris is now a sprawling metropolis, one of Europe’s largest conurbations, but its historic heart can still betraversed in an evening’s walk. Confident that their city stood at the very centre of the world, Parisians were once given to referring to their country as having two parts, Paris andle désert, the wasteland beyond it. Metropolitan Paris has now extended far beyond its ancient suburbs into the countryside, however, and nearly every French town and village now numbers a retiree or two driven from the city by the highcost of living, so that, in a sense, Paris has come to embrace the desert and the desert Paris.
Among France’s other major cities areLyon, located along an ancient Rhône valley trade route linking theNorth Sea and the Mediterranean;Marseille, a multiethnic port on the Mediterranean founded as an entrepôt for Greek and Carthaginian traders in the 6th centurybce;Nantes, an industrial centre and deepwater harbour along the Atlantic coast; andBordeaux, located in southwestern France along theGaronne River.