Knowledge Of France(2)

Development aid

In 2009, France is the second largest (in absolute numbers) donor of development aid in the world, behind only the US, and ahead of Germany, Japan and the UK. This represents 0.5 % of its GDP, in this regard rating as more generous than most other developed countries ; however, it does not meet the International Aid Target of 0.7 %(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ50DB/W battery).The organism managing the French help is the French Development Agency, which finances primarily humanitarian projects in sub-Saharan Africa. The main goals of this help are "developing infrastructure, access to health care and education, the implementation of appropriate economic policies and the consolidation of the rule of law and democracy(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ51B/P battery)."

Military

Main article: French Armed Forces

See also: Military history of France and Deployments of the French military

Examples of France's military. Clockwise from top left: Nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle; A pair of Rafale fighter aircraft; French Chasseurs alpins patrolling the valleys of Kapisa province in Afghanistan; a Leclerc tank in Paris for the 14th July Bastille Day Military Parade(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ51B/R battery).

France's armed forces (Armées françaises), comprising the French Army (Armée de Terre), French Navy (Marine Nationale), and the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air), and the auxiliary paramilitary force, the National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie nationale) is the thirteenth largest in the world. Individually, the Navy employs 42,550 professional sailors and 15,000 part-time reservists and has a displacement 307,000 tons making it the world's sixth biggest navy(SONY Vaio VGC-BJ51B/W battery). The Army employs 123,100 regulars and 118,350 part-time reservists making it the fourth largest in NATO. The Air Force is the oldest and first professional air force in the world and employs 57,400 regulars making it also the fourth largest in NATO. While administratively a part of the French armed forces, and therefore under the purview of the Ministry of Defence, the Gendarmerie is operationally attached to the Ministry of the Interior(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ51DB/B battery). The gendarmerie is a military police force which serves for the most part as a rural and general purpose police force. It encompasses the counter terrorist units of the Parachute Intervention Squadron of the National Gendarmerie (Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale) and the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale) (SONY Vaio VGC-LJ52B/N battery). One of the French intelligence units, the Directorate-General for External Security (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure) reports to the Ministry of Defence. The other, the Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence (Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur), reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior. There has been no national conscription since 1997. The president is the supreme commander of the French Armed Forces. France is a permanent member of the Security Council of the UN(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ52B/P battery), and a recognised nuclear state since 1960. France has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and acceeded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. France's annual military expenditure in 2010 was US$61.3 billion, or 2.5 percent of its GDP, making it the third biggest military spender in the world after China and the United States of America(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ52B/W battery).

The French deterrence, (formerly known as “Force de frappe”), relies on complete independence. The current French nuclear force consists of four Triomphant class submarines equipped with submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In addition to the submarine fleet, it is estimated that France has about 60 ASMP medium-range air-to-ground missiles with nuclear warheads(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ52DB/B battery), of which ~50 are carried by the Mirage 2000N long-range multirole fighter and arm the Air Force and ~10 can be carried by the French Navy's Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM) attack planes which use the only non-American nuclear powered aircraft carrier in the world, the Charles de Gaulle when at sea. The new Rafale F3 aircraft will gradually replace all Mirage 2000N and SEM in the nuclear strike role with the improved ASMP-A missile with a nuclear warhead(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ53B/W battery).

France has major military industries that have produced the Rafale fighter, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the Exocet missile and the Leclerc tank amongst others. Some weaponry, like the E-2 Hawkeye or the E-3 Sentry was bought from the United States. Despite withdrawing from the Eurofighter project, France is actively investing in European joint projects such as the Eurocopter Tiger, multipurpose frigates, the UCAV demonstrator nEUROn and the Airbus A400M(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ54B/W battery). France has the largest aerospace industry in Europe. France is a major arms seller, with most of its arsenal's designs available for the export market with the notable exception of nuclear-powered devices.

Economy

Main articles: Economy of France and Energy in France

Further information: List of French companies and Economic history of France

The first completed Airbus A380 at the “A380 Reveal” event in Toulouse on 18 January 2005. Airbus is a symbol of the globalisation of the French and European economy(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ90HS battery).

A member of the G8 group of leading industrialised countries, it is ranked as the world's fifth largest and Europe's second largest economy by nominal GDP; with 39 of the 500 biggest companies of the world in 2010, France ranks world's 4th and Europe's 1st in the Fortune Global 500 ahead of Germany and the UK. France joined 11 other EU members to launch the euro on 1 January 1999, with euro coins and banknotes completely replacing the French franc (₣) in early 2002(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ90S battery).

France derives 79% of its electricity from nuclear power, the highest percentage in the world.

France has a mixed economy which combines extensive private enterprise (nearly 2.5 million companies registered) with substantial (though declining) state enterprise and government intervention (see dirigisme). The government retains considerable influence over key segments of infrastructure sectors, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, nuclear power and telecommunications(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ91HS battery). It has been gradually relaxing its control over these sectors since the early 1990s. The government is slowly corporatising the state sector and selling off holdings in France Télécom, Air France, as well as the insurance, banking, and defence industries. France has an important aerospace industry led by the European consortium Airbus, and has its own national spaceport, the Centre Spatial Guyanais.

France is part of a monetary union, the Eurozone (dark blue), and of the EU single market(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ91S battery).

According to the WTO, in 2009 France was the world's sixth-largest exporter and the fourth-largest importer of manufactured goods. In 2008, France was the third-largest recipient of foreign direct investment among OECD countries at $117.9 billion, ranking behind Luxembourg (where foreign direct investment was essentially monetary transfers to banks located in that country) and the United States ($316.1 billion), but above the United Kingdom ($96.9 billion), Germany ($24.9 billion) (SONY Vaio VGC-LJ92HS battery), or Japan ($24.4 billion).[158][159] In the same year, French companies invested $220 billion outside of France, ranking France as the second most important outward direct investor in the OECD, behind the United States ($311.8 billion), and ahead of the United Kingdom ($111.4 billion), Japan ($128 billion) and Germany ($156.5 billion). With 39 of the 500 biggest companies of the world in 2010, France ranks 4th in the Fortune Global 500, behind the USA, Japan and China, but ahead of Germany and the UK(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ92S battery).

Financial services, banking and the insurance sector are an important part of France's economy. The Paris stock exchange market (French: La Bourse de Paris) is an ancient institution, as it was created by Louis XV in 1724. In 2000, the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam and Bruxelles merged into Euronext. In 2007, Euronext merged with the New York stock exchange to form NYSE Euronext, the world's largest stock exchange. Euronext Paris(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ94HS battery), the French branch of the NYSE Euronext group is Europe's second largest stock exchange market, behind the London Stock Exchange.

