Coordinates: 46°00′N 2°00′E

Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France (French: France métropolitaine or la
Métropole), also known as European France (French: Metropolitan France

Territoire européen de la France)[1] is the area of France France métropolitaine

which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for
the European regions of France is used in everyday life in
France but has no administrative meaning. 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 islands in the
Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel (French: la Manche) and
the Mediterranean Sea. Flag
National Emblem
In contrast, overseas France is the collective name for all the
French territories outside Europe. Metropolitan and overseas Motto: "Liberté, égalité, fraternité"
France together form the French Republic. Metropolitan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
France accounts for 82.0% of the land territory, 3.3% of the Anthem: "La Marseillaise"
exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and 95.9% of the population
of the French Republic. Some small parts of France (as 0:00 / 0:00
example the Cerdagne) are part of the Iberian Peninsula.

In overseas France, a person from metropolitan France is often

called a métro, short for métropolitain.

Contents
Territory of the French Republic (red)
Etymology Overseas regions and territories
Statistics (circled)
Claimed territory (Adélie Land;
Mainland France hatched)
See also
Notes
References

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 la Métropole (literally "the
Metropolis"), as distinguished from its colonies and
protectorates, known as les colonies or l'Empire. Similar terms
existed to describe other European colonial powers (e.g.
"metropolitan Britain", "España metropolitana"). This
application of the words "metropolis" and "metropolitan" Capital Paris
came from Ancient Greek "metropolis" (from μήτηρ mētēr Largest Paris (Île-de-France),
"mother" and πόλις pólis "city, town"), which was the name settlements Marseille (Provence-
for a city-state that created colonies across the Mediterranean Alpes-Côte d'Azur),
(e.g. Marseille was a colony of the city-state of Phocaea; Lyon (Auvergne-
therefore Phocaea was the "metropolis" of Marseille). By Rhône-Alpes),
Toulouse (Occitanie),
extension "metropolis" and "metropolitan" came to mean
Nice (Provence-Alpes-
"motherland", a nation or country as opposed to its colonies Côte d'Azur)
overseas.
Languages French, Alsatian,
Today, some people in Overseas France object to the use of Catalan, Basque,
the term la France métropolitaine due to its colonial history. Corsican, Breton,
Gallo, Occitan,
They prefer to call it "the European territory of France" (le
Walloon, West
territoire européen de la France), as the Treaties of the Flemish, Franco-
European Union do. Likewise, they oppose treating overseas Provençal, Lorraine
France and metropolitan France as separate entities. For Franconian, Oïl
example, INSEE used to calculate its statistics (demography, languages, Yenish and
economy, etc.) for metropolitan France only, and to analyze 400 other languages of
separate statistics for the overseas departments and territories. Metropolitan France
People in the overseas departments have opposed this separate Demonym(s) French
treatment, arguing that the then four overseas departments
Regions 13 regions
were fully part of France.
Auvergne-Rhône-
As a result, since the end of the 1990s INSEE has included Alpes
the four overseas departments in its figures for France (such as Bourgogne-Franche-
total population or GDP). The fifth overseas department, Comté
Mayotte, has been included in the figures for France since the Brittany
mid-2010s too. INSEE refers to metropolitan France and the Centre-Val de Loire
five overseas departments as la France entière ("the whole of Corsica
France"). "The whole of France" includes the five overseas Grand Est
departments, but does not include the other overseas Hauts-de-France
collectivities and territories that have more autonomy than the Île-de-France
departments. Other branches of the French administration may
Normandy
have different definitions of what la France entière is. For
Nouvelle-Aquitaine
example, in contrast to INSEE, when the Ministry of the
Interior releases election results, they use the term la France Occitanie
entière to refer to the entire French Republic, including all of Pays de la Loire
overseas France, and not just the five overseas departments. Provence-Alpes-Côte
d'Azur
Note that since INSEE now calculates statistics for la France Leaders
entière, this practice has spread to international institutions.
For instance, the French GDP published by the World Bank • President Emmanuel Macron
includes metropolitan France and the five overseas • Prime Élisabeth Borne
Minister
departments. The World Bank refers to this total as "France";
it does not use the phrase "the whole of France", as INSEE Area
does. • Total 543,940 km2
(210,020 sq mi)

Statistics Population
• Estimate 65,250,000 (Jan 2021)
Currency Euro
Date format dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Metropolitan France covers a land area of 543,940  km2
(210,020  sq  mi),[a] while Overseas France covers a
land area of 119,396 km2 (46,099 sq mi),[2] for a total
of 663,336  km2 (256,115  sq  mi) in the French
Republic (excluding Adélie Land in Antarctica where
sovereignty is suspended since the signing of the
Antarctic Treaty in 1959). Thus, metropolitan France
accounts for 82.0% of the French Republic's land
territory.

