Ms. Béatrice Favarel
Partner
Mr. Sébastien Goulet
Partner
18, quai de rive neuve
13007 Marseille
France
Phone: + 33 (0) 4 91 13 03 03
Fax: + 33 (0) 4 91 13 03 04
Secretariat
favarel.office@clesudest.fr
www.favarel-associes.fr
France is one of the largest countries in Europe in term of area. Metropolitan France, including the island of Corsica, has an area of 547,000 square kilometers (211,000 square miles). Metropolitan France is divided into ninety-six administrative areas known as departments (départements).
As the departments are not big enough to handle modern large-scale planning requirements, they are grouped into twenty-two regions. The French Republic also includes four overseas departments – French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and The Réunion Islands – as well as some other overseas territories in the Pacific Ocean. These overseas departments and territories are not covered in this Guide.
The population of France is estimated to be about 60,6 million. Paris and its suburbs, and the industrial are densely populated; elsewhere, however, the spread is fairly even, with more people in the East than in the West.
French is spoken throughout the country although small minorities speak other languages. While many technicians and businesses executives can speak foreign languages (especially English and German), most French people and business firms prefer to conduct conversations and correspondence in French.
