Interesting Facts about France - Week 6 - Economy

• France is the world’s leader in luxury goods, including haute couture, perfumes and cosmetics.

• France is the world’s first producer of wine and liquors.

• France is the first producer of nuclear electricity in Europe and second producer in the world after the United States. France produces as much nuclear electricity as Germany, the UK, Spain and Russia combined!

• France has the third highest GDP (PPP) per capita per hour in the world, after Norway and Luxembourg, with an average of US$ 38.16 per hour.

• The Millau Viaduct, completed in 2005 in the south of France, is the tallest bridge in the world.

• The largest and most advanced passenger cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2, was built in France in 2004.

• The France-based Arianespace is the world leader in commercial space launch, with over 50% of the global market for launching satellites.

• The European Space Agency (ESA) is based in Paris, while the headquarters of the pan-European aerospace concern Airbus are in Toulouse.

• The French TGV is one of the fastest train in the world, with an average speed of 263.3 km/h from station to station. It reached a record 574.8km/h on a test run in April 2007. At the time, it held the world record of endurance, running from Calais to Marseille (1067.2 km) in 3h29min, in 2001.

• Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris is Europe’s busiest airports by cargo traffic (6th in the world).

• The Société Bic was the world’s first mass manufacturer of ball-point pens. It sold its 100,000 millionth ball pen in 2005.

Interesting Facts about France - Week 5 - Culture and Science

• There are some 40,000 châteaux (castles, manors, palaces…) in France.
• Famous French inventions include the adding machine, the hot air balloon, the airship, the parachute, the submarine, the ambulance service, photography, animation and cinema.

• France is the country that has won the most Nobel prizes for literature (13 as of 2005, with the last prize going back to 1985).

• French people are the second biggest consumers of alcohol per capita in the Western world – after Luxembourg…

• A 2007 study revealed that the French were the biggest consumers of medicines in Europe, both in quantity and total money spent per person.

• There are over 300 kinds of cheese made in France.

• There are 28 categories of sites in France listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, including 3 Roman sites (Arles, Orange and Le Gard), 4 cathedrals (Amiens, Bourges, Chartres, Reims), 4 abbeys (Fontenay, Reims, Saint-Savin sur Gartempe and Vezelay), 8 historic city/town centres (Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon, Avignon, Le Havre, Mont-Saint-Michel, Provins and Carcassone) as well as numerous belfries, castles and palaces.

• More tourists visit France each year than any other country in the world, with 67 million annual tourist arrivals (more than the country’s population).

• The spectacle “Ionesco” has been playing at the Théâtre de La Huchette since 1957, with over 15,000 performances – a world record.

• There are about 2 new cooking books published every day in France.

• Pop singer Claude François (1939-1978) is still as popular as ever in France 30 years after his accidental death. Two of his songs have remained constantly in the top 10 of music played in night club for the last 20 years. A real cult has developed around him. In many ways, Claude François can be regarded as the French equivalent of Elvis Presley.

• About one fourth of French people nowadays choose to be cremated when they die, instead of the traditional Catholic burial.