Key
facts & figures about France

Key facts and statistical
data for
France, with selected international comparisons

A definition
of France:
Technically speaking, "France" includes a number of overseas
departments and territories (known in French as the DOM-TOMs),
including Tahiti in the Pacific and French Guyana in South America.
This guide however is concerned with Metropolitan France,
which means continental France, together with the offshore islands,
including Corsica.

The Government of France:

France is a republic;
the head of the executive is the President,
elected by universal suffrage, currently François Hollande.
The President
determines policy with the aid of his Council of Ministers (Conseil des ministres).
Ministers cannot sit in parliament, and if an elected member of
parliament (député)
is appointed minister, he or she has to hand over parliamentary duties
to his / her deputy (adjoint).
Since each elected member has a deputy, by-elections are unusual in
France.

Parliament:

The lower and principal house of parliament
is the Assemblée
nationale,
or national assembly; the second chamber is the Sénat or
Senate. Députés (members of parliament) are
elected to the National Assembly by universal suffrage, in general
elections (élections
législatives)
that take place every five years. Senators are chosen by an electoral
college of "grand electors", who are mostly other local
representatives.
The electoral system
for presidential and parliamentary elections involves two rounds; a
candidate can be elected on the first round by obtaining an absolute
majority of votes cast. The second round is a runoff between the
leading two candidates from round one (presidential election), or two
or more candidates (parliamentary elections).
Click here for further
facts and information about the French
Constitution and political system

Structure of
local government:

Metropolitan France is administered as 13 regions (reduced from 22 as
from 2016) , 96
"départements" or departments, and some 36,000 "communes".
See maps of regions and departments.
(There are also 4 overseas regions - French Guyana, Guadeloupe,
Martinique, and Ile de la Réunion - and other overseas territories known
as "TOM" )
Each region
is administered by a Regional council (Conseil régional),
and each department
is administered by a county council (Conseil
départemental - formerly Conseil
Général). The central government is
represented in each department and region by a Prefect (préfet),
with powers over the police and public security. The Prefect's other
main role is to make sure that local authorities administer their area
in compliance with national law.
Prefects are
appointed by the President, regional councils are elected by universal
suffrage every six years, involving a complex two-round
semi-proportional voting system.
Departmental councils, conseils
départementaux, are elected by universal
suffrage every six years, in elections known as canton elections
(élections
cantonales). Communes
are run by municipal councils (conseils
municipaux)
elected every six years by universal suffrage. Increasingly,
the
important business of small communes, and issues that involve communes
and their neighbours are dealt with by groupings of communes, known as
"Communauté de communes"

The
Geography of metropolitan France (France in Europe): key data.

Surface
area: 547,030 sq km, of which 545,630
sq km of land and 1,400 sq km of rivers and lakes.

France compared to the UK:
France's surface area is about double the surface area of the United
Kingdom, and just over four times the surface area of England.
For more geographic details see the About-France.com Maps of France page and links

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