French companies have maintained key positions in the Insurance and Banking industries: AXA is the world's largest insurance company, and is ranked by Fortune the ninth richest corporation by revenues.

The leading French banks are BNP Paribas and the Crédit Agricole, ranking as the world's 1st and 6th largest banks in 2010 (determined by the amount of assets), while the Société Générale group was ranked the world's eight largest in 2008–2009(SONY Vaio VGC-LJ94S battery).

France is the smallest emitter of carbon dioxide among the seven most industrialized countries in the world, due to its heavy investment in nuclear power. As a result of large investments in nuclear technology, most of the electricity produced in the country is generated by 59 nuclear power plants (78% in 2006, up from only 8% in 1973, 24% in 1980, and 75% in 1990). In this context, renewable energies (see the power cooperative Enercoop) are having difficulties taking off the ground(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/W battery).

Agriculture

Vineyards near Carcassonne.

France has historically been an important producer of agricultural products. Large tracts of fertile land, the application of modern technology, and EU subsidies have combined to make France the leading agricultural producer and exporter in Europe (representing alone 20% of the EU's agricultural production) and the world's third biggest exporter of agricultural products(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/R battery).

Wheat, poultry, dairy, beef, and pork, as well as an internationally recognized foodstuff and wine industry are primary French agricultural exports. EU agriculture subsidies to France have decreased for the last years, but still amounted to $8 billion in 2007. This same year, France sold 33.4 billion euros of transformed agricultural products.

Agriculture is thus an important sector of France's economy : 3.5% of the active population is employed in agriculture, whereas the total agri-food industry made up 4.2% of French GDP in 2005(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/P battery).

Labour market

The French GDP per capita is similar to the GDP per capita of other comparable European countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom. GDP per capita is determined by (i) productivity per hour worked, which in France is the highest of the G8 countries in 2005, according to the OECD, (ii) the number of hours worked, which is one the lowest of developed countries, and (iii) the employment rate(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/L battery). France has one of the lowest 15–64 years employment rates of the OECD countries: in 2004, only 69% of the French population aged 15–64 years were in employment, compared to 80% in Japan, 79% in the UK, 77% in the US, and 71% in Germany.

La Défense, just outside Paris, is the largest business district in Europe.

This gap is due to the very low employment rates at both age extremes: the employment rate of people aged 55–64 was 38.3% in 2007, compared to 46.6% in the EU15; for the 15–24 years old, the employment rate was 31.5% in 2007, compared to 37.2% in EU25. These low employment rates are explained by the high minimum wages which prevent low productivity workers – such as young people – from easily entering the labour market(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E battery), ineffective university curricula that fail to prepare students adequately for the labour market, and, concerning the older workers, restrictive legislation on work and incentives for premature retirement.

The unemployment rate decreased from 9% in 2006 to 7% in 2008 but remains one of the highest in Europe. In June 2009, the unemployment rate for France was 9.4%. Shorter working hours and the reluctance to reform the labour market are mentioned as weak spots of the French economy in the view of the right(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120 battery), when the left mentions the lack of government policies fostering social justice. Liberal economists have stressed repeatedly over the years that the main issue of the French economy is an issue of structural reforms, in order to increase the size of the working population in the overall population, reduce the taxes' level and the administrative burden(SONY Vaio VGN-CR11H/B battery).

Keynesian economists have different answers to the unemployment issue, and their theories led to the 35-hour workweek law in the early 2000s, which turned out to be a failure in reducing unemployment. Afterwards, between 2004 and 2008, the Government made some supply-oriented reforms to combat unemployment but met with fierce resistance,[186] especially with the contrat nouvelle embauche and the contrat première embauche which both were eventually repealed(SONY Vaio VGN-CR116E battery). The current Government is experiencing the revenu de solidarité active to redress the negative effect of the revenu minimum d'insertion on work incentive.

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in France

The Palace of Versailles is one of the most popular tourist destinations in France.

With 81.9 million foreign tourists in 2007, France is ranked as the first tourist destination in the world, ahead of Spain (58.5 million in 2006) and the United States (51.1 million in 2006). This 81.9 million figure excludes people staying less than 24 hours in France, such as Northern Europeans crossing France on their way to Spain or Italy during the summer.

The Mont Saint-Michel is one of the most visited sites of France(SONY Vaio VGN-CR116 battery)

France features cities of high cultural interest (Paris being the foremost, but also Toulouse, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Lyon...), beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, and rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity (green tourism). Small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage (such as Collonges-la-Rouge or Locronan) are promoted through the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (litt. "The Most Beautiful Villages of France")(SONY Vaio VGN-CR115E battery). The "Remarkable Gardens" label is a list of the over two hundred gardens classified by the French Ministry of Culture. This label is intended to protect and promote remarkable gardens and parks. France also attracts many religious pilgrims on their way to St. James, or to Lourdes, a town in the Hautes-Pyrénées that hosts a few million visitors a year(SONY Vaio VGN-CR115 battery).

France, and especially Paris, have some of the world's largest and renowned museums, including the Louvre, which is the most visited art museum in the world, but also the Musée d'Orsay, mostly devoted to impressionism, and Beaubourg, dedicated to Contemporary art(SONY Vaio VGN-CR110EW battery).

The Château de Chambord is one of the many French royal residences of the Loire Valley.

Disneyland Paris is France's and indeed Europe's most popular theme park, with 15,405,000 combined visitors to the resort's Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park in 2009. The historical theme park Puy du Fou in Vendée is the second most visited park of France. Other popular theme parks are the Futuroscope of Poitiers and the Parc Astérix(SONY Vaio VGN-CR110 battery).

With more than 10 millions tourists a year, the French Riviera (or Côte d'Azur), in south-eastern France, is the second leading tourist destination in the country, after the Parisian region. According to the Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency, it benefits from 300 days of sunshine per year, 115 kilometres (71 mi) of coastline and beaches, 18 golf courses, 14 ski resorts and 3,000 restaurants(Sony VAIO PCG-GRS100 battery). Each year the Côte d'Azur hosts 50% of the world's superyacht fleet, with 90% of all superyachts visiting the region's coast at least once in their lifetime.

An other major destination are the Châteaux of the Loire Valley, this World Heritage Site is noteworthy for the quality of its architectural heritage, in its historic towns such as Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Nantes, Orléans, Saumur, and Tours, but in particular for its castles (châteaux), such as the Châteaux d'Amboise(Sony VAIO PCG-NV100 battery), de Chambord, d'Ussé, de Villandry and Chenonceau, which illustrate to an exceptional degree the ideals of the French Renaissance.

