Fun Facts about France
By: Want To Know It
France (officially the French Republic) is a country located in Western Europe. Here are some fun facts about France.
- The most popular sports in France are football (soccer), rugby league and rugby union. Handball and basketball are also popular in many parts of France.
- Well known sporting events held annually in France are the Tour de France (the best known road bicycle race in the world) and the French Open (one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments)
- French literature is very popular and well known. Charles Perrault was one of France’s most influential children’s writers. He wrote books such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Puss in Boots.
- The French healthcare system was ranked number one in the world back in 1997. Average life expectancy in France is currently 79.73 years.
- 54% of French people identify themselves as being Christians, while 31% of people stated that they were not religious. Islam, Buddhism and Judaism are all practised by a minority (just over 1%) of the population
- It is estimated that there are between 200,000 and 1 million illegal immigrants in France
- France has an estimated population of 64.5 million, making it the 19th largest country (in terms of population) in the world.
- France is the most popular tourist destination in the world. Nearly 82 million people traveled to France for holidays in 2007. Spain was the second most popular tourist destination with 58.5 million visitors.
- In 2004, only 68.8% of French people aged 15-64 were working. This is a major contributor to the relatively low GDP per capita in France compared with the United States.
- France has the most extensive railway system in Western Europe. High speed trains traveling at up to 320 km/h (200mph) are used by commercial rail companies.
- France has a civil legal system. This means that the law arises from statues and judges can only interpret this law (they are not to make law). England (the United Kingdom), the United States, Australia and Canada all have common law systems. This means that judges make (or declare) the law, as well as interpret statutes. In common law systems, judges are bound to follow previous decisions in the same way (hence, the name ‘common’ law).
Hope you enjoyed those fun facts about France.
20 Comments for Fun Facts about France
1. chelsie | January 26th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I thought these was kind of boring. I wish you had weird or funny facts not social studies facts, that’s dumb. I could of read a book and found these out without even wanting to. Some is common sense.
2. Want to know it | January 26th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Can’t please everyone I guess. What about this one- in France it was once illegal to sell dolls without a human face.
3. Madeline | February 13th, 2009 at 4:20 am
LOVE this info. Helped me majorly in a report about France. Thank you SO much!
4. person | April 2nd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
thx very much!! this helped me a lot when doing a project on France. thx!=]
5. shatavia thorne | April 20th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
i like this website it tells u a lot of information that u probably need to know. thank u and rite back
YOUR TRULY
SHATAVIA THORNE
6. Emma | May 27th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
thank you.This website helped me lots on a project i only had 1 day left to do it.
Emma
7. anonymous | July 2nd, 2009 at 7:12 am
YA THIS IS PRETTY AWESOME IT HELPED ME OUT IN MY SCHOOL PROJECT!!
THANK U (who eva made dis site)
U ROCK!!
8. totally cool person | October 15th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
this really helped with school
9. mz. deezy babiie | October 19th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
dis wuz too cool dis really helped………best site by far!!!! yay you rock lol toodles…..
10. tripleM | November 16th, 2009 at 1:03 am
luv the site. lots of info
11. A Friend | November 21st, 2009 at 4:31 pm
This site has a lot of information and fun facts about France. Wow!
12. lklklklkl | January 8th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
thank u it helped me on my project!!!!!!
13. katie | January 24th, 2010 at 12:17 am
france is the best country on the planet.
14. Kenzy | February 8th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Thanks so much for this, it helped out a bit.
I do suggest other “Fun” Facts, but pretty good.
Kenzy
a student
15. Faith | February 9th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Thanks this was big help for school most appreciated
16. That guy | March 16th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
This site helped me so much on my project! But I wish their were more weird and funny facts about french rather than these general facts. None the less great site to visit thank u to whoever made this.
Signed~
T.G
17. Taylor | May 13th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Great information!!! Thanks!
~T.H.~
18. person 1 | June 10th, 2010 at 2:47 am
THANK YOU IT HELPED
19. Poppy & Charly | June 15th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
THANKS A BUNCH! this website is full of funny, useful and interesting facts about my favorite country!
I am sat next to my good friends timothy and poppy, before we found this webstie we were falling behind terribly with our french facts but now im on top of my work and back on track. I owe it all to you, and i will send you my gold sticker i know i will receive when i get an a***.
Thanks a bundle of baguettes (laugh out loud hilariously funny) lolhf
20. menna | June 30th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
they were good for my homework but i think you should put more interesting ones on there
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