France

Geography

France is a country on the Atlantic coast of Western Europe. The land has a total area of 549,087 km² (212,004 mi²) and a total coastline of 3,427 km (2,129.4 mi). This land area is approximately 79% of the area of Texas. In terms of area, France is the third largest country in Europe after Russia and Ukraine and the 49th largest in the world. An exceptionally high proportion of residents (81%) belong to the urban population.

France is comparatively low at an average elevation of 375 meters above sea level. The highest mountain peak (Mont Blanc) is at 4,810 meters. The country has about 70 islands. There are direct national borders with the 8 neighbouring countries Andorra, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain and Switzerland. The distance between New York City and the Capital Paris is about 5,840 km (3,629 mi).

The climate in France

Due to the size of the country and its extension from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, France has a wide variety of climatic zones. In the northwest, there is a temperate maritime climate with mild winters and only moderately warm summers. In the east, far from the Atlantic coast, there is a continental climate with sometimes quite severe winters. Winters are warmest on the Mediterranean coast. Summers are consistently hot with only low precipitation.

• Detailed climate data for France and 22 individual departments
• Earthquakes

Languages

mother tongue	distribution
› French	93.6 %
› Arabic	2.5 %
› Portuguese	1.2 %
› Italian	0.4 %
› Spanish	0.4 %
› Turkish	0.4 %
other	1.5 %

Religions

Branch	distribution
Buddhists	0.6%
Roman Catholics	58.0%
other Christs	6.0%
Muslims	8.0%
Jews	0.7%
nondenominational	24.0%
other	2.7%

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Economy

GDP:	2.02 bn $
Exportations:	759.61 bn $
Importations:	808.17 bn $
Budget deficit:	190.31 bn $
› Tourism receipts:	35.96 bn $
› Gross debt:	3,327.04 bn $
› Unemployment rate:	8.1 %
› Inflation rate:	1.64 %
› corruption index:	71 (good)
› Energy consumption:	450.8 bn kWh

With an Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.901 France counts as one of the high developed economies by UN-definition. The IMF also shares this classification. Considering the purchasing power parity France is among the 30 richest countries in the world.

Land use

16% Urban areas:	86,463 km²
52% Agricultural areas:	288,051 km²
32% Forest:	173,017 km²
0% Water areas:	1,530 km²
0% Others:	1,556 km²

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Transport

Roadways:	1,053,215 km
Railways:	29,640 km
Commercial harbors:	548
› Airports:	464