France (officially the French Republic) is a country that has been among the world’s foremost superpowers since the early 17th century. With a primary metropolitan territory located in Western Europe, mainland France extends from the Mediterranean Sea in the south, to the North Sea and English Channel at its uppermost borders. The country borders a great number of other European Union countries, including Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. France is also comprised of a variety of overseas islands and territories in the Caribbean, South America, the southern Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica, thus having land borders with countries as diverse as Brazil and Suriname. France is one of the founding members of the European Union (and is indeed the largest country in the EU); is a member of the G8, NATO, and the Latin Union; is one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council; and today stands as one of a handful of acknowledge nuclear powers in the world. France also has the distinction of being the most visited country in the world, with over 82 million tourists and businessmen alighting on the mainland every year.

Governmentally, France is a unitary semi-presidential republic whose main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Shared leadership at the head of the executive branch is divided between the President of the Republic (a “Head of State” elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year term), and the Government, led by the president-appointed Prime Minister. Current President Nicolas Sarkozy has held office since May of 2007, with current Prime Minister François Fillon having been simultaneously sworn into office that spring.

It should also be noted that, although France’s total land area covers an area of only 674,834 square kilometers (0.45% of the Earth’s surface), is possesses the second largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world, covering nearly 8% of the Earth’s surface (11,035,000 square kilometers). This expansion EEZ (with EEZ being defined as a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources) puts France second to only the United States. EEZ area is most closely related to economic profit from deep-sea fishing.

France’s capital and largest city of Paris is the nation’s overwhelming leader in terms of political and commercial activity, with other cities of importance being Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, Nice, and Nantes. As of 2007, France’s total population was estimated at 64.5 million, making it the 19th most populous country in the world. France has also long been known to be an extremely secular country, although recent polls show that 51% of the population identifies itself as being Catholics. That being said, 31% reporting themselves agnostics or atheists, with another 10% reporting no religious affiliations or opinions. Other religions do have presences, however, with censuses showing 4% of the population identifying itself as Muslim, 3% as Protestant, and 1% as Jewish.