How big is France?

France is located in western Europe, to the west of Germany, to the north of Spain and to the South of the UK. While on most maps it looks very similar to the UK in size, the size of the latter is actually often inflated due to the distorting effects of the Mercator Projection, which maps the spherical earth onto a rectangular chart. While the UK is 243,610 km², France is more than twice the size at 543,940 km². If one includes non-Metropolitan France (i.e. overseas territories such as French Guiana and Guadeloupe) then France is actually 643,801 km².

To put that into a wider context, Germany is 357,592 km². Italy is 302,073 km², while Spain is 506,030 km². France is therefore the largest country in Europe (although Denmark and Russia are also contenders, depending on how one defines the area of these countries). When it comes to the size rankings of countries around the world, however, France is only number 42, behind South Sudan and Afghanistan.

When it comes to population, however, France has the fifth highest in Europe, and the 20th highest population in the world. As of 2024, the country has a population of 69,000,000 people, the same as the UK, but below Germany’s 85,000,000.

This wasn’t always the case. Historically, France had the largest population in Europe. In 1600, for example, while England’s population was only 6 million, France’s population was as large as 20 million. However, when the Industrial Revolution began in the UK, the birthrate skyrocketed, and France’s population fell behind, while the two world wars in the 20th century also had a profound negative effect on the population size.

The population of France is over 80% urban. Its largest cities are Paris, Marseilles and Lyon. With the exception of overseas territories, the departments are mostly equal in size, as they were conceived in the egalitarian spirit of the French Revolution.

• A guide to Overseas France
• A history of the French departments
• The biggest cities in France by population