General overview : France

. Area: 551, 000 km² (543, 965.4 km² for metropolitan France, INSEE 1992)
. Population: 64 303 millions (INSEE 2009)
. Capital: Paris
. Largest cities and number of inhabitants: Paris 2,114,657, Marseille 801,953, Lyon 451,506, Toulouse 421,495, Nice 338,219, Nantes 271,980, Strasbourg 259,254, Montpellier 238,935, Bordeaux 223,907, Lille 217,347 (INSEE 2007 census; for further details see the French population 2007, INED).
. Official language: French
. Regions:
21 regions: Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne, Bretagne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse, Franche-Comté, Haute-Normandie, Ile de France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrénées, Nord Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
4 Overseas departments (D.O.M.): Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Reunion
3 Overseas territories (T.O.M.): New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna
2 territorial collectivities: Mayotte, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon

France has been for a long time a Catholic country. According to a 2009 study, 64 % of all French people still defined themselves as Catholics, 3% as Protestants, 5% as members of another religion, and 28% said they "had no religion" .

Source : Le catholicisme en France en 2009, IFOP, August 2009.