France: Difference between revisions

'''France''' or the French Republic (''République française'') is a country in southwestern [[Europe]]. It is bordered by [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Germany]], [[Switzerland]], [[Italy]], and [[Spain]], as well as the [[English Channel]] and [[Bay of Biscay]] (bodies of the [[Atlantic Ocean]]) to the west, and the [[Mediterranean Sea]] to the southeast.

France is the largest West European nation, with a total area of 547,030 square kilometers. The country’s capital is Paris, which is the only French city with more than 1 million inhabitants. Paris has a population of 2,142,800 in the city proper (as of 2004) and 11,330,700 in the metropolitan area (2003 estimate). Greater metropolitan Paris encompasses more than 15 percent of the country’s total population.

 

 

 

 

 

 

considered part of metropolitan France, is in the Mediterranean, about 185 kilometers eastsoutheast of Nice. France’s area total excludes its 10 overseas possessions, mostly remnants of France’s colonial empire. Referred to as “DOM–TOM”—for domaines d'outre-mer and

 

 

 

Endowed with a third of all the agricultural land in the European Union (EU) and a moderate and varied climate, France is the world’s second largest agricultural producer (behind the United States) and the EU’s leading producer. Of France’s land surface, about 33.46 percent is arable and in annually replanted crops, while 2.03 percent is in permanent crops, such as fruit trees and vines. According to a 1998 estimate, an area of about 20,000 square kilometers was irrigated. French agricultural production makes up a fourth of the EU total and accounts for 2.5 percent of French gross domestic product (2006 estimate). France has roughly 1 million farms, which benefit substantially from subsidies, especially EU subsidies. Wheat, corn, meat, wine, sugar beets, and dairy products are France’s main agricultural products.

 

France also has forest resources that are among the largest in Europe. The forests about two-thirds deciduous cover almost 17 million hectares and account for a third of the country’s land

area. The average figure per capita is 0.3 hectares. Forest cover is growing by about 30,000

expansion of forested land partly reflects the continuation of long-existing forest expansion and improvement policies. Since 1947, the government has subsidized the reforestation of 2.1 million hectares of forestland, for a growth of forestland by 35 percent. A quarter of the country’s forests are publicly owned, and 95 percent have free public access. State subsidies, amounting to some 90 million euros per year for the period 2000–9, have been earmarked for assisting communities and private owners to clear and regenerate their forests.

 

nation’s early industrialization. The country’s limited iron ore is of poor quality, and the nearly depleted coal reserves are unsuitable for steel production. In 2004 coal mining in France by its state-owned company was phased out altogether in favor of limited imports. Deposits of petroleum and natural gas, small and largely tapped, each yield only 5 percent of France’s consumption. France currently imports iron ore along with most other minerals important in industrial production. France remains a significant producer of uranium, a fuel used in nuclear reactors, and bauxite, from which aluminum is made.