President: Francois Hollande Prime minister: Jean-Marc Ayrault
President: Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Population
65,630,692
1,274,709
Life Expectancy
81.460 years
73.580 years
Capital City
Paris
Tallinn
Largest city
Paris (population: 2,138,550)
Tallinn (population: 394,024)
Human Development Index
0.955
0.871
GDP per capita
$35,600 US
$20,600 US
Literacy Rate
99%
99.8%
Corruption Perception Index
6.9
6.6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
19.6%
20.8%
Wealthiest Citizens
Bernard Arnault ($16.5bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
9.300%
12.100%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
republic
parliamentary republic
Independence date
486 (Frankish tribes unified); 843 (Western Francia established from the division of the Carolingian Empire)
20 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
Religions
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4% overseas departments: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan
Evangelical Lutheran 13.6%, Orthodox 12.8%, other Christian (including Methodist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal) 1.4%, unaffiliated 34.1%, other and unspecified 32%, none 6.1% (2000 census)
Languages
French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) overseas departments: French, Creole patois
Estonian (official) 67.3%, Russian 29.7%, other 2.3%, unknown 0.7% (2000 census)
Exports
machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages
machinery and equipment 29%, wood and paper 13%, metals 10%, food products 8%, textiles 5%, chemical products (2007)
External Debt
$5,633,000,000,000 $
$25,220,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6799 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
krooni (EEK) per US dollar - 10.7 (2008), 11.535 (2007), 12.473 (2006), 12.584 (2005), 12.596 (2004) note: the krooni is pegged to the euro
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.600%
2.000%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
40
2
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
Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland, between Latvia and Russia