The most popular tourist sites include: (according to a 2003 ranking visitors per year): Eiffel Tower (6.2 million), Louvre Museum (5.7 million), Palace of Versailles (2.8 million), Musée d'Orsay (2.1 million), Arc de Triomphe (1.2 million), Centre Pompidou (1.2 million), Mont-Saint-Michel (1 million), Château de Chambord (711,000), Sainte-Chapelle (683,000), Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg (549,000), Puy de Dôme (500,000), Musée Picasso (441,000), Carcassonne (362,000) (Sony VAIO PCG-V505 battery).

Transport

Main articles: Transport in France and Rail transport in France

A TGV Sud-Est, which can reach a maximum speed of 300 km/h (186.41 mph).

The railway network of France, which as of 2008 stretches 29,473 kilometres (18,314 mi) is the second most extensive in Western Europe after the German one. It is operated by the SNCF, and high-speed trains include the Thalys, the Eurostar and TGV, which travels at 320 km/h (199 mph) in commercial use(Sony VAIO PCG-Z1A battery). The Eurostar, along with the Eurotunnel Shuttle, connects with the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel. Rail connections exist to all other neighbouring countries in Europe, except Andorra. Intra-urban connections are also well developed with both underground services and tramway services complementing bus services.

There are approximately 1,027,183 kilometres (638,262 mi) of serviceable roadway in France, ranking it the most extensive network of the European continent(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ battery). The Paris region is enveloped with the most dense network of roads and highways that connect it with virtually all parts of the country. French roads also handle substantial international traffic, connecting with cities in neighboring Belgium, Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. There is no annual registration fee or road tax; however, motorway usage is through tolls except in the vicinity of large communes. The new car market is dominated by domestic brands such as Renault (27% of cars sold in France in 2003) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11S battery), Peugeot (20.1%) and Citroën (13.5%).Over 70% of new cars sold in 2004 had diesel engines, far more than contained petrol or LPG engines. France possesses the Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest bridge, and has built many important bridges such as the Pont de Normandie.

There are 475 airports in France. Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport located in the vicinity of Paris is the largest and busiest airport in the country, handling the vast majority of popular and commercial traffic and connecting Paris with virtually all major cities across the world(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15T battery). Air France is the national carrier airline, although numerous private airline companies provide domestic and international travel services. There are ten major ports in France, the largest of which is in Marseille, which also is the largest bordering the Mediterranean Sea. 12,261 kilometres (7,619 mi) of waterways traverse France including the Canal du Midi which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean through the Garonne river(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15G battery).

Demographics

Main articles: Demography of France and French people

Population density in the French Republic at the 1999 census.

With an estimated population of 65.8 million people (as of 1 Jan. 2011), France is the 20th most populous country in the world. In 2003, France's natural population growth (excluding immigration) was responsible for almost all natural population growth in the European Union. The natural growth (excess of births over deaths) rose to 302,432 in 2006, its highest since the end of the baby boom in 1973(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ4000 battery). The total fertility rate rose to 2.01 in 2010, from a nadir of 1.68 in 1994. In the five years between Jan. 2006 and Jan. 2011, population growth was on average +0.58% per year.

The largest cities in France, in terms of metropolitan area population, are Paris (11,836,970), Lyon (1,757,180), Marseille (1,618,369), Lille (1,163,934), Toulouse (1,118,472), Bordeaux (1,009,313), Nice (999,678), Nantes (768,305) and Strasbourg (641,853).

In 2004, a total of 140,033 people immigrated to France. Of them, 90,250 were from Africa and 13,710 from Europe. In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137,000 persons, mostly to people from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ460E battery).

It is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and race, a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958. While official data on the size of the country's ethnic minorities is not available, it has been estimated that between three million and six million people are of North African ancestry while an estimated 2.5 million people are of Black African ancestry(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ440N battery). It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population is descended at least partially from the different waves of immigration the country has received. Between 1921 and 1935 about 1.1 million net immigrants came to France. An estimated 1.6 million European pieds noirs returned to France as the country's North African possessions gained independence(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ440E battery).

According to the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, it has an estimated 4.9 million foreign-born immigrants, of which 2 million have acquired French citizenship. France is the leading asylum destination in Western Europe with an estimated 50,000 applications in 2005 (a 15% decrease from 2004). The European Union allows free movement between the member states(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ430E battery). While UK and Ireland did not impose restrictions, France put in place controls to curb Eastern European migration.

A perennial political issue concerns rural depopulation. Over the period 1960–1999 fifteen rural départements experienced a decline in population. In the most extreme case, the population of Creuse fell by 24%.

Language

Main article: French Language

See also: Languages of France, Language policy in France, and Francophonie

France's legacy: a map of the Francophone world

native language

administrative language

secondary or non-official language

francophone minorities

According to Article 2 of the Constitution, the official language of France is French, a Romance language derived from latin. Since 1635, the Académie française is France's official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language, although its recommendations carry no legal power(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ280E battery).

The French government does not regulate the choice of language in publications by individuals but the use of French is required by law in commercial and workplace communications. In addition to mandating the use of French in the territory of the Republic, the French government tries to promote French in the European Union and globally through institutions such as La Francophonie(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190 battery). The perceived threat from anglicisation has prompted efforts to safeguard the position of the French language in France. Besides French, there exist 77 vernacular minority languages of France, 8 in the French metropolitan territory of continental Europe and 69 in the French overseas territories(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ150E battery).

From the 17th century to the mid 20th century, French served as the pre-eminent international language of diplomacy and international affairs as well as a lingua franca among the educated classes of Europe. The dominant position of French language in international affairs has only been challenged recently by English, since the emergence of the USA as a major power(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ160 battery).

As a result of France's extensive colonial ambitions between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to America, Africa, Polynesia, South-East Asia, and the Caribbean. French is the second most studied foreign language in the world after English, and is a lingua franca in some regions, notably in Africa. The legacy of French as a living language outside Europe is mixed: it is nearly extinct in some former French colonies (Southeast Asia) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ260E battery), while creoles, and pidgins based on French have emerged in the French departments in the West Indies and the South Pacific (French Polynesia). On the other hand, many former French colonies have adopted French as an official language, and the total number of French speakers is increasing, especially in Africa.

It is estimated that between 300 million and 500 million people worldwide can speak French, either as a mother tongue or a second language(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E battery).

Religion

Main article: Religion in France

France is a secular country, and freedom of religion is a constitutional right. The French government does not keep statistics on religious adherence, nor on ethnicity or on political affiliation. However, some unofficial survey estimates exist.

