France 🇫🇷
France is a country in Europe with a population of 64,626,628. Its capital is Paris. The official currency is EUR, and the main languages are French.
Quick facts
- Capital: Paris
- Continent: Europe
- Population: 64,626,628
- Area: 643,801 km²
- Density: 100 people per km²
- Currency: EUR
- Languages: French
- ISO code: FR
Where France sits
France 🇫🇷 is one of 46 countries in Europe, with its capital at Paris. It covers 643,801 square kilometres — 42nd in the world — and is home to about 64,626,628 people, 23rd globally.
The countries it shares a continent with include Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.
How France compares
Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, France sits closest to Tanzania and United Kingdom. In land area, its nearest counterparts are South Sudan and Somalia.
At 100 people per square kilometre it is somewhat above the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.
French is an official language in 30 countries here, among them Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso and Burundi, and 25 others. The EUR is shared with 25 other countries, including Andorra, Austria and Belgium, and 22 others.
To see France next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.
How to remember France
Paris sits on the River Seine in the north of the country. For the flag, read it like a sentence from left to right: blue, white, red, standing up. The Netherlands has the same colours lying down (red, white, blue from the top), and Italy swaps blue for green.
The flag of France: blue, white and red
🇫🇷 The flag is three vertical stripes of blue, white and red, known as the tricolore. The flag dates from the French Revolution in 1790, when the traditional colour white was combined with the blue and red of the Paris militia.
Region and neighbours
France is a large country in Western Europe, with coasts on the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It shares land borders with 8 countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Spain and Andorra. France also has land outside Europe: French Guiana in South America borders Brazil and Suriname.
- Belgium 🇧🇪 — capital Brussels
- Luxembourg 🇱🇺 — capital Luxembourg
- Germany 🇩🇪 — capital Berlin
- Switzerland 🇨🇠— capital Bern
- Italy 🇮🇹 — capital Rome
- Monaco 🇲🇨 — capital Monaco
- Spain 🇪🇸 — capital Madrid
- Andorra 🇦🇩 — capital Andorra la Vella
Three facts about France
- France is the world's top tourist destination, with about 102 million foreign visitors in 2025.
- Mont Blanc, on the border with Italy, is the highest mountain in the Alps at about 4,806 m.
- The Eiffel Tower in Paris was finished in 1889 and was the tallest structure in the world until 1930.
Sources: Wikipedia: France, Wikipedia: Flag of France, Wikipedia: Paris, Wikipedia: Mont Blanc, Wikipedia: Eiffel Tower, CIA World Factbook.
Quiz yourself on France
- European capitals quiz — match France to Paris
- European flags quiz — spot the France flag among its neighbours
Quizzes that include France
Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For France those are:
- Europe map quiz — place it on a blank map
- Europe flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
- Europe capitals quiz — match it to Paris
- France capital quiz — five quick questions starting with France, plus the answer quizzes most often try to trick you with
- Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day
Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.
Read more about France
- Capital of France: Paris — the capital in detail, with size and density rankings
- All 46 countries of Europe
Nearby countries
- Albania 🇦🇱 — capital Tirana
- Andorra 🇦🇩 — capital Andorra la Vella
- Austria 🇦🇹 — capital Vienna
- Belarus 🇧🇾 — capital Minsk
- Belgium 🇧🇪 — capital Brussels
- Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦 — capital Sarajevo
- Bulgaria 🇧🇬 — capital Sofia
- Croatia ðŸ‡ðŸ‡· — capital Zagreb
- Cyprus 🇨🇾 — capital Nicosia
- Czechia 🇨🇿 — capital Prague
- Denmark 🇩🇰 — capital Copenhagen
- Estonia 🇪🇪 — capital Tallinn
Frequently asked questions
What are the colours of the France flag?
The flag of France is three vertical stripes of blue, white and red, known as the tricolore. The flag dates from the French Revolution in 1790, when the traditional colour white was combined with the blue and red of the Paris militia.
Which countries border France?
France shares land borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Spain and Andorra. France also has land outside Europe: French Guiana in South America borders Brazil and Suriname.
How can I remember the capital of France?
Paris sits on the River Seine in the north of the country. For the flag, read it like a sentence from left to right: blue, white, red, standing up. The Netherlands has the same colours lying down (red, white, blue from the top), and Italy swaps blue for green.