Page last modified 18 August 2023

France

Community

Historic Area square kilometres

537,699 (1801)

536,464 (1872)

550,986 (1921)

Present Area

551,695 square kilometres, excluding non-European dependencies (land area, excluding water and glaciers, 543,941square kilometres)

Population,

12,000,000 (1200)

21,000,000 (1340)

14,000,000 (1470)

16,000,000 (1600)

19,660,300 (1700)

25,200,000 (1770)

27,349,003 (1801)

30,461,975 (1821)

32,569,223 (1831)

34,230,178 (1841)

35,783,170 (1851)

37,386,313 (1861)

36,102,064 (1872)*

37,672,048 (1881)

38,342,948 (1891)

38,961,945 (1901)

39,604,992 (1911)

39,209,518 (1921)

41,834,923 (1931)

41,907,056 (1936)

40,506,639 (1946)

42,777,174 (1954)

46,621,700 (1960)

51,960,000 (1970) +11.5%

55,161,000 (1980) +6.2%

58,236,000 (1990) +5.6%

60,913,000 (2000) +4.6%

65,028,000 (2010) +6.8%

67,392,000 (2020) +3.6%

*In 1871 France ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany; a loss of 1,600,000 people and 5,590 square kilometres.

Ethnicity, A law dating from 1789, and reaffirmed in 1958, makes it illegal for the French Government to collect data on ethnicity. Estimates of ethnicity are compiled by NGOs.

	African Maghreb	African Sub-Saharan	Asian	White
2004	10.0	3.5	1.5	85.0

Religion,

	Christian Protestant	Christian R C (1)	Jewish	Muslim Sunni	None
1873			0.1		0.2
1900	2.2	97.1	0.2	0.1
1908			0.2
1937			0.4
1947			0.6
1967		91.0		1.0	6.0
1970	2.0	80.3	1.0		9.0
1986	1.0	81.0
1990		74.0		2.0	18.0
2007		62.0	1.0	4.0
2016	2.0	55.0	0.8	5.6	35.0

(1) The % of the population that is Catholic and attends church at least once a month fell from 25% in 1967 to 6% in 2016

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1700							17.1
1780							22.3
1800							23.4
1845		27.3 (+4.1)		23.2
1851							25.5
1861							28.0
1865		26.4 (+2.8)	165.0	23.6
1875		25.4 (+1.7)		23.7
1881		24.0					34.8
1885		23.9 (+1.8)		22.1
1895		22.2 (+0.7)		21.5
1900	2.2	21.7 (+2.2)	145.0	19.5	26.1		38.0
1910	1.9	18.1 (-0.9)		19.0
1920							46.0
1930	2.6	16.5 (+0.8)	73.0	15.7			50.5
1940	2.4						53.0
1945			108.0
1950	2.1	20.0 (+7.0)	45.0	13.0	22.7	11.4	55.0
1960	2.1	18.0 (+6.6)	23.6	11.4	26.3	11.6	61.9
1970	2.3	16.0 (+5.2)	15.0	10.8	24.8	12.8	71.1
1980	1.9	14.0 (+3.8)	10.2	10.2	22.1	13.9	73.3
1990	1.8	12.8 (+3.5)	7.4	9.3	19.9	14.0	74.1
2000	1.9	13.1 (+4.2)	4.4	8.9	18.8	16.0	76.9
2010	2.0	12.3 (+3.8)	3.5	8.5	18.4	16.8	78.3
2015	2.0	12.0 (+3.0)	3.4	9.0	18.3	18.9	79.5
2017	1.9	11.4 (+2.4)	3.4	9.0
2018			3.4		18.0	20.0	80.4

Life expectancy,

40.2 (1820); 39.4 (M), 41.0 (F)

39.7 (1840); 38.2 (M), 41.3 (F)

41.6 (1860); 40.4 (M), 42.7 (F)

42.7 (1880): 41.5 (M), 43.9 (F)

47.0 (1900); 45.4 (M), 48.9 (F)

50.4 (1910); 48.5 (M), 52.4 (F)

56.6 (1930); 54.3 (M), 59.0 (F)

68.1 (1953); 65.0 (M), 72.1 (F)

69.9 (1960); 66.6 (M), 73.3 (F)

71.7 (1970); 68.0 (M), 75.5 (F)

74.1 (1980); 70.1 (M), 78.2 (F)

76.6 (1990); 72.6 (M), 80.8 (F)

79.1 (2000); 75.3 (M), 83.0 (F)