Roman Catholicism has been the predominant religion in France for more than a millennium, though it is not as actively practiced today as it once was. A survey by the Catholic newspaper La Croix found that whilst in 1965(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11L battery), 81% of the French declared themselves to be Catholics, in 2009 this proportion was 64%. Moreover, whilst 27% of the French went to Mass once a week or more in 1952, only 4.5% did so in 2006; 15.2% attended Mass at least once a month. The same survey found that Protestants accounted for 3% of the population, an increase from previous surveys, and 5% adhered to other religions, with the remaining 28% stating that they had no religion(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11Z battery).

Notre-Dame de Reims is the Roman Catholic cathedral where the kings of France were crowned until 1825.

According to a January 2007 poll by the Catholic World News, only 5% of the French population attended church regularly (or 10% attend church services regularly among the respondents who did identify themselves as Catholics). The poll showed 51% identified as being Catholics, 31% identified as being agnostics or atheists (another poll[232] sets the proportion of atheists equal to 27%)(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11M battery), 10% identified as being from other religions or being without opinion, 4% identified as Muslim, 3% identified as Protestant, 1% identified as Buddhist, 1% identified as Jewish. Meanwhile, an independent estimate by the politologist Pierre Bréchon in 2009 concluded that the proportion of Catholics had fallen to 42% while the number of atheists and agnostics had risen to 50%(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18M battery). According to the Pewforum "In France, proponents of a 2004 law banning the wearing of religious symbols in schools say it protects Muslim girls from being forced to wear a headscarf, but the law also restricts those who want to wear headscarves – or any other “conspicuous” religious symbol, including large Christian crosses and Sikh turbans – as an expression of their faith"(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18 battery)

According to the most recent but in 2010 somewhat outdated Eurobarometer Poll 2005,[235] 34% of French citizens responded that “they believe there is a god”, whereas 27% answered that “they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force” and 33% that “they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force”. One other study shows 32% of people in France declaring themselves to be atheists, and another 32% declaring themselves “sceptical about the existence of God but not an atheist” (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ210CE battery).

Estimates of the number of Muslims in France vary widely. According to the more than one decade old 1999 French census returns, there were 3.7 million people of “possible Muslim faith” in France (6.3% of the total population). In 2003, the French Ministry of the Interior estimated the total number of Muslims to be between five and six million (8–10%). The current Jewish community in France numbers around 600,000 according to the World Jewish Congress and is the largest in Europe(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31S battery). However, both the North American Jewish Data bank and the Vitual Jew Library put the estimates closer to 480,000 as of 2010.

Since 1905 the French government has followed the principle of laïcité, in which it is prohibited from recognising any specific right to a religious community (except for legacy statutes like that of military chaplains and the local law in Alsace-Moselle). Instead, it merely recognises religious organisations(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31Z battery), according to formal legal criteria that do not address religious doctrine. Conversely, religious organizations should refrain from intervening in policy-making.

Certain bodies of beliefs such as Scientology, Children of God, the Unification Church, or the Order of the Solar Temple are considered cults ("sectes" in French), and therefore do not have the same status as religions in France. Secte is considered a pejorative term in France(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31E battery).

Health

Main article: Health in France

The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, a teaching hospital in Paris, one of Europe's largest hospitals.

The French healthcare system was ranked first worldwide by the World Health Organization in 1997 and then again in 2000. Care is generally free for people affected by chronic diseases (affections de longues durées) such as cancer, AIDS or Cystic Fibrosis. Average life expectancy at birth is 77 years for men and 84 years for women, one of the highest of the European Union(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31J battery). There are 3.22 physicians for every 1000 inhabitants in France, and average health care spending per capita was US$4,719 in 2008. As of 2007, approximately 140,000 inhabitants (0.4%) of France are living with HIV/AIDS.

Even if the French have the reputation of being one of the thinnest peoples in developed countries, France—like other rich countries—faces an increasing and recent epidemic of obesity, due mostly to the replacement of traditional healthy French cuisine by junk food in French eating habits(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31M battery). Nevertheless, the French obesity rate is far below that of the USA (for instance, obesity rate in France is the same that the American once was in the 1970s, and is still the lowest of Europe, but it is now regarded by the authorities as one of the main public health issues and is fiercely fought; rates of childhood obesity are slowing in France, while continuing to grow in other countries(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31B battery).

Education

Main article: Education in France

See also: History of education in France and Baccalauréat

School system in France

In 1802, Napoléon Bonaparte created the lycée. Nevertheless it is Jules Ferry who is considered to be the father of the French modern school, which is free, secular, and compulsory until the age of 13 since 1882 (school attendance in France is now compulsory until the age of 16) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ32 battery).

Nowadays, the schooling system in France is centralized, and is composed of three stages, primary education, secondary education, and higher education. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks France's education as the 25th best in the world, being neither significantly higher nor lower than the OECD average. Primary and secondary education are predominantly public, run by the Ministry of National Education(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ410 battery).

Higher education in France is divided between public universities and the prestigious and selective Grandes écoles, such as Science Po Paris for Political studies, HEC Paris for Economics, the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris that produces high-profile engineers, or the École nationale d'administration for careers in the great corps of the State. The Grandes écoles have been criticised for alleged elitism, nevertheless they have produced many if not most of France's high-ranking civil servants, CEO, or politicians(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21 battery).

Culture

Main article: Culture of France

Marianne, in painting by Eugène Delacroix, La Liberté guidant le peuple (1830)

France has been a center of cultural creation for centuries. Many French artists have been among the most renowned of their time, and France is still recognized in the world for its rich cultural tradition.

The successive political regimes have always promoted artistic creation, and the creation of the Ministry of Culture in 1959 helped preserve the cultural heritage of the country and make it available to the public(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21S battery). The Ministry of Culture has been very active since its creation, granting subsidies to artists, promoting French culture in the world, supporting festivals and cultural events, protecting historical monuments. The French government also succeeded in maintaining a cultural exception to defend audiovisual products made in the country(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21M battery).

France receives the highest number of tourists per year, largely thanks to the numerous cultural establishments and historical buildings implanted all over the territory. It counts 1,200 museums welcoming more than 50 million people annually. The most important cultural sites are run by the government, for instance through the public agency Centre des monuments nationaux(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ38M battery), which have around a hundred national historical monuments at charge. The 43,180 buildings protected as historical monuments include mainly residences (many castles, or châteaux in French) and religious buildings (cathedrals, basilicas, churches, etc.), but also statutes, memorials and gardens. The UNESCO inscribed 37 sites in France on the World Heritage List(Sony VAIO VGN-SZ battery).

