finition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)

Government France

Country name:
conventional long form: French Republic
conventional short form: France
local long form: Republique francaise
local short form: France

Government type:
republic

Capital:
name: Paris
geographic coordinates: 48 52 N, 2 20 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during
Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last
Sunday in October

Administrative divisions:
26 regions (regions, singular - region); Alsace, Aquitaine,
Auvergne, Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy), Bourgogne, Bretagne
(Brittany), Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse (Corsica),
Franche-Comte, Guadeloupe, Guyane (French Guiana), Haute-Normandie
(Upper Normandy), Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin,
Lorraine, Martinique, Reunion, Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas-de-Calais,
Pays de la Loire, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Cote
d'Azur, Rhone-Alpes
note: France is divided into 22 metropolitan regions (including the
"territorial collectivity" of Corse or Corsica) and 4 overseas
regions and is subdivided into 96 metropolitan departments and 4
overseas departments

Dependent areas:
Bassas da India, Clipperton Island, Europa Island, French
Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Glorioso Islands,
Juan de Nova Island, New Caledonia, Tromelin Island, Wallis and
Futuna
note: the US does not recognize claims to Antarctica; New Caledonia
has been considered a "sui generis" collectivity of France since
1999, a unique status falling between that of an independent country
and a French overseas deparment

Independence:
486 (unified by Clovis)

National holiday:
Fete de la Federation, 14 July (1790); note - although often
incorrectly referred to as Bastille Day, the celebration actually
commemorates the holiday held on the first anniversary of the
storming of the Bastille (on 14 July 1789) and the establishment of
a constitutional monarchy; other names for the holiday are Fete
Nationale (National Holiday) and quatorze juillet (14th of July)

Constitution:
adopted by referendum 28 September 1958, effective 4 October 1958;
amended concerning election of president in 1962; amended to comply
with provisions of 1992 EC Maastricht Treaty, 1996 Amsterdam Treaty,
2000