Ah France… There are countless number of stereotypes about France and the French people. Even if some of them are true, lots of them are not or hide a deep history.

In any case, wether you are living in France, traveling there or meeting a French fellow, having a better idea of the French culture and habits will help you get along with them.

So, here are 30 interesting facts about French people! 🥖

 

The Best French People Facts

French people have a reputation of their own. If you have ever been to France, you probably know what I’m talking about, but I’m pretty sure there are still lots of things you don’t know.

In any case, let me tell you what I mean in this list of the 30 best facts. 

 

1. French people don’t do French manicures

Opposite to what you would think, you will very rarely see someone wear nude nails with a white tip in France.

Generally, nail polish or keeping the nails natural is what people go for.

 

2. French people like to go on strike pretty often

This is one of the most famous fun facts about French people: they go on strike often!

It is associated with a good cause though, because historically, most of the best privileges of French workers, like the 35-hour work week or the 5 weeks of paid vacation every year have resulted from lots of strikes. They don’t sound that lazy now, do they?

 

2 - interesting facts about the french rioting

French people demonstrating on Place de la République in Paris

3. French people critique very easily

In the French language, saying “pas mal” (meaning “not bad”) is very typical, just like any other negative way of showing appreciation.

This also has a logical explanation to it, French people are not just never happy or mean: in France, perfectionism is always present in everyone’s education. You can be good, but as long as you’re not the best, you keep going!

Read more: Learn more facts about the French language

 

4. Politeness is critical in France

Wherever you go in France, you need to learn some basic words, otherwise you might get ignored or even blamed for being rude.

When you first interact with someone, you have to greet them with “Bonjour”. If you have a question, add “s’il-vous-plaît” at the end of the sentence, and when they answer don’t forget to thank them with “merci”. Before leaving, remember to say “au revoir”!

 

4 - merci

 

5. It is very common for a French meal to last for hours

Trust me, I am not exaggerating when I’m saying meals last for several hours in France. Whether you visit your grandparents, or you go to the restaurant, make sure you have at least 2 to 3 hours.

Yes, meals are very long in terms of food, with most of the time 6 different parts, but that’s not the reason they last so long. Even long after being done with eating, people stay and simply talk!

 

6. French people are big smokers

In France, you will notice lots of people smoking. While that might sound surprising for you, France is in fact in the top 3 European countries where smoking is the most common.

It becomes socially acceptable for French kids to smoke when they reach high school. As for workers, they often take lots of breaks during the day to smoke in front of their workplace.

 

6 - facts about french people smoking

 

7. Even French people themselves don’t know how to greet each other for the first time

In France, when you see someone and greet them, you either kiss them on the cheek, or shake their hand.

This depends on the social setting: for instance, no matter their gender, your superiors should be greeted by shaking hands. The general rule though is that women are greeted by cheek-kissing and men shake hands with one another. Sometimes it can be very awkward though!

 

8. If you choose to kiss cheeks in France, you have to make sure you come from the same region

That’s right, even if you dodged the awkward phase of “how should I greet this person?” and you chose cheek-kissing, you still have to know the number of kisses!

The most general practice is two, one on each cheek, but depending on the region, the number of kisses ranges from 1 to… 5! If you meet with a group of people, be ready to kiss some cheeks.

 

9. Baguettes and bread in general is loved by everyone in France

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of French people is probably someone walking with a beret, a baguette under their arm. While that is very stereotypical and you won’t meet lots of people like this in the streets, it is definitely true that French people love baguettes.

You will find baguettes for every meal, and some people love them so much that they even make their own bread!

 

facts about french people and baguette

 

10. A lot of French people have several names

The majority of French people actually have 3 names: their own as well as the own from their grandmothers (for girls), grandfathers (for boys) or godparents. This tradition is slowly disappearing though, as the other names are usually chosen arbitrarily by parents nowadays.

You will still call someone by their first name, but on their passport, all of them are written. On top of that, you can see the height and the eye color of the person.

 

11. French people are against sexism and women are very independent

In France, there are less gender role divisions compared to other countries: men can clean the house, cook dinner and wash the clothes. For instance, cooking lessons for girls only in schools do not exist, as everyone should be equal.

Also, the most used sentence in any French relationship is “do as you want”: it does not mean they don’t care, but rather that everyone should decide what is best for them!

 

11 - french girl riot

“My body is not yours”

12. Whenever you have a serious problem, you have to call the firemen in France

No matter the kind of emergency you have, the most common ones can be solved by firemen, who are trained for general rescue missions. Whether your cat is stuck on a tree, or your house is on fire, firemen will be here faster than any other service.

As a result, French people are very respectful towards firemen. If you need to call them while you’re there, dial 112.

 

13. French people usually first answer “no” to any question

This is very general and a bit stereotypical, but the first thing French people respond when asked anything is “no”.

This habit came from the fact that French people consider that if you say “no”, you can still think about it and say “yes” later. However, if you start by saying “yes”, you cannot go back!

