France Country Overview
Where is France located? The French Republic is located in western Europe. Besides the territory in Europe, France has some overseas territories. Because of its relatively central location in Europe, France belongs to a time zone called “Central European Time” (MEZ) or “Central European Time” (CET). This can also be seen on the time zone map, which divides the world into world time zones along the lines of longitude. In France, the standard is that the regional time is one hour ahead of the coordinated world time. In the summer, however, there is a time shift to summer time, which means that the time difference to the world clock is 2 hours.
Bordering Countries of France
According to abbreviationfinder, France is bordered by eight countries; Belgium and Luxembourg to the northeast, Germany and Switzerland to the east, Italy to the southeast, and Spain and Andorra to the southwest. To the northwest lies the English Channel, which separates France from the United Kingdom. Additionally, France is connected to Monaco in the southeast by a short coastline.
Belgium spans an area of 30,528 square kilometers and is home to over 11 million people. It borders France in both the north and east with Luxembourg located nearby in between them. Belgium’s landscape consists of low-lying plains in its north and hilly terrain towards its south. It also has a number of rivers including the Meuse River that forms part of its border with France. The country is known for its delicious cuisine, art museums, chocolate shops, medieval architecture and picturesque canals that are found in cities like Bruges and Antwerp.
Luxembourg is a small country located between Belgium and Germany that covers an area of 2,586 square kilometers with a population of just over 600 thousand people. The landscape consists mostly of rolling hills with some forests scattered throughout as well as the Moselle River which forms part of its eastern border with Germany. Luxembourg is known for its historic castles such as Vianden Castle as well as its beautiful natural scenery such as Mullerthal Trail which passes through forests, gorges and valleys. In addition to this there are many interesting museums such as National Museum of History & Art which houses artifacts from all periods of Luxembourg’s history including WWII artifacts from when it was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Population Distribution
As of 2023, the latest population of France is 67,848,156, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).
| Total population | 67,848,156 |
| Population growth rate | 0.35% |
| Birth rate | 12.20 births per 1,000 people |
| Life expectancy | |
| Overall | 81.56 years |
| Men | 78.45 years |
| Women | 84.82 years |
| Age structure | |
| 0-14 years | 18.48% |
| 15-64 years | 61.70% |
| 65 years and above | 19.82% |
| Median age | 41.10 years |
| Gender ratio (Male to Female) | 0.96 |
| Population density | 105.39 residents per km² |
| Urbanization | 76.30% |
| Ethnicities | |
| French, Celtic and Latin origin, Slavs, North Africans, Indochinese; Proportion of foreigners 2015: 6.6% | |
| Religions | |
| Catholics (Roman Catholic) 83% -88%, Protestants 2%, Jews 1%, Muslims 5% -10%, without religious affiliation 4% | |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | 0.891 |
| HDI ranking | 26th out of 194 |
People in France
Many French are immigrants, some from the former colonies. In 2008 there were 5.23 million immigrants in France. That was a little over eight percent of the entire population. Half of them had French citizenship. Around ten percent in 2010 were the descendants of immigrants whose father or mother was born abroad, i.e. one in ten French.
Most of the immigrants come from North Africa, Morocco, Tunisia or Algeria. But there are also many from the border countries Portugal, Spain and Italy who hope for a better life in France. For some time now, many immigrants have also come from sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.
Languages in France
The official language is of course French. But there are also other languages and dialects in the regions of the country. For example, Alsatian is spoken in Alsace, a dialect that mixes German and French. In Brittany they speak Breton and in Flanders, on the border with neighboring Belgium, Flemish. In the south of France, near the Spanish border, they speak Catalan and on the French Riviera many people speak Italian again.
Protection for French
Incidentally, the French protect their language and defend themselves against Anglicisms. These are words that we take from English. Often there is no longer a correct translation for it. So you surely know the word “email”, that is an Anglicism. Or how would you translate that?
It is said of the French that they are lazy in learning foreign languages. This applies to the older population – by the way, this is not so much different in Germany – but it does not apply to the younger people. More children learn English in France than in Germany. Many French learn Spanish and then even German follows. Nevertheless, the French prefer to speak French – even if they can theoretically speak other languages. Learning foreign languages and speaking them are two different things.
Religions in France
In France state and church are strictly separated, that is, the church does not interfere in state affairs. There is also no church tax collected through the state as in Germany. There are no concrete figures as to which religion the French belong to, at least not from the side of the state.
About half of the French say they belong to the Catholic faith. Only three percent describe themselves as Protestants. It is assumed that there are almost ten percent Muslims. The rest say they do not belong to any religion, that is almost a third. There are also Jews in France, but very few, around one percent. There are also Orthodox and Oriental Christians, Buddhists and some Hindus.