Ten Things You Should Know About France

I saw this question and figured I would give it a go. France is on my short list of countries to visit, so although I don't have first hand experience with the place, I have listed facts that I consider to be interesting should I be looking for information about France on my own.

1) France is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, just behind that of the United State. Exclusive economic zone is defined by areas of ownership that include both land and sea.

The reason why France has so much, despite it's small size compared to the USA, is because it has extensive overseas colonies, such as Martinique and French Guiana.

2) France is one of the most industrialized countries in the world, yet it is ranked only seventeenth by carbon dioxide emissions. This is because over 75% of the country is powered by nuclear energy and they have had strict environmental protection policies set for over the past 30 years.

3) France is a founding member of the United Nations, and has the third largest military in NATO and the European Union's largest army.

4) France is the second largest donor of development aid in the world, behind the US. The amount of aid they provide is roughly .5% of their entire GDP, which is the highest percent out of all developed nations.

5) France is the world's top tourist destination with more than 81.9 million foreign tourists. The Eiffel Tower and Louvre in Paris are the main draws of tourists as they each have over 6 million visitors a year, but are far behind that of Disneyland Paris, which has over 13 million visitors a year!

6) The wealthiest European(4th in the entire world) is French multibillionaire and LVMH(Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) CEO and owner Bernard Arnault. The world's wealthiest woman is L'Oreal cosmetic empire heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

7) Capital punishment has been abolished in the French Constitution since 1981. The last person put to death for their crimes in France was in 1977, by guillotine(wow!) as that was the only legally accepted form of capital punishment since its inception during the French Revolution.

8) France has universal health care that is largely funded by the government and is considered by the World Heath Organization to have the "best overall health care in the world."

9) 20% of the French population resides in Paris. Paris is nicknamed the "City of Lights," as a tribute to its intellectual and artistic history - not because there are a lot of lights in the city(although that is true as well).

10) The metric system was made popular in France in 1799 and is now the official system of measurement in almost every country around the world. The only industrialized nation that hasn't adopted the metric system as their official system of measurement is the United States(no wonder the French dislike Americans!).

Hope you found those facts fun and interesting! Will be posting up my travel guide for France soon, so keep any eye out for that as well!