Painting

Main article: French painting

Claude Monet founded the Impressionist movement (Femme avec un parasol, 1886, Musée d'Orsay).

The origins of French painting were very much influenced by Italian art. The two most famous French artists of the time of Renaissance, Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, lived in Italy. Louis XIV's prime minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert founded in 1648 the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture to protect these artists, and in 1666 he created the still-in-activity French Academy in Rome to have direct relations with Italian artists(Sony VGN-NR11S/S Battery). French painting also followed the evolution of Italian painters towards a rococo style in the 18th century, as an imitation of old baroque style, the works of court-endorsed artists Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard being the most representative in the country. The French Revolution brought great changes, as Napoleon I favoured painters of neoclassic style as Jacques-Louis David. The middle of the eighteen century was dominated by two successive movements(Sony VGN-NR11M/S Battery), at first Romanticism with Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix, a more realistic painting with Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet.

In the second part of the 18th century, France became a center of artistic creation, developing a new style of painting and counting on the most famous impressionist painters of the period, among them Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir. Second generation of impressionist-style painters Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Georges Seurat were also at the avant-guarde of artistic evolutions(Sony VGN-NR260E/S Battery), as well as fauvist artists Henri Matisse, André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck. At the beginning of 20th century, Cubism was developed by Georges Braque and Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, living in Paris. Other foreign artists also settled and worked in or near Paris, like Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall and Wassily Kandinsky.

Many museums in France are entirely or partly devoted to painting works. A huge collection of old masterpieces created before or during the 18th century are displayed in the state-owned Musée du Louvre, such as Mona Lisa, also known as La Joconde(Sony VGN-NR260E/T Battery). While the Louvre Palace has been for a long time a museum, the Musée d'Orsay was inaugurated in 1986 in the old railway station Gare d'Orsay, in a major reorganization of national art collections, to gather French paintings from the second part of the 19th century (mainly Impressionism and Fauvism movements). Modern works are presented in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which moved in 1976 to the Centre Georges Pompidou(Sony VGN-NR260E/W Battery). These three state-owned museums welcome close to 17 million people a year. Other national museums hosting paintings include the Grand Palais (1,3 million visitors in 2008), but there are also many museums owned by cities, the most visited being the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (0,8 million entries in 2008), which hosts contemporary works(Sony VGN-NR11Z/S Battery).

Architecture

Main article: French architecture

Saint Louis' Sainte Chapelle represents the French impact on religious architecture.

Technically speaking, there is no standard type of "French" architecture, although that has not always been true. Gothic Architecture's old name was French Architecture (or Opus Francigenum). The term “Gothic” appeared later as a stylistic insult and was widely adopted(Sony VGN-NR11Z/T Battery). The Gothic Architecture was the first French style of Architecture to be copied in all Europe. Northern France is the home of some of the most important Gothic cathedrals and basilicas, the first of these being the Saint Denis Basilica (used as the royal necropolis); other important French Gothic cathedrals are Notre-Dame de Chartres and Notre-Dame d'Amiens. The kings were crowned in another important Gothic church(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21E battery): Notre-Dame de Reims. Aside from churches, Gothic Architecture had been used for many religious palaces, the most important one being the Palais des Papes in Avignon.

During the Middle Ages, fortified castles were built by feudal nobles to mark their powers against their rivals. When King Philip II took Rouen from King John, for example, he demolished the ducal castle to build a bigger one. Fortified cities were also common, unfortunately most French castles did not survive the passage of time. This is why Richard the Lionheart's Château Gaillard was demolished(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21Z battery), as well as the Château de Lusignan. Some important French castles that survived are Chinon, Château d'Angers, the massive Château de Vincennes and the so called Cathar castles.

Opéra Garnier, Paris, a symbol of the French Neo-Baroque style.

Before the appearance of this architecture France had been using Romanesque architecture like most of Western Europe (with the exception of the Iberian Peninsula, which used Mooresque architecture, which now consists of Spain and Portugal). Some of the greatest examples of Romanesque churches in France are the Saint Sernin Basilica in Toulouse (largest romanesque church in Europe) and the remains of the Cluniac Abbey (largely destroyed during the Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21J battery).

The world's most visited paid monument, the Eiffel Tower is an icon of both Paris and France.

The end of the Hundred Years' War marked an important stage in the evolution of French architecture. It was the time of the French Renaissance and several artists from Italy and Spain were invited to the French court; many residential palaces, inspired by the Italians, were built, but mainly in the Loire Valley. Such residential castles were the Château de Chambord, the Château de Chenonceau, or the Château d'Amboise(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11 battery). Following the renaissance and the end of the Middle Ages, Baroque Architecture replaced the traditional gothic style. However, in France, baroque architecture found a greater success in the secular domain than in a religious one. In the secular domain the Palace of Versailles has many baroque features. Jules Hardouin Mansart was said to be the most influential French architect of the baroque era, with his famous dome, Les Invalides(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M battery). Some of the most impressive provincial baroque architecture is found in places that were not yet French such as the Place Stanislas in Nancy. On the military architectural side, Vauban designed some of the most efficient fortresses in Europe and became an influential military architect; as a result, imitations of his works can been found all over Europe, the Americas, Russia and Turkey(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S battery).

After the Revolution the Republicans favoured Neoclassicism although neoclassicism was introduced in France prior to the revolution with such building as the Parisian Pantheon or the Capitole de Toulouse. Built during the French Empire the Arc de Triomphe and Sainte Marie-Madeleine represent this trend the best.

Under Napoleon III a new wave of urbanism and architecture was given birth. If extravagant buildings such as the neo-baroque Palais Garnier were built(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21E battery), the urban planning of the time was very organised and rigorous. For example, Baron Haussmann rebuilt Paris. The architecture associated to this era is named Second Empire in English, the term being taken from the Second French Empire. At this time there was a strong Gothic resurgence across Europe and in France the associated architect was Eugène Viollet-le-Duc(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21J battery). In the late 19th century Gustave Eiffel designed many bridges, such as Garabit viaduct, and remains one of the most influential bridge designer of his time, although he is best remembered for the iconic Eiffel Tower.

In the 20th century, Swiss Architect Le Corbusier designed several buildings in France. More recently French architects have combined both modern and old architectural styles. The Louvre Pyramid is an example of modern architecture added to an older building(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21L battery). Certainly the most difficult buildings to integrate within French cities are skyscrapers, as they are visible from afar. For instance, in Paris, since 1977, new buildings had to be under 37 meters, or 121 feet. France's largest financial district is La Defense, where a significant number of skyscrapers are located. Other massive buildings that are a challenge to integrate into their environment are large bridges; a good example of the way this has been done is the Millau Viaduct(Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M battery). Some famous modern French architects include Jean Nouvel or Paul Andreu.

