President: Francois Hollande Prime minister: Jean-Marc Ayrault
Population
313,847,465
65,630,692
Life Expectancy
78.490 years
81.460 years
Capital City
Washington, DC
Paris
Largest city
New York City (population: 8,008,280)
Paris (population: 2,138,550)
Human Development Index
0.95
0.955
GDP per capita
$49,000 US
$35,600 US
Literacy Rate
99%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
7.3
6.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16.6%
19.6%
Wealthiest Citizens
William Gates III ($40.0bn US)
Bernard Arnault ($16.5bn US)
Unemployment Rate
9.000%
9.300%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
republic
Independence date
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)
486 (Frankish tribes unified); 843 (Western Francia established from the division of the Carolingian Empire)
Religions
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4% overseas departments: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan
Languages
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) overseas departments: French, Creole patois
machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages
External Debt
$14,710,000,000,000 $
$5,633,000,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6799 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
4.060%
2.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
110
40
Location
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
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
9,826,675 km sq
643,801 km sq
Coastline
19,924 km
0 km
Climate
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
