More Facts and figures about France
Miscellaneous facts and figures

  • Most visited French touristic sites (Source : Observatoire National du Tourisme 2003) :

 Site    visitors/year (millions)
 Notre-Dame  Paris

 10
 Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre  Paris

 8
 Tour Eiffel  Paris

 5,9
 Musée du Louvre  Paris

 5,7
 Centre Georges-Pompidou  Paris

 5,3
 Mont-Saint-Michel  Manche

 3,3
 Chateau de Versailles  Versailles

 2,9
 Cité des Sciences de la Villette  Paris

 2,9
 Musée d'Orsay  Paris

 1,8
 Cathédrale de Reims  Champagne

 1,5
 Cathédrale de Chartres  Eure-et-Loir

 1,5
 American Cemetery Omaha Beach  Normandie

 1,3
 Pont Romain du Gard  Gard

 1,1
 Puy-du-Fou (spectacle médieval)  Vendée

 1,1
 Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile  Paris

 1,0
 Ville de Sarlat  Dordogne

 1,0
 Musée de l'Armée  Paris

 1,0

 

  • Charities : Americans give to charities between 6 and 7 times more per capita than the French (but the French pay much more taxes for social help, museums, universities, hospitals, etc...). According to Giving USA Foundation and CerPhi (in France), the gap is even bigger : in 2005, 199 billion $ vs. 3,2 in France. But when it comes to public aid for development, the USA are far beyond France and Europe (between one third and one half)... Among many others, the most well known French charitable organizations include :
    • Compagnons d'Emmaüs, for the homeless, founded by Abbé Pierre
    • Restaurants du Coeur, free meals for people who can't afford food, founded by Coluche
    • Secours Catholique, sponsored by the Catholic church
    • Secours Populaire, very similar, but sponsored by unions and left-wing political parties
    • Medecins Sans Frontières, the "French Doctors", in Third World countries, founded by Bernard Kouchner
  • Foreign students in France as compared to USA (Source : OECD 2004)
       France  USA  UK  Germany

    Total number of

    foreign students

    		 152,881  586,323  275,270  163,213
     From Asia

     13,9%

     62,5%

     35,6%

     34,5%
     From Europe

     25,6%

     13,8%

     45,4%

     50,5%
     From Africa

     53,3%

     6,5%

     8,3%

     9,5%
     From SouthAm

     2,9%

     6,1%

     1,2%

     2%
     From NorthAm

     3,5%(°)

     10,2%

     8,5%(°°)

     2,5%
     Others

     0,8%

     0,9%

     1%

     1%

(°) : including USA : 1,5% (°°) : including USA : 5,4%

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Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books :

  • "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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