Literature

Main article: French literature

French literary figures. Clockwise from top left: Molière is the most played author in the Comédie-Française; Victor Hugo is one of the most important French novelists and poets, and is sometimes seen as the greatest French writer of all time. 19th century poet, writer, and translator Charles Baudelaire; 20th century philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre(Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M/H battery).

The earliest French literature dates from the Middle Ages, when what is now known as modern France did not have a single, uniform language. There were several languages and dialects and each writer used his own spelling and grammar. The authors of French mediaeval texts are unknown, such as Tristan and Iseult and Lancelot and the Holy Grail. Much mediaeval French poetry and literature were inspired by the legends of the Matter of France, such as The Song of Roland and the various Chansons de geste(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21M battery). The “Roman de Renart”, written in 1175 by Perrout de Saint Cloude tells the story of the mediaeval character Reynard ('the Fox') and is another example of early French writing. The names of some authors from this period are known, for example Chrétien de Troyes and Duke William IX of Aquitaine, who wrote in Occitan.

An important 16th century writer was François Rabelais, whose novel La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21Z battery), or Gargantua and Pantagruel in English, has remained famous and appreciated until now. Michel de Montaigne was the other major figure of the French literature during that century. His most famous work, Essais, created the literary genre of the essay.

French poetry during that century was embodied by Pierre de Ronsard and Joachim du Bellay. Both writers founded the La Pléiade literary movement(Sony VAIO VGN-FW32J battery).

During the 17th century, Madame de La Fayette published anonymously La Princesse de Clèves, a novel that is considered to be one of the very first psychological novels of all times. Jean Racine (whose incredible mastery of the alexandrine and of the French language has been praised for centuries) created plays, such as Phèdre, or Britannicus, that are still considered[by whom?] as the masterpieces of France's classical period(Sony VAIO VGN-FW17W battery). He is, along with Pierre Corneille (Le Cid), and Molière, considered as one of the "3 Great dramatists" of the France's golden age.

Molière, who is deemed to be one of the greatest masters of comedy of the Western literature, wrote dozens of plays, the most famous being Le Misanthrope, L'École des femmes, Tartuffe, L'Avare, Le Malade imaginaire, and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. His plays have been so popular and famous around the world that French language is sometimes dubbed as "the language of Molière" (la langue de Molière), just like English is considered as "the language of Shakespeare"(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31E battery).

Jean de La Fontaine is one of the most famous fabulist of that time, as he wrote hundreds of fables, some being far more famous than others, such as The Ant and the Grasshopper. Generations of French pupils had to learn his fables, that were seen as helping teaching wisdom and common sense to the young people. Some of his verses have entered the popular language to become proverbs(Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E battery).

French literature and poetry flourished even more in the 18th and 19th centuries. Denis Diderot's best-known works are Jacques the Fatalist and Rameau's Nephew. He is however best known for being the main redactor of the Encyclopédie, whose aim was to sum up all the knowledge of his century (in fields such as arts, sciences, languages, philosophy ...) and to present them to the people, in order to fight ignorance and obscurantism(Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H battery).

During that same century, Charles Perrault was a prolific writer of famous children's fairy tales including “Puss in Boots”, “Cinderella”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Bluebeard”.

At the turn of the 19th century symbolist poetry was an important movement in French literature, with poets such as Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé. The 19th century saw the writings of many renowned French authors. Victor Hugo excelled in all literary genres(Sony VAIO VGN-FW465J battery): novel (Les Misérables, widely seen as one of the greatest novel ever written The Hunchback of Notre Dame, that has remained immensely popular throughout the centuries), Poetry (his verse have been compared to that of Shakespeare, Dante and Homer) (Odes et Ballades, Les Contemplations, La Légende des siècles, the last ones being considered as "poetic masterpieces"), Playwright (Cromwell, whose preface is considered to be the manifesto of the Romantic movement), Essay ... Elected to the Académie française in 1841(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31M battery), he was also a policician and a human right activist; he took a stand against the death penalty with works such as The Last Day of a Condemned Man. For all those reasons, he is sometimes seen as "the greatest French writter of all times".

Other major authors of that century include Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte-Cristo), Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), Émile Zola (Les Rougon-Macquart), Honoré de Balzac (La Comédie humaine), Guy de Maupassant(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31J battery), Théophile Gautier and Stendhal(The Red and the Black, The Charterhouse of Parma), whose works are amongst the most well known in France and the world. The Prix Goncourt is a French literary prize first awarded in 1903. Important writers of the 20th century include Marcel Proust, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Antoine de Saint Exupéry wrote Little Prince which has remained popular for decades with children and adults around the world(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31Z battery). As of 2010, French authors had more Literature Nobel Prizes than those of any other nation. Compare the Evolution of Nobel Prizes by country.

Philosophy

Main article: French philosophy

This section requires expansion.

Baron de Montesquieu theorized the principle of separation of powers, that has been implemented in all liberal democracies since it was first applied in the United States.

René Descartes was a polymath of the 16th century. A notable mathematician, he founded the Analytic geometry. He is however best known for being "the Father of Modern Philosophy", that is, he revitalised Western Philosophy(Sony VGN-NR11Z Battery), that has been on the decline after the Greek and Roman eras. He founded the Cartesianist school, developed the Cartesian doubt, and was one of the major rationalist philosophers of that time. His most famous work is Meditations on First Philosophy, and his statement Cogito ergo sum has remained famous until now. A French university has been named after him(Sony VGN-NR11S Battery).

At the same epoch, moral and philosophical books by Blaise Pascal deeply influenced the French aristocracy.

During the 18th century, Voltaire wrote many plays, novels and letters that have remained famous. His novel Candide, ou l'optimisme is one of the most studied French novel outside France, and has been considered to be its magnum opus. This work is also seen as one of the most important philosophical fictions ever created(Sony VGN-NR110E Battery).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was Voltaire's main philosophical opponent at that time. A renowned political philosopher, his main works are the Discourse on Inequality, Les Confessions, Émile ou De l'éducation, and Du Contrat social. The latter is one of the most important works of the Age of Enlightenment, as it was the very first writing that openly criticized the European divine right monarchies, and that strongly affirmed the principle of the sovereignty of the people(Sony VGN-NR110E/T Battery). Du Contrat Social is believed to have been a crucial inspiration of the 1789 Revolution.

