President: Francois Hollande Prime minister: Jean-Marc Ayrault
President: Bronislaw Komorowski
Population
65,630,692
38,415,284
Life Expectancy
81.460 years
76.250 years
Capital City
Paris
Warsaw
Largest city
Paris (population: 2,138,550)
Warsaw (population: 1,702,140)
Human Development Index
0.955
0.875
GDP per capita
$35,600 US
$20,600 US
Literacy Rate
99%
99.8%
Corruption Perception Index
6.9
4.6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
19.6%
18%
Wealthiest Citizens
Bernard Arnault ($16.5bn US)
Zygmunt Solorz-Zak ($1.0bn US)
Unemployment Rate
9.300%
12.400%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished
Political System
republic
republic
Independence date
486 (Frankish tribes unified); 843 (Western Francia established from the division of the Carolingian Empire)
11 November 1918 (republic proclaimed)
Religions
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4% overseas departments: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan
Roman Catholic 89.8% (about 75% practicing), Eastern Orthodox 1.3%, Protestant 0.3%, other 0.3%, unspecified 8.3% (2002)
Languages
French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) overseas departments: French, Creole patois
Polish 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2% (2002 census)
Exports
machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages
machinery and transport equipment 37.8%, intermediate manufactured goods 23.7%, miscellaneous manufactured goods 17.1%, food and live animals 7.6% (2003)
External Debt
$5,633,000,000,000 $
$320,000,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6799 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
zlotych (PLN) per US dollar - 2.3 (2008 est.), 2.81 (2007), 3.1032 (2006), 3.2355 (2005), 3.6576 (2004) note: zlotych is the plural form of zloty
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.600%
1.900%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
40
10
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
Central Europe, east of Germany
Area
643,801 km sq
312,685 km sq
Coastline
0 km
440 km
Climate
temperate with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and thundershowers
