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.... Losses in World Wars Communism in France Slave trade

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History : WWII
Losses in World Wars : a comparison USA / France / Britain :      civilians (killed) in 1000s  military (killed) in 1000s  Total population (million)  losses as % of total population  WW1  USA  negligible  50  85  0,06%    France  small  1,400  40  3,5%    UK  negligible  800  39  2,05%  WW2  USA  negligible  300  140  0,2%    France  350  250  40  1,5%    UK  62  326  47  0,8% For a city of 50,000 for instance, the monument to the victims of the war would bear : in the USA : 29 names for WW1 and 107 for WW2 in UK : 1,026 names for WW1 and 347 for WW2 (plus : 66 names of civilians) in France : 1,750 names for WW1 and 313 for WW2 (plus : 438 names of civilians) Back to history		About life during the German occupation (June 1940-end 1944) : for an " average " Parisian in 1942 (labourers and teenagers had little more, old people a little less), the quantity of food he/she could buy with the monthly "tickets de rationnement " (food tickets) was enormously reduced compared to 1939 : Bread : from 13,5 kg to 8,5 kg ( - 37%) Potatoes : from 15,5 kg to 2 kg ( - 87%) Meat : from 3,5 kg to 0,6 kg ( - 83%) Wine : from 12 liters to 4,5 l. ( - 62%) Until 1948, everything was rationed (including coal, tobacco, wood, textiles, etc...) and delivered only upon presentation of the corresponding ticket. The prices were extremely high when compared with average monthly salaries (1,200 Francs for a manual worker, 2,500 to 3,500 F for a bank clerk) : Butter 250 to 350 Francs/kg (one week salary!) Coffee : 1,000 to 1,200 F/kg (one month salary!) Potatoes : 7 to 10 F/kg (one hour salary) On the " Black Market " (if you could find what you needed), prices were even higher but people in cities could not survive without it. Globally, the legal ration was 1,150 calories per day per person (it is considered that 2,500 to 2,800 calories are necessary to survive in average conditions of life). (Source : H.Amouroux, La vie des Français sous l'Occupation, a classical book on the period) Back to history
History : miscellaneous
Facts and figures on slave trade (source: Le Figaro Jan.31, 2006): Main actors of transatlantic slave trade (millions of victims) (source : Hugh Thomas)  Portugal  4,65  Great-Britain  2,6  Spain  1,6  France  1,25  Netherlands  0,5  British colonies in America  0,3  Others  0,1 Total number of victims (estimates)  Trade  Million  Source Oriental trade (to Maghreb and Middle-East) - VIIIth to XIXth Century  17  Ralph Austen Internal (African) trade  14  Patrick Manning Transatlantic trade - XVth to XIXth Century  11  Hugh Thomas Abolition of slave trade    Date  British colonies  1833  French colonies  1848  Dutch colonies  1860  United States of America  1865  Spanish colonies  1865  Portuguese colonies (Africa)  1869  Brazil  1887 Milestones for France : 1685 : Code Noir (Black Code) : official regulation of slave trade (Louis XIV) 1791 : Upheaval of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) 1794 : the French Revolutionary Assembly abolishes slavery (Abbé Grégoire) 1802 : Napoleon re-establishes slavery 1848 : the new Second Republic abolishes slavery (Victor Schoelcher)		Communism in France : a decreasing trend (Source : Le Figaro, March 27,2006)    % of votes for Parliament or presidential elections (P)  number of members of the party  circulation of the party's daily newspaper l'Humanité  Name of Secretary General  1946  28,2%  800,000  450,000  Maurice THOREZ (1936-1964)  1951  26,1%  400,000      1956  25,9%  450,000      1958  18,9%  500,000      1962  21,9%  700,000  200,000    1967  22,5%  700,000    Waldeck ROCHET (1964-1972)  1968  20%  600,000      1973  21,4%  600,000   Georges MARCHAIS (1972-1994)  1978  20,6%  600,000      1981  16,1% (P) 250,000      1986  9,7%  150,000      1988  11,2%  150,000      1993  9,1%  150,000      1997  9,9%  150,000    Robert HUE (1994-2001)  2002  4,9% (P)  134,000  50,000  Marie-Georges BUFFET (2001- )  2007  1,97% (P)  100,000?  50,000   Major dates of French Communism : 1920 : Congrès de Tours = split from the Socialist Party 1936 : supports the Front Populaire (but refuses to participate) 1939 : outlawed (after Hitler/Stalin pact) 1941-44 : very active in the Resistance (but only after Hitler invaded Russia) 1945 : participates in de Gaulle government 1972 : signs the Common Program of the Left 1976 : abandons the "dictatorship of proletariat" 1981 : 4 communists in Mitterrand's cabinet 1997 : 3 communists in Jospin's cabinet Back to "society"

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