; territorial claim in Antarctica (Adelie Land)

_#_Climate: generally cool winters and mild summers, but mild winters
and hot summers along the Mediterranean

_#_Terrain: mostly flat plains or gently rolling hills in north and
west; remainder is mountainous, especially Pyrenees in south, Alps in
east

_#_Natural resources: coal, iron ore, bauxite, fish, timber, zinc,
potash

_#_Land use: arable land 32%; permanent crops 2%; meadows and pastures
23%; forest and woodland 27%; other 16%; includes irrigated 2%

_#_Environment: most of large urban areas and industrial centers in
Rhone, Garonne, Seine, or Loire River basins; occasional warm tropical
wind known as mistral

_#_Note: largest West European nation

_*_People
_#_Population: 56,595,587 (July 1991), growth rate 0.4% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 14 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 6 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 74 years male, 82 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Frenchman(men), Frenchwoman(women);
adjective--French

_#_Ethnic divisions: Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North
African, Indochinese, and Basque minorities

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

_#_Language: French (100% of population); rapidly declining regional
dialects (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque,
Flemish)

_#_Literacy: 99% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1980 est.)

_#_Labor force: 24,170,000; services 61.5%, industry 31.3%,
agriculture 7.3% (1987)

_#_Organized labor: 20% of labor force (est.)

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: French Republic

_#_Type: republic

_#_Capital: Paris

_#_Administrative divisions: metropolitan France--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--the 22 regions are subdivided into 96 departments; see separate
entries for the over