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About France

France is known around the world as a diverse country in its people, architectures and landscapes. About 50% of the French population claim to have foreign background, which makes France one of the most diverse countries in the world. China and the United Kingdom contributed most of its immigrants in 2005. France is also home of the highest point in Europe (Mont-Blanc 4,810 m; 15,780 ft) and the lowest point of Europe, Delta du Rhone, (-5 m; -15 ft). France is seventeen-times smaller than Brazil and half the size of Ontario, which means that one hour by plane or eight hours by car are enough to cross the whole country from one extremity to the other. Despite its size, France's landscapes are extremely varied from one region to another, ranging from Paris and its suburbs to high alpine territory to oceanfront resort towns.

On the one hand, France is highly densified with old architecture such as the city of Paris or the Centre of Troyes. The French Familly code is 200 years old and has been written under Napoleon. On the other hand, France is a highly developed country with an extensive highway network (for example: France is slightly bigger than California but its highway network is more than twice as long), 32,000 kilometres (20,000 mi) of railways (SNCF), along with modern ski resorts and gigantic malls. France is also the country with the fastest average internet connection speed (ADSL and soon optical fiber in Paris), and in 2004, for the 3rd time in a row, the French healthcare system has been ranked number one in the world by the World Health Organisation.

Regions of France

France is divided into 26 administrative régions: 22 are in metropolitan France (21 are on the continental part of metropolitan France; one is the "territorial collectivity" of Corse, on the island of Corsica, commonly referred to as a région in common speech), and four are overseas régions. The régions are further subdivided into 100 départements. The departments are numbered (mainly alphabetically) and this number is used, for instance, in postal codes and vehicle number plates.

French Departments

The departments are further subdivided into 342 arrondissements, but they have no elected assembly and serve only for the districting of state administrations. The arrondissements are further divided into 4,035 cantons, but again these serve only administrative and electoral purposes. Finally, the arrondissements are divided into 36,682 communes, which are municipalities with an elected assembly (municipal council).

The régions, départements, and communes are known as "territorial collectivities" (collectivités territoriales), meaning they possess local assemblies as well as an executive, while the arrondissements and the cantons are mere administrative divisions. Until 1940, the arrondissements were also territorial collectivities with an elected assembly (arrondissement council), but these were suspended by the Vichy regime and definitely abolished by the Fourth Republic in 1946. Historically, the cantons were also territorial collectivities with their elected assemblies.

French Overseas Departments

Four of the départements are overseas départements (coterminous with the four overseas régions) which are an integral part of France (and the EU) and thus enjoy a status similar to metropolitan départments.

In addition to the 26 régions and 100 départements, the French Republic is further made up of four overseas collectivities, one sui generis collectivity (New Caledonia), and one overseas territory.

Overseas collectivities and territories form part of the French Republic, but do not form part of the EU or its fiscal area. The Pacific territories continue to use the Pacific franc whose value is linked to that of the euro. In contrast, the four overseas régions/départements used the French franc and now use the euro.

France also maintains control over a number of small non-permanently inhabited islands in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean: Bassas da India, Clipperton Island, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, Tromelin Island. See Islands controlled by France in the Indian and Pacific oceans

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