Metropolitan France


Metropolitan France, also known as European France, is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises [|the mainland], popularly known as "the Hexagon", and Corsica. This collective name for the European regions of France is used in everyday life in France but has no administrative meaning, with the exception that only Metropolitan France is part of the Schengen Area. Indeed, the overseas regions have exactly the same administrative status as the metropolitan regions. Metropolitan France comprises mainland France and Corsica, as well as nearby French islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel and the Mediterranean Sea waters. Its borders have undergone significant changes over the centuries, particularly in the east, but have remained substantially unaltered since the independence of Algeria in 1962.
In contrast, overseas France is the collective name for all the French departments and territories outside Europe. Metropolitan and overseas France together form the French Republic. Metropolitan France accounts for 82.0% of the land territory, 3.3% of the exclusive economic zone, and 95.9% of the population of the French Republic. Some small parts of France are a part of the Iberian Peninsula.
In overseas France, a person from metropolitan France is often called a métro, short for métropolitain.

Etymology

The term "metropolitan France" dates from the country's colonial period, when France was referred to as la Métropole, as distinguished from its colonies and protectorates, known as les colonies or l'Empire. Similar terms existed to describe other European colonial powers. This application of the words "metropolis" and "metropolitan" came from Ancient Greek "metropolis", which was the name for a city-state that created colonies across the Mediterranean. By extension "metropolis" and "metropolitan" came to mean "motherland", a nation or country as opposed to its colonies overseas.
Today, some people in Overseas France object to the use of the term la France métropolitaine due to its colonial history. They prefer to call it "the European territory of France", as the Treaties of the European Union do. Likewise, they oppose treating overseas France and metropolitan France as separate entities. For example, INSEE used to calculate its statistics for metropolitan France only, and to analyze separate statistics for the overseas departments and territories. People in the overseas departments have opposed this separate treatment, arguing that the then four overseas departments were fully part of France.
As a result, since the end of the 1990s INSEE has included the four overseas departments in its figures for France. The fifth overseas department, Mayotte, has been included in the figures for France since the mid-2010s too. INSEE refers to metropolitan France and the five overseas departments as la France entière. "The whole of France" includes the five overseas departments, but does not include the other overseas collectivities and territories that have more autonomy than the departments. Other branches of the French administration may have different definitions of what la France entière is. For example, in contrast to INSEE, when the Ministry of the Interior releases election results, they use the term la France entière to refer to the entire French Republic, including all of overseas France, and not just the five overseas departments.
Since INSEE now calculates statistics for la France entière, this practice has spread to international institutions. For instance, the French GDP published by the World Bank includes metropolitan France and the five overseas departments. The World Bank refers to this total as "France"; it does not use the phrase "the whole of France", as INSEE does.

Statistics

Metropolitan France covers a land area of, while overseas France covers a land area of, for a total of in the French Republic. Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 82.0% of the French Republic's land territory.
At sea, the exclusive economic zone of metropolitan France covers, while the EEZ of Overseas France covers, for a total of in the French Republic. Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 3.3% of the French Republic's EEZ.
According to INSEE, 66,793,000 people lived in metropolitan France as of January 2026, while 2,891,000 lived in overseas France, for a total of 69,684,000 inhabitants in the French Republic. Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 95.9% of the French Republic's population.
In the second round of the 2022 French presidential election, 35,096,478 French people cast a ballot. 33,592,754 of these cast their ballots in metropolitan France, 952,238 cast their ballots in overseas France, and 551,486 cast their ballots in foreign countries.
The French National Assembly is made up of 577 deputies, 539 of whom are elected in metropolitan France, 27 in overseas France, and 11 by French citizens living in foreign countries.

Hexagon

Legislators in 2023 voted to use the name l'Hexagone 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.
Mainland or Continental France, or just "the mainland", does not include the French islands in the Atlantic Ocean, English Channel, or Mediterranean Sea, the largest of which is Corsica.
In Corsica, people from mainland France are referred to as les continentaux.