81.7 (2010); 78.2 (M), 85.3 (F)

82.7 (2020); 79.8 (M), 83.5 (F)

Population of principal cities, 1,000s

	Bordeaux	MA	Clermont Ferrand	MA	Grenoble^1	MA	Le Havre	MA
1750	64
1850	142		30				80
1872	191		33		35
1886	235
1891	248				57		117
1901	257		53		69		130
1936	258		101		96		164
1946	254		109		102		107
1950		385		133		128		157
1954	258		113		116		140
1960		451		154		210		210
1968	267	555	149	204	162	332	200	247
1975	226	612	161	253	170	389	220	264
1982	211	640	151	256	159	392	200	255
1990	213	696			154	404
1999	219	754	141	258	156	419	193	249
2006	232	803			156	428	183	238
2011				211				250
2013		1,195			163

¹Grenoble was originally known as Cularo in pre-Roman times; the city changed name to Gratianopolis (from the Roman Governor, Gratian) under the Roman occupation of Gaul, from which the present name derives.

	Lille	MA	Lyon	MA	Marseille	MA	Montpellier	MA
1720					90 to 50^2
1750	54		115
1850	132		254		193
1860						260	40
1872	153		330				54
1890	201		398				66
1901	215		459		491		76
1936	201		570		914
1946	189		571		636		93
1950		322		583		674
1954	195		471		661		98
1960		414		827		762
1968	191	881	528	1,075	964	964	162	171
1975	177	936	463	1,171	914	1,071	196	211
1982	174	936	418	1,221	878	1,111	201	221
1990	178	959	422	1,262	808	1,231
1999	191	1,001	453	1,349	807	1,350	229	288
2006	226	1,028	473	1,456	839	1,457	252	318
2012	229		500		850		275
2014				2,265		1,578

²In May 1720 almost half the population of Marseille (founded 600 BCE by Greek colonists) died of the Plague, after it arrived on a ship from Syria. Fortunately this outbreak of the Plague failed to spread much beyond Provence and by late 1721 had ceased.

	Nantes	MA	Nice	MA	PARIS^1	MA
1200					80
1500					100
1600					200
1700					500
1800	80		24		550
1816					622
1824					750
1830					770
1842	84		34		1,000
1851					1,053
1862	114		37		1,069
1872			42		1,852
1881					2,269
1890	116		88
1901	133		105		2,714
1936	195		215		2,830
1946	200		211		2,725
1950		212				6,000
1954	228		244		2,850
1960		306				7,287
1968	259	394	322	393	2,591	8,197
1975	254	453	347	438	2,317	8,550
1982	247	465	338	450	2,189	8,707
1990	252	496	346	517	2,175	9,319
1999	278	545	346	889	2,148	9,800
2006	283	569	347	940	2,125
2010						10,410
2013	303	613	344	1,004	2,229	10,601
	Nantes	MA	Nice	MA	PARIS^1	MA

¹Paris is named after the local Gallic Parisii tribe.

	Rennes^1	MA	Rouen	MA	Saint Etienne	MA	Strasbourg	MA
1750			88				56
1862	34		95
1872	49		102
1891	65		112	160			123
1901	75		116		147		151
1936	99		123		190		193
1946	114		108	205	178		174
1950								212
1954	124		117		182		201
1960						262		287
1968	181	193	120	370	213	331	249	335
1975	206	229	118	389	222	335	257	365
1982	200	234	105	380	207	317	252	252
1990	204		105	380			256	388
1999	212	272	109	390	184	292	267	427
2006	210	283	108	389	177	286	273	440

¹Rennes was formerly the capital of Brittany.

	Toulon	MA	Toulouse	MA	Valenciennes	MA
1335			30
1435			8
1861	85		113
1872					22
1901	101		149		23
1936	150		213
1946	126		264
1950		183		270
1954	141		269
1960		209		311		163
1968	175	340	371	440	47	224
1975	185	378	383	501	43	351
1982	182	410	354	541	41	350
1990	170	438	366	650	39	338
1999	166	520	398	761	42	357
2006	168	543	438	851	42	356
2009		559
2011	164
2013			466	935	43	400

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1700	90 UK�
1914	6,000		153
1948	17,336	7.76	418	27.41
1956	39,970	11.16
1960	62,650	11.53	1,340	44.56
1965	102,160	13.74	2,000	52.25
1970	146,630	14.10	2,899	55.25
1975	351,350	21.49	6,681	85.43
1980	681,520	24.38	12,701	100.82
1985	531,930	12.63	9,466	51.81
1990	1,216,610	20.96	21,700	90.59
1995	1,554,820	21.01	26,900	89.46
2000	1,289,100	12.94	22,465	61.63
2005	2,110,200	16.12	34,880	78.72
2010	2,646,800	17.69	40,700	84.14
2015	2,433,560	13.49	36,526	64.98
2016	2,465,450	13.28	36,855	64.13

