France Wikipedia

The vast majority of France’s territory and population is situated in Western Europe and is called Metropolitan France. During the 1970s France faced an economic crisis and allowed new immigrants (mostly from the Maghreb, in northwest Africa) to permanently settle in France with their families and acquire citizenship. During the Cold War, de Gaulle pursued a policy of “national independence” towards the Western and Eastern blocs.

Napoleonic France (1799–

The region is characterized by its flat landscape, with a series of alluvial terraces and floodplains. The range showcases rounded summits and a westward decline, which contrasts with the sharp ridges facing east, formed out of distinctive pink granite sandstone. The region is characterized by its dense forests and relatively high annual rainfall. The region’s geological evolution has resulted in a series of terraces alongside the river, which have influenced settlement and land-use patterns.

France retains strong political and economic influence in its former African colonies (Françafrique) and has supplied economic aid and troops for peacekeeping 1xbet missions in Ivory Coast and Chad. It also hosts the headquarters of several international organisations, including the OECD, UNESCO, Interpol, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and the OIF. Right-wing populist RN became the largest opposition party in the National Assembly in 2022. The prime minister, who is Sébastien Lecornu since 2025, is the head of government, appointed by the president to lead the government.

• France was one of the major participants of World War I, from which it emerged victorious at great human and economic cost.
• 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.
• Coastal areas are characterized by marshy plains, while the inland region is dominated by the Guiana Shield, a plateau region of ancient rock.
• Électricité de France (EDF), which is majority-owned by the French government, is the country’s main producer and distributor of electricity and one of the world’s largest electric utility companies, ranking third in revenue globally.
• The region is characterized by its dense forests and relatively high annual rainfall.

Medical Facilities and Health Information

France is the third-biggest manufacturing country in Europe, behind Germany and Italy, and ranks eighth in the world by manufacturing output, at 1.9 per cent. Considered a great power with considerable economic strength, it is a member of the Group of Seven leading industrialised countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the G20. For two centuries, it has consistently ranked among the ten largest globally; as of 2025update it is the world’s ninth largest by purchasing power parity and second largest in the EU, after Germany. France has a social market economy characterised by sizeable government involvement and diversified sectors. 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.

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. 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 of Algeria and Morocco. 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%). Immigrants are major contributors to this trend; in 2010, roughly one in four newborns (27 percent) in Metropolitan France had at least one foreign-born parent, and another 24 percent had at least one parent born outside Europe (excluding French overseas territories). With an estimated population of 69,081,996 people,k France is the 20th most populous country in the world, the third-most populous in Europe, and the second most populous in the European Union.

In the early 20th century and in particular during the interwar period, a loose collection of foreign artists of whom many were Jewish formed the School of Paris. French artists developed the rococo style in the early 18th century, as a more intimate evolution of the Baroque style, the works of the court-endorsed artists Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard being the most representative in the country. France also supports a network of schools internationally through the Agency for French Education Abroad.

Metropolitan France covers 551,500 square kilometres (212,935 sq mi), the largest among European Union members. Its continental part covers about 1000 km from north to south and from east to west. Metropolitan France includes various coastal islands, of which the largest is Corsica.

It is noted for having a strong film industry, due in part to protections afforded by the government. Several important cinematic movements, including the late 1950s and 1960s Nouvelle Vague, began in the country. Although English-speaking creations achieved popularity in the country, French pop music, known as chanson française, has also remained very popular. French philosophers made major contributions to the field in the 20th century including the existentialist works of Simone de Beauvoir, Camus, and Sartre.

The northern part of the valley, surrounded by mountains and plateaus, is narrow, while the southern part expands into a broad floodplain. The region’s soils are sandy, having been shaped by the gradual accumulation of marine and wind-blown deposits. Notably, the region has a significant maritime influence, manifesting in its climate and the physical formation of its coastal features.

Intra-urban connections are also well developed, with most major cities having underground or tramway services complementing bus services. France is considered a world leader in nuclear technology, with reactors and fuel products being major exports. Consequently, 70% of its electricity is generated by nuclear power, the highest proportion in the world by a wide margin; only Slovakia and Ukraine also derive a majority of electricity from nuclear power, at roughly 53% and 51%, respectively.