Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

which is geographically in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and chiefly comprises the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

. This collective name for the European

regions of France France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collectivities, which ha ...

is used in everyday life in France but has no administrative meaning, with the exception that only Metropolitan France is part of the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...

. Indeed, the overseas regions have exactly the same administrative status as the metropolitan regions. Metropolitan France comprises mainland France and Corsica, as well as nearby French islands in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

waters. Its borders have undergone significant changes over the centuries, particularly in the east, but have remained unaltered since 1947. In contrast,

overseas France Overseas France (, also ) consists of 13 France, French territories outside Europe, mostly the remnants of the French colonial empire that remained a part of the French state under various statuses after decolonisation. Most are part of the E ...

() is the collective name for all the French departments and territories outside

. Metropolitan and overseas France together form the French Republic. Metropolitan France accounts for 82.0% of the land territory, 3.3% of the

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

(EEZ), and 95.9% of the population of the French Republic. Some small parts of France (e.g.

Cerdanya Cerdanya (; , ; , ) or often La Cerdanya is a natural region, natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it was one of the Catalan counties, counties of Catalonia. Cerdanya has a ...

) are a part of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

. In overseas France, a person from metropolitan France is often called a , short for .

Etymology

The term "metropolitan France" dates from the country's colonial period (from the 16th to the 20th centuries), when France was referred to as (literally "the Metropolis"), as distinguished from its colonies and protectorates, known as or . Similar terms existed to describe other European colonial powers (e.g. "metropolitan Britain", ). This application of the words "metropolis" and "metropolitan" came from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

"" (from "mother" and "city, town"), which was the name for a city-state that created colonies across the Mediterranean (e.g.

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

was a colony of the city-state of

Phocaea Phocaea or Phokaia (Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: Φώκαια, ''Phókaia''; modern-day Foça in Turkey) was an ancient Ionian Ancient Greece, Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Colonies in antiquity, Greek colonists from Phoc ...

; therefore Phocaea was the "metropolis" of Marseille). By extension "metropolis" and "metropolitan" came to mean "motherland", a nation or country as opposed to its colonies overseas. Today, some people in

Overseas France Overseas France (, also ) consists of 13 France, French territories outside Europe, mostly the remnants of the French colonial empire that remained a part of the French state under various statuses after decolonisation. Most are part of the E ...

object to the use of the term ''la France métropolitaine'' due to its colonial history. They prefer to call it "the European territory of France", as the

Treaties of the European Union The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedure ...

do. Likewise, they oppose treating overseas France and metropolitan France as separate entities. For example, INSEE used to calculate its statistics (demography, economy, etc.) for metropolitan France only, and to analyze separate statistics for the overseas departments and territories. People in the overseas departments have opposed this separate treatment, arguing that the then four overseas departments were fully part of France. As a result, since the end of the 1990s INSEE has included the four overseas departments in its figures for France (such as total population or GDP). The fifth overseas department,

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

, has been included in the figures for France since the mid-2010s too. INSEE refers to metropolitan France and the five overseas departments as ''la France entière'' ("the whole of France"). "The whole of France" includes the five overseas departments, but does not include the other overseas collectivities and territories that have more autonomy than the departments. Other branches of the French administration may have different definitions of what ''la France entière'' is. For example, in contrast to INSEE, when the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

releases election results, they use the term ''la France entière'' to refer to the entire French Republic, including all of overseas France, and not just the five overseas departments. Since INSEE now calculates statistics for ''la France entière'', this practice has spread to international institutions. For instance, the French GDP published by the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

includes metropolitan France and the five overseas departments. The World Bank refers to this total as "France"; it does not use the phrase "the whole of France", as INSEE does.

Statistics

Metropolitan France covers a land area of , while

covers a land area of ,Land area of the four old overseas departments

, Mayotte, the overseas collectivities, and New Caledonia
page 21
, the French Southern and Antarctic Lands and the Scattered Islands

), and Clipperton

. for a total of in the French Republic (excluding

Adélie Land Adélie Land ( ) or Adélie Coast is a Territorial claims in Antarctica, claimed territory of France located on the continent of Antarctica. It stretches from a portion of the Southern Ocean coastline all the way inland to the South Pole. Franc ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

where sovereignty is suspended since the signing of the

Antarctic Treaty The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of A ...

in 1959). Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 82.0% of the French Republic's land territory. At sea, the

(EEZ) of metropolitan France covers , while the EEZ of

covers , for a total of in the French Republic (excluding Adélie Land). Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 3.3% of the French Republic's EEZ. According to INSEE, 66,143,000 people lived in metropolitan France as of January 2024, while 2,220,000 lived in the French Overseas Department (DOM) and another 600,000 in the Overseas Collectivities (TOM), for a total of 2,820,000 inhabitants in Oversea France. The total population of all French controlled land is 68,963,000 people. But the Overseas Collectivities are not included in the INSEE statistics.Population of Metropolitan France

The population of all five overseas departments totaled 2,172,00

in January 2024. The population of the overseas collectivities amounted to 613,000 inhabitants (Saint-Pierre and Miquelo

Saint-Barthélem

Saint-Marti

French Polynesi

Wallis et Futun

New Caledoni

. The total population of the overseas departments and territories of France is estimated at 2,785,000. Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 95.9% of the French Republic's population. In the second round of the

2017 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April and 7 May 2017. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he wo ...

, 35,467,327 French people cast a ballot (meaning a turnout of 74.56%). 33,883,463 of these (95.53% of the total voters) cast their ballots in metropolitan France (turnout: 76.26%), 1,003,910 (2.83% of the total voters) cast their ballots in overseas France (turnout: 53.59%), and 579,954 (1.64% of the total voters) cast their ballots in foreign countries (French people living abroad; turnout: 45.84%). The

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

is made up of 577 deputies, 539 of whom (93.4% of the total) are elected in metropolitan France, 27 (4.7% of the total) in overseas France, and 11 (1.9% of the total) by French citizens living in foreign countries.

Hexagon

Legislators in 2023 voted to use the name ''l'Hexagone'' ("the

Hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is de ...

") to refer to the continental part metropolitan France in an effort to move away from colonial language. The image of France as a hexagon first appeared in French geography texts of the 1850s.Peter Sahlins, "Natural Frontiers Revisited: France's Boundaries since the Seventeenth Century", ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 95, No. 5 (Dec., 1990), p. 1451 Mainland or Continental France (French: ''la France continentale''), or just "the mainland" (French: ''le continent''), does not include the French islands in the Atlantic Ocean,

, or

, the largest of which is Corsica. In Corsica, people from mainland France are referred to as ''les continentaux''.

Notes

References

{{Coord, 46, 00, N, 2, 00, E, type:country_source:kolossus-cawiki, display=title M01 Geography of Europe

. . . Southwestern Europe Western Europe

Etymology

Statistics

Hexagon

See also

Notes

References