ACOG - France  - IBM

Geography

Location: Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain

Area:
total area: 547,030 sq km
land area: 545,630 sq km
comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Colorado

Land boundaries: total 2,892.4 km, Andorra 60 km, Belgium 620 km, Germany 451 km, Italy488 km, Luxembourg 73 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Spain 623 km, Switzerland 573 km

Coastline: 3,427 km


People

Population: 58,109,160 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (female 5,438,447; male 5,700,143)
15-64 years: 65% (female 18,889,771; male 19,001,536)
65 years and over: 16% (female 5,433,276; male 3,645,987)

Population growth rate: 0.46% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 13 births/1,000 population

Death rate: 9.29 deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate: 0.86 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 6.5 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.37 years
male: 74.5 years
female: 82.44 years

Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman

Ethnic divisions: Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Indochinese,Basque minorities

Religions: Roman Catholic 90%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim (North African workers) 1%, unaffiliated 6%

Languages: French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1991 est.)
total population: 99%
male:
female:


Government

Names:
conventional long form: French Republic
conventional short form: France

Type: republic

Capital: Paris

Independence: 486 (unified by Clovis)

Constitution: 28 September 1958, amended concerning election of president in 1962, amended to comply with provisions of EC Maastricht Treaty in 1992; amended to tighten immigration laws 1993


Economy

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $1.0801 trillion

National product real growth rate: 2.4%

National product per capita: $18,670

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.6%

Unemployment rate: 12.6%

Electricity:
capacity: 105,250,000 kW
production: 447 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 6,149 kWh



Olympic Factoid
The volunteer staff of the 1996 Olympic Games totaled 50,152. They worked an estimated 850,000 shifts.