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1800		55.0
1850	55.0	49.0
1900	43.0	42.0
1910		41.0
1920		42.0		29.0		29.0
1930		37.0
1940		37.0
1950		29.0		36.0		35.0
1960		22.0		39.0		39.0
1970	16.0	14.0
1980		8.0		39.0		53.0
1990	3.3	6.3	32.0	28.5	64.0	61.0
2000	2.4	3.8	29.0	28.0	72.0	68.0
2010	1.8	3.8	19.2	24.3	79.0	71.8
2016	1.6	2.4	19.6	18.3	78.8	79.3

Communications

Language Official; French

	Arabic	Breton	French	German	Portuguese
1990	2.5	0.5	93.5	2.0	1.0

Literacy

95.3% (1900)

99.9% (1980 and after)

Physical communications � roads and railways, The first railway in France opened October 1828, from St Etienne to Andrezieux, using horse traction. The first steam railway in France opened in 1830, the first section of the St Etienne to Lyons railway (initially worked by horse and steam).� The Freycinet Act of 1878 called for 150 new lines linking all urban centres, with many local narrow gauge lines being built to link towns to the nearest mainline.

First railway in Corsica opened 1888.� All French railways were merged in the SNCF 1938.�

	Roads (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles	Railways (km)	% Electric
1840					411
1850					2,982
1860					9,414
1870					17,407
1880					23,609
1890					32,913
1900					36,814
1910					38,915
1920					41,617
1930					42,217
1938	631,000				42,283	7.8
1940					40,017
1947			953,132	696,983
1950		2,295,000			41,317	9.9
1956		4,900,000	3,246,000
1960	664,800				39,350	16.4
1961			6,158,411	1,722,513	38,620
1964		10,846,400
1970	784,006
1977	799,380		16,990,000	2,175,000	34,150
1980	804,256		18,440,000	2,360,000	34,462	18.8
1986					34,541	33.3
1990			23,300,000	4,790,000	34,070	35.8
2000	893,100	33,090,000	28,060,000	5,673,000	31,500	45.9
2007		37,033,000	30,700,000	6,270,000
2010	1,028,500	37,744,000	31,394,000		29,640	51.8
2013		38,200,000			29,640
2014			32,587,000		29,640	52.5
	Roads (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles	Railways (km)	% Electric

TGV and urban metro systems (km). First TGV tracks laid in 1974, and first TGV train ran in 1983 (Paris to Lyons). Channel Tunnel rail services began in 1994.� For 2015, 6,000 kilometres of TGV track were envisaged (2000).

	TGV	Lille (1983)	Lyons (1978)	Marseilles (1977)	Paris (1900)	Rennes (2002)	Toulouse (1993)
1992		25.0	20.8	19.5	199.0		10.0
1997	1,860
2000	2,100	45.0
2005			29.0	19.5	211.3	9.4	12.0
2017	2,647*	45.0	32.1	21.5	214.0	9.4	28.2

*In 2017, a further 670 km TGV track were under construction.

Electronic communications, 1,000s. TV broadcasts began 1931 (colour from 1967)

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1938	1,590		4,706
1944	1,849
1947	1,997		5,728
1950			6,890	3.8
1951	2,406
1960			10,981	1,902
1961	4,649			2,555
1966			22,000	7,500
1968				9,300
1970	8,000
1971				11,655
1976				14,500
1980	15,898
1983				19,000
1986		9
1988			49,000		3,100
1990	28,000	283	50,370	22,800	4,000
1995		1,303	52,000	34,250	8,500
1998						2,500
2000	33,987	29,000	55,900	37,000	17,920
2002						16,970
2005		48,058			35,000	26,150
2006					40,000
2008						40,850
2010	35,200	62,800				47,750
2016	39,006	65,500				57,227

Tourism: Visitors to France,

3,052,000 (1950)

5,613,000 (1960)

8,100,000 (1970)

16,573,000 (1974)

26,285,000 (1978)

36,818,000 (1987)

52,497,000 (1990)

60,033,000 (1995)

77,190,000 (2000)

74,988,000 (2005)

76,647,000 (2010)

84,452,000 (2015)