Population: 58,317,450 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19.04% (male 5,688,505; female 5,417,355)
15-64 years: 65.62% (male 19,147,369; female 19,120,935)
65 years and over: 15.34% (male 3,589,100; female 5,354,186) (July
1996 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.34% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 10.82 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 9.27 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.88 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.95 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 5.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.93 years
male: 73.98 years
female: 82.11 years (1996 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.49 children born/woman (1996 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Frenchman(men), Frenchwoman(women)
adjective: French

Ethnic divisions: Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North
African, Indochinese, Basque minorities

Religions: Roman Catholic 90%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim
(North African workers) 1%, unaffiliated 6%

Languages: French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and
languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque,
Flemish)

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1980 est.)
total population: 99%
male: NA%
female: NA%

Government
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Name of country:
conventional long form: French Republic
conventional short form: France
local long form: Republique Francaise
local short form: France

Data code: FR

Type of government: republic

Capital: Paris

Administrative divisions: 22 regions (regions, singular - region);
Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne, Bretagne,
Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse, Franche-Comte, Haute-Normandie,
Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine,
Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardie,
Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Rhone-Alpes
note: metropolitan France is divided into 22 regions (including the
"territorial collectivity" of Corse or Corsica) and are subdivided
into 96 departments; see separate entries for the overseas
departments (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion) and the
territorial collectivities (Mayotte, Saint Pierre