Metropolitan France

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Lore & Background

The term 'metropolitan France' originated during the colonial period (16th to 20th centuries), when France was called la Métropole, as opposed to its colonies and protectorates. This usage derived from the Ancient Greek 'metropolis' (from μήτηρ mētēr 'mother' and πόλις pólis 'city, town'), which referred to a city-state that founded colonies across the Mediterranean—for example, Marseille was a colony of Phocaea, making Phocaea the 'metropolis' of Marseille. By extension, 'metropolis' came to mean the motherland in contrast to overseas colonies. Today, some people in Overseas France object to the term due to its colonial history, preferring 'the European territory of France' as used in the Treaties of the European Union. They also oppose treating overseas and metropolitan France as separate entities. INSEE used to calculate statistics only for metropolitan France, but since the end of the 1990s has included the four overseas departments in its figures for France; the fifth overseas department, Mayotte, has been included since the mid-2010s. INSEE refers to metropolitan France and the five overseas departments as la France entière ('the whole of France'). Other branches of the French administration may define la France entière differently—for example, the Ministry of the Interior uses it to refer to the entire French Republic for election results.

Reader's Guide

Metropolitan France is significant as the core territory of the French Republic, accounting for 82.0% of its land territory, 3.3% of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and 95.9% of its population. As of January 2026, INSEE reported 66,793,000 people lived in metropolitan France. In the second round of the 2022 French presidential election, 33,592,754 of the 35,096,478 total ballots were cast in metropolitan France (95.72% of voters), with a turnout of 74.04%. The French National Assembly includes 539 deputies elected in metropolitan France out of 577 total (93.4%). In overseas France, a person from metropolitan France is often called a métro, short for métropolitain. In Corsica, people from mainland France are referred to as les continentaux. Legislators in 2023 voted to use the name l'Hexagone ('the Hexagon') to refer to the continental part of metropolitan France in an effort to move away from colonial language. The image of France as a hexagon first appeared in French geography texts of the 1850s, with vertices at Bray-Dunes, Porspoder, Hendaye, Cerbère, Menton, and Lauterbourg. Some small parts of France, such as Cerdanya, are part of the Iberian Peninsula.

Did You Know?

• The term 'metropolitan France' comes from Ancient Greek 'metropolis' (mother city), used for city-states that founded colonies like Marseille from Phocaea.
• In the 2022 French presidential election, 95.72% of all ballots were cast in metropolitan France, with a turnout of 74.04% there versus 48.70% in overseas France.
• Legislators in 2023 voted to use 'the Hexagon' for continental France to move away from colonial language; the hexagon image first appeared in geography texts of the 1850s.
• The five overseas departments were only included in INSEE's 'whole of France' statistics starting in the late 1990s (four departments) and mid-2010s (Mayotte).
• Some small parts of France, such as Cerdanya, are part of the Iberian Peninsula.