Music

Main article: Music of France

Although the musical creation in France dates back to the Middle Ages, it knew its golden age in the 17th century thanks to Louis XIV, who employed several musicians and composers in the royal court. The most renowned composers of this period include Marc-Antoine Charpentier, François Couperin, Michel-Richard Delalande, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Marin Marais, all of them composers at the court(Sony VGN-CR11Z Battery). After the death of the "Roi Soleil", French musical creation lost dynamism, but in the next century the music of Jean-Philippe Rameau reached some prestige, and today he is still one of the most renowned French composers. French classical music knew a revival in the 19th and 20th century, at the end of the romantic movement, at first with opera composers Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet, Gabriel Fauré, Charles Gounod(Sony VGN-CR11S Battery), Jacques Offenbach, Édouard Lalo, Jules Massenet and Camille Saint-Saëns. This period was a golden age for operas, being popular in the country the opéra bouffon, the opera-ballet and the opéra comique genres. Later came precursors of modern classical music Érik Satie, Francis Poulenc, and above all Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, who invented new musical forms. More recently, at the middle of the 20th century, Maurice Ohana, Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Boulez contributed to the evolutions of contemporary classical music(Sony VGN-CR11M Battery).

Daft Punk, pioneers of the French house.

French music then followed the rapid emergence of pop and rock music at the middle of the 20th century. Although English-speaking creations achieved popularity in the country, French pop music, known as chanson française, has also remained very popular. Among the most important French artists of the century are Edith Piaf, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, Charles Aznavour and Serge Gainsbourg. Although there are very few rock bands in France compared to English-speaking countries, bands such as Noir Désir(Sony VGN-CR11E Battery), Mano Negra, Niagara, Rita Mitsouko and more recently Superbus, Phoenix and Gojira have reached worldwide popularity. Other French artists with international careers have been popular in several countries, for example female singers Mireille Mathieu and Mylène Farmer, electronic music pioneers Jean-Michel Jarre, Laurent Garnier and Bob Sinclar, and later Martin Solveig and David Guetta. In the 1990s and 2000s, electronic duos Daft Punk(Sony VGN-CR21E Battery), Justice and Air also reached worldwide popularity and contributed to the reputation of modern electronic music in the world.

Among current musical events and institutions in France, many are dedicated to classical music and operas. The most prestigious institutions are the state-owned Paris National Opera (with its two sites Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille), the Opéra National de Lyon, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. As for music festivals, there are several events organized(Sony VGN-CR21S Battery), the most popular being the Eurockéennes and Rock en Seine. The Fête de la Musique, imitated by many foreign cities, was first launched by the French government in 1982. Major music halls and venues in France include Le Zénith sites present in many cities and other places in Paris (Paris Olympia, Théâtre Mogador, Élysée Montmartre, etc.).

Cinema

Main article: Cinema of France

World's first movie advertising for l'Arroseur Arrosé, 1895

France has historical and strong links with cinema. It is two Frenchmen, Auguste and Louis Lumière (known as the Lumiere Brothers) who created the cinema in 1895. More recently, in 2006, France produced more films than any other European country. Cannes Festival is one of the most important and famous film festivals in the world(Sony VGN-CR21Z Battery).

Although the French film market is dominated by Hollywood, it is however the Western country (out of the United States) where the share of the American films in the total film revenues is the smallest, at 50.1%, to compare with 77.3% of Germany and 69.4% of Japan. Thus, French films account for 34.8% of the total film revenues of France, which is the highest percentage of national films revenues in developed countries (the U.S. not included), to compare with 13.7% in Spain and 8.3% in the UK(Sony VGN-CR21SR Battery).

France was for centuries, and not so long ago, the cultural center of the world. But France's dominant position has been overthrown by American culture, and thus France tries to protect its culture. France has been a strong advocate of the cultural exception. France therefore succeeded in convincing all the EU members to refuse to include culture and audiovisuals in the list of liberalized sectors of the WTO in 1993(Sony VGN-CR31S Battery).

Moreover, this decision was confirmed in a voting in the UNESCO in 2005, and the principle of "cultural exception" won an overwhelming victory: 198 countries voted for it, only 2 countries, the U.S and Israel, voted against it.

Fashion

Main article: French fashion

Chanel's headquarters on the Place Vendôme, Paris.

Fashion has been an important industry and cultural export of France since the 17th century, and modern "haute couture" originated in Paris in the 1860s(Sony VGN-CR31E Battery). Today, Paris, along with London, Milan, and New York City, is considered one of the world's fashion capitals, and the city is home or headquarters to many of the premier fashion houses. The expression Haute couture is, in France, a legally protected name, guaranteeing certain quality standards(Sony VGN-CR31Z Battery).

The association of France with fashion and style (French: la mode) dates largely to the reign of Louis XIV when the luxury goods industries in France came increasingly under royal control and the French royal court became, arguably, the arbiter of taste and style in Europe. But France renewed its dominance of the high fashion (French: couture or haute couture) industry in the years 1860–1960 through the establishing of the great couturier houses such as Chanel, Dior, and Givenchy(Sony VGN-CR41Z Battery).

In the 1960s, the elitist "Haute couture" came under criticism from France's youth culture. In 1966, the designer Yves Saint Laurent broke with established Haute Couture norms by launching a prêt-à-porter ("ready to wear") line and expanding French fashion into mass manufacturing. With a greater focus on marketing and manufacturing, new trends were established by Sonia Rykiel, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix in the 1970s and 80s(Sony VGN-CR41S Battery). The 1990s saw a conglomeration of many French couture houses under luxury giants and multinationals such as LVMH.

Media

Main article: Telecommunications in France

Compared to other developed countries, the French do not spend much time reading newspapers, due to the popularity of broadcast media. Best-selling daily national newspapers in France are Le Monde and right-wing Le Figaro, with around 300.000 copies sold daily, but also L'Équipe, dedicated to sports coverage. In the past years, free dailies made a breakthrough, with Metro, 20 Minutes and Direct Plus distributed at more than 650.000 copies respectively(Sony VGN-CR41E Battery). However, the widest circulations are reached by regional daily Ouest France with more than 750.000 copies sold, and the 50 other regional papers have also high sales. The sector of weekly magazines is stronger and diversified with more than 400 specialized weekly magazines published in the country.

The most influential news magazine are left-wing Le Nouvel Observateur, centrist L'Express and right-wing Le Point (more than 400.000 copies), but the highest circulation for weeklies is reached by TV magazines and by women’s magazines(Sony VGN-CR41SR Battery), among them Marie Claire and ELLE, which have foreign versions. Influential weeklies also include investigative and satirical papers Le Canard Enchaîné and Charlie Hebdo, as well as Paris Match. Like in most industrialized nations, the print media have been affected by a severe crisis in the past decade. In 2008, the government have launched a major initiative to help the sector reform to be financially independent, but in 2009 it had to give 600.000 euros to help the print media cope with the economic crisis, in addition to existing subsidies(Sony VGN-CR42Z Battery).

