This page is one of the annex pages of www.understandfrance.org, the foremost site on Franco-American intercultural differences. It contains documents, facts and figures illustrating the content of some of its pages.

Facts & figures

This page contains Facts and Figures about France and the French. Some are significant, other less so.... Culture Tourism Quality of life Expats : where do they live?

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Culture		Tourism
France has the strongest national cinema industry in Europe (Source : Observatoire Européen de l'Audiovisuel, 2005)    Audience (millions)  Market-share of national movies  Number of national movies  France  194,8  39,0%  167  Britain  171,3  23,6%  47  Germany  156,7  23,8%  121  Spain  143,8  13,4%  101  Italy  113  20,3%  104 More about the French policy for the film industry...  Mathematics : French prize-winners of the Fields Medal (every 4 years since since 1950) 1950 : Laurent Schwartz 1954 : Jean-Pierre Serre 1958 : René Thom 1966 : Alexandre Grothendieck 1982 : Alain Connes 1994 : Pierre-Louis Lions & Jean-Christophe Yoccoz 2002 : Laurent Lafforgue 2006 : Wendelin Werner 2010 : Cedric Villani & Ngo Bao Chan French prize-winners of the Abel award (every year since 2003) : 2003 : Jean-Pierre Serre 2008 : Jacques Tits 2009 : Misha Gromov (born Russian) More on math...		Origin of foreign tourists to France (source : Direction du Tourisme DSPES 2005)  Country  Visitors (million)  % 2005/2004  U.K.  14,7  +0,3%  Germany  13,2  -3,7%  Netherland  11,5  -7%  Belgium & Lux.  8,8  -  Italy & Greece  7,8  -1,8%  Spain & Portugal  3,8  +4,8%  U.S.A.  2,8  +6,1%  Austria, Finland, Sweden, Denmark  2,0  +7,3%  Japan  0,7  +4%  Canada  0,6  +7,1%  Russia  ?  high  China  ?  high  India  ?  high
Quality of life		Where do Americans live in the Paris region ?
Against opening shops on Sundays : says Michèle Biaggi, member of the national board of Force Ouvrière, one of the largest unions : " We are against opening shops on Sundays, whatever kind of shop : people must not work this day ! Because it is a way to increase work time and to suppress this day of rest, which is a traditional break, adding that schools are closed this day. The structure of the family is destroyed in the name of work, people cannot get together again. In a couple one will work on week days, the other one the week end ? Some people say that workers make more money if they work on Sundays : let's just raise the salaries and they will not need to work this day ! People who work on Sunday are often part-time workers : for them it is not additional time (NDLR : i.e. higher hourly basis) but just more hours (NDLR : i.e. at the same hourly price). . We need to add that people are led to believe that by working on Sunday, they work for the nation since everybody can go shopping. This is an intellectual fraud " (source : le Figaro, Dec.18,2006). Read a poll about working on Sunday. Back to "French Attitudes"		Where do they live (in the Paris Region) ? The membership directory of two associations of US residents in France (AAWE, AARO 2006) gives the following results : Western Paris (upscale 16th, 7th, 17th and 8th "Arrondissements") : 29,4 % Central Paris (historical 5th, 6th, 1rst, 2nd, 3rd and 4rth Arrts) : 12,1 % Southern Paris (traditional 13th, 14th and 15th Arrts) : 9,5 % Eastern and Northern Paris (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 18, 19 and 20 th Arrts) : 8,8 % Close Western suburbs (Hauts de Seine 92-Département, with Neuilly, Asnières, Suresnes, etc...) : 16,9 % More distant Western suburbs (Yvelines 78-département with Versailles, Saint-Germain, le Vésinet, Saint-Cloud, etc...) : 14,7 % Other suburbs : 8,5 % Where do they buy (in Paris) ? According to a study on property transactions in Paris (Source : Le Monde Dec.4, 2008), In 2008, foreigners bought 7,8% of the apartments sold in Paris ; among them, 22,8% Italians, 9,2% British and 5,3% Americans Americans prefer the following Arrondissements : 4th (Marais), 5th (Latin Quarter), 6th (Saint-Germain), 7th (Invalides), 9th (Grands Magasins) : i.e. they go only in the very center and generally ignore the rest of the city Back to American Community. To know what they like the most in Paris, click here. See a list of illustrious Americans who lived in Paris.
Cultural activities Cultural activities of the French (over 15) according to the periodic survey of the Ministry of Culture (original study) Activity in the past year (%) 1973 2008 Watching TV 88 98 hours per week 16 21 Listening to radio 89 87 hours per week 17 15 Listening to music 66 81 Reading a daily newspaper 77 69 Reading (more than 20 books) 28 16 Being a member of a library 13 18 Practicing music 5 8 Practicing another artisitic activity 11 22 Watching movies (more than 3/year) 39 40 Attending a dance show 6 8 ... (professional) theater 12 19 ... concert classical 7 7 ... concert Rock or Jazz 6 14 ... concert popular music 11 11 ... circus 11 14 ... amateur show 10 21 Visited museum or exhibitions 33 37
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Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books: "Joie de Vivre", Secrets of Wining, Dining and Romancing like the French, St.Martin's Press, New York, 2012 "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999 "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001 More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)

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