At sea, the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Paris, Metropolitan France

metropolitan France covers 333,691  km2
(128,839  sq  mi), while the EEZ of Overseas France
covers 9,825,538 km2 (3,793,661 sq mi), for a total of 10,159,229 km2 (3,922,500  sq  mi) in the French
Republic (excluding Adélie Land).[3] Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 3.3% of the French
Republic's EEZ.

According to INSEE, 65,250,000 people lived in metropolitan France as of January 2021, while 2,785,000
lived in overseas France, for a total of 68,035,000 inhabitants in the French Republic.[4] Thus, metropolitan
France accounts for 95.9% of the French Republic's population.

In the second round of the 2017 French presidential election, 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%).[5]

The French National Assembly 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.

Mainland France
Mainland France (French: la France continentale), or just "the mainland" (French: le continent), does not
include the French islands in the Atlantic Ocean, English Channel or Mediterranean Sea, the largest of
which is Corsica.

In Corsica, people from the mainland part of metropolitan France are referred to as les continentaux.

A casual synonym for the mainland part of metropolitan France is l'Hexagone ("the Hexagon"), for its
approximate shape, and the adjective hexagonal may be a casual synonym of French (usually understood
as metropolitan only, except in topics related to the foreign affairs and national politics of France as a
whole). The image of France as a hexagon first appeared in French geography texts of the 1850s.[6]

See also
French colonial empire
Mainland
Wildlife of Metropolitan France
Notes
a. French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds
and glaciers larger than 1 km2 (0.39 sq mi) as well as the
estuaries of rivers. French National Geographic Institute
data, which includes bodies of water, gives a value of
551,695 km2 (213,011 sq mi) for the land area of
Metropolitan France.

References
1. "Ministère des Affaires Étrangères- Les étrangers l'Hexagone illustrated by overlaying
titulaires d'un passeport ordinaire dispensés de the outline of mainland France with
l'obligation de visa - 1. Le territoire européen de la the hexagon on the 1988 Charles de
France" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170225094620/h Gaulle commemorative 1 franc coin.
ttp://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/venir-en-france/formalites- Going counterclockwise, the sides of
d-entree-en-france/article/les-etrangers-titulaires-d-un-pa the hexagon are: 1. the Channel
sseport-ordinaire-dispenses-de-l-obligation-de). coast, 2. the Atlantic coast, 3. the
Archived from the original (http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/f Pyrenees (border with Spain), 4. the
r/venir-en-france/formalites-d-entree-en-france/article/les Mediterranean coast, 5. the eastern
-etrangers-titulaires-d-un-passeport-ordinaire-dispenses- border (Alps, Jura and Upper Rhine;
de-l-obligation-de) on 2017-02-25. Retrieved Monaco to Karlsruhe), and 6. the
2018-05-15. northeastern border (German
2. Land area of the four old overseas departments ([1] (http Rhineland, Belgium and Luxembourg;
s://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2864136#consulter)), Karlsruhe to Dunkirk).
Mayotte, the overseas collectivities, and New Caledonia
(page 21 (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/2045
658/my_oldcol_01.pdf)), the French Southern and Antarctic Lands and the Scattered Islands
([2] (http://observatoire-outre-mer.interieur.gouv.fr/site/layout/set/print/content/download/166/1
067/file/Tdb_TAAF_Novembre17.pdf)), and Clipperton ([3] (http://agriculture.gouv.fr/telechar
ger/44764?token=428075c480768259a6a7d05a971137ea)).
3. "Sea Around Us – Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity" (http://www.seaaroundus.org/dat
a/#/eez.aspx). Retrieved 2018-06-20.
4. Population of Metropolitan France: [4] (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/1893198/esti
m-pop-nreg-sexe-gca-1975-2021.xls). The population of all five overseas departments
totaled 2,172,000 [5] (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/1893198/estim-pop-nreg-sexe
-gca-1975-2021.xls) in January 2021. The population of the overseas collectivities
amounted to 613,000 inhabitants (Saint-Pierre and Miquelon [6] (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statis
tiques/3545753?sommaire=3292701), Saint-Barthélemy [7] (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiqu
es/3545753?sommaire=3292701), Saint-Martin [8] (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/35457
53?sommaire=3292701), French Polynesia [9] (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2122700),
Wallis et Futuna [10] (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2121453), New Caledonia [11] (htt
p://www.isee.nc/population/demographie)). The total population of the overseas departments
and territories of France is estimated at 2,785,000.
5. "Résultats de l'élection présidentielle 2017" (https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Elections/Les-resul
tats/Presidentielles/elecresult__presidentielle-2017/(path)/presidentielle-2017/index.html).
Minister of the Interior (in French). Government of France. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
6. Peter Sahlins, "Natural Frontiers Revisited: France's Boundaries since the Seventeenth
Century", The American Historical Review, Vol. 95, No. 5 (Dec., 1990), p. 1451
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Metropolitan_France&oldid=1098455978"

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