In 1974, after years of centralized monopoly on radio and television, the governmental agency ORTF was split into several national institutions, but the three already-existing TV channels and four national radio stations remained under state-control. It was only in 1981 when the government allowed free broadcasting in the territory, ending state monopoly on radio. French television was partly liberalized in the next two decade with the creation of several commercial channels(Sony VGN-CR42S Battery), mainly thanks to cable and satellite television. In 2005 the national service Télévision Numérique Terrestre introduced digital television all over the territory, allowing the creation of other channels.

The four existing national channels are now owned by state-owned consortium France Télévisions, while public broadcasting group Radio France run five national radio stations. Among these public media are Radio France Internationale(Sony VGN-CR42E Battery), which broadcasts programs in French all over the world, and Franco-German TV channel TV5 Monde. In 2006, the government created global news channel France 24. Long-established TV channels TF1 (privatized in 1987), France 2 and France 3 have the highest shares, while radio stations RTL, Europe 1 and state-owned France Inter are the least listened to.

Society

Voltaire fought intolerance and fanaticism, and was a prominent and very prolific philosopher of the Enlightenment(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/L Battery).

According to a 2010 BBC poll based on 29,977 responses in 28 countries, France is globally seen as a positive influence in the world's affairs: 49 % have a positive view of the country's influence, whereas 19 % have a negative view. The Nation Brand Index of 2008 suggested that France has the second best international reputation, only behind Germany(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/P Battery).

In January 2010, the International Living ranked France as "best country to live in", ahead of 193 other countries surveyed, for the fifth year running, according to a survey taking in account 9 criteria of quality of life: Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk and Climate(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S/W Battery).

France has historical strong ties with Human Rights. Since the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, France is often nicknamed as "the country of Human Rights". Furthermore, in 1948, a Frenchman, René Cassin, was one of the main redactors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the UN members in Paris(Sony Vaio VGN-CR11Z/R Battery).

National symbols strongly reflect the heritage of the Revolution. The four official symbols of the Republic, as stated by the Constitution, all commemorate events from the period. Bastille Day, the national holiday, commemorate the Fête de la Fédération, held on 14 July 1790 to celebrate the storming of the Bastille. The origins of Tricolored flag also date back to the Revolution, as the cockade was the symbols adopted by the revolutionaries in 1789(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/B Battery).

As for the national anthem La Marseillaise, it was written in 1792 as a war song for the French Army. The official motto of the French Republic, "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" (Liberty, equality, brotherhood) also appeared during the French Revolution. Marianne, unofficial symbol, is an allegorical figure of liberty and of the Republic and also appeared at the time of the Revolution(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/L Battery).

A common and traditional symbol of the French people is the Gallic rooster. Its origins date back to Antiquity, since the Latin word Gallus meant both "rooster" and "inhabitant of Gaul". Then this figure gradually became the most widely shared representation of the French, used by French monarchs, then by the Revolution and under the successive republican regimes as representation of the national identity, used for some stamps and coins. Although it is not an official symbol of the Republic, it is the most common image to symbolize France in the collective imagination and abroad(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/P Battery).

Gastronomy

Main article: French cuisine

Foie gras

French cuisine is renowned for being one of the finest in the world. French cuisine is extremely diverse and has exerted a major influence on other western cuisines. According to the regions, traditional recipes are different, the North of the country prefers to use butter as the preferred fat for cooking, whereas olive oil is more commonly used in the South. Moreover, each region of France has iconic traditional specialities(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/R Battery) : Cassoulet in the Southwest, Choucroute in Alsace, Quiche in the Lorraine region, Beef bourguignon in the Bourgogne, provençal Tapenade, etc. France's most renowned products are wines, including Champagne, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, and Beaujolais as well as a large variety of different cheeses, such as Camembert, Roquefort and Brie. There are more than 400 different varieties(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/W Battery).

French cuisine is also regarded as a key element of the quality of life and the attractiveness of France. A French publication, the Michelin guide, had by 2006 awarded 620 stars to French restaurants, at that time more than any other country, although the guide also inspects more restaurants in France than in any other country (by 2010, Japan was awarded as many Michelin stars as France, despite having half the number of Michelin inspectors working there) (Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G Battery).

Sports

Main article: Sport in France

Tour de France

Popular sports played in France include football, judo and tennis. France has hosted events such as the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, and hosted the 2007 Rugby Union World Cup. Stade de France in Paris is the largest stadium in France and was the venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup final, and hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup final in October 2007. France also hosts the annual Tour de France(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/B Battery), the most famous road bicycle race in the world. France is also famous for its 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race held in the Sarthe department. Several major tennis tournaments take place in France, including the Paris Masters and the French Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Christophe Lemaitre after winning his medals in Barcelona(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/L Battery)

France has a close association with the Modern Olympic Games; it was a French aristocrat, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who suggested the Games' revival, at the end of the 19th century. After Athens was awarded the first Games, in reference to the Greek origins of the ancient Olympics, Paris hosted the second Games in 1900. Paris was also the first home of the International Olympic Committee(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/W Battery), before it moved to Lausanne. Since that 1900 Games, France has hosted the Olympics on four further occasions: the 1924 Summer Olympics, again in Paris and three Winter Games (1924 in Chamonix, 1968 in Grenoble and 1992 in Albertville).

Both the national football team and the national rugby union team are nicknamed “Les Bleus” in reference to the team’s shirt color as well as the national French tricolor flag. The football team is among the most successful in the world, particularly at the turn of the 21st century, with one FIFA World Cup victory in 1998(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/P Battery), one FIFA World Cup second place in 2006, and two European Championships in 1984 and 2000. The top national football club competition is the Ligue 1. Rugby is also very popular, particularly in Paris and the southwest of France. The national rugby team has competed at every Rugby World Cup, and takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship. Following from a strong domestic tournament the French rugby team has won sixteen Six Nations Championships, including eight grand slams; and have reached the semi-finals and final of the Rugby World Cup(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/R Battery).

Rugby league in France is a sport that is most popular in the south with cities such as Perpignan and Toulouse having a strong presence in the game. The Catalans Dragons currently play in Super League which is the top tier rugby league competition in Europe. Toulouse Olympique play in the Co-operative Championship which is the 2nd tier of European rugby league. The Elite One Championship is the top tier of French rugby league(Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/L Battery).