 

14. French people never leave baguettes for the next day

If you have ever eaten a baguette, you know what I’m talking about: whatever you do, finish your baguette the day you buy it! While it is very tasty, crunchy and soft on the first day, it becomes very hard, very quick.

As a matter of fact, “baguette” means “stick”: don’t let it become a stick, otherwise that’s a huge waste.

 

15. The French generally drink tap water

The water filtering system is pretty good in France, so people there have no issue drinking all of their water from the sink. Generally though, in the middle of the city, the water is very calcareous: the best one is in the countryside.

In any case, tap water is a good option, as bottled water can be quite expensive.

 

15 - french people drink tap water

 

16. Until 2013, it was legally forbidden for women to wear pants in France!

From 1800 to 2013, French women were forced to get permission from the police to wear men’s clothes like pants. The goal of this law was to prevent women from getting access to certain jobs.

It was only in 2013 that this law wasn’t canceled! But don’t worry, literally no one followed it, most people don’t even know this law.

 

french women in pants

 

17. French people brush their teeth twice a day

Some people brush their teeth once or thrice a day, but usually the French brush theirs after breakfast and before going to sleep.

This can sound weird to you, but for French people it makes a lot of sense: not only are you supposed to enjoy the food you are eating, but most importantly, it is better hygienically to brush your teeth after eating and not before.

 

18. French people will always find toilets if they need to

In Paris and in most French cities, public toilets are free and can be used any time of the day. These automated booths are very useful and (usually) clean. The toilet will wash itself so you won’t find any unpleasant surprises.

Also, all café owners in France are required to have a toilet, so just go there if you have an emergency!

 

19. French people are becoming more and more… overweight

French cuisine is reputed to be one of the world’s healthiest, and French women are admired for their thin waistlines. However, around 15 percent of the population is actually obese.

This is probably due to the fact that the French love fast-food a bit too much. In fact, the people as a whole have put on more than 3 kg / 6.6 lbs since 1997.

 

20. French women are having more and more sex

While it is the French men that are usually reputed for having more sex, women have been catching up in the recent years.

Their first sexual encounter used to be 20 in the mid 90s, and it is now around 17 years old. They used to have four lovers in their lives on average, and now five. Finally, 90 percent of women over 50 years old say they are still sexually active, against 50 percent in 1970.

 

So that’s it for the 20 best general facts about French people… but wait I still have tons of things to tell you about!

Below are 10 more facts for you. 👇

 

More Interesting Facts About The French People

I simply could not stop after only 20 facts, I still have so much facts for you. 

 

21. France has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe

This might sound weird because of how wonderful France looks like, but it is actually a place where about 27 people kill themselves every day!

The quality of life is actually pretty good in France. According to experts, this horrible suicide rate is due to the lack of resources for psychologically ill people.

 

22. French people are mostly Catholic

You might know France as the country of “laïcité”, secularism in English, which means the separation between state and religion. But factually, French people are very Catholic: two thirds of them declare they are part of this religion.

This tendency is only going down though, as there used to be 81 percent of them in 1981.

 

notre dame cathedral in paris

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

23. French men are cheaters!

It is very stereotypical to say that French men are unfaithful, but the truth is not that far away: in fact, one in two French men cheat on their partners!

While you might be worried about this if you have a French boyfriend, just remember that French women are not that much better, as a third of them admit they cheated on their partner. Maybe it’s just French people in general…

 

24. There are on average more people with TVs than refrigerators in France

Don’t ask me how that’s possible, I have no idea. I can just tell you that there are more French households with a color TV than those with a refrigerator: 97.4 percent compared to 89 percent. I still don’t know how you can live without a fridge…

Several French products like milk or dry sausage are not kept in the fridge though, so maybe that’s what they eat!

 

25. French people like snails a bit too much

No, it’s not that the French find snails cute or like to have them as pets… they eat them!

Whether you believe it or not, 25,000 tons of snails are eaten in France every year. Over 95 percent of these are imports though, as some national varieties just refuse to breed in captivity: it looks like they know about their fate.

 

26. If you don’t want to eat snails, there’s always pizza in France

This is probably the hardest fact to believe: French people eat more pizzas than Italians! With their 10 tons of pizzas per year compared to the 9 of Italy, you can understand why they are becoming more and more overweight.

On a global scale, they come second only to the United States, who eat 12 tons a year!

Read more: Discover more facts about French food

 

27. French people are huge drinkers

On average, French people drink… 13.7 liters / 3.4 gallons of pure alcohol each year! This means over 500 pints of beer with around 5 percent of alcohol.

While that sounds like a lot, remember that it has dropped a lot since 1960, when they used to drink 25 liters / 6.6 gallons. The only countries drinking more than France are Russia and the UK.

 

27 - facts about the french drinking habits

 

28. French people live in very different time zones

Though France is the biggest country of the European Union, it is fairly small and only has 1 time zone… for its continental area.

In case you didn’t know, France has lots of old colonies that are still overseas territories to this day: this means that the country spreads over 12 different time zones, making it the #1 country in terms of time zones!

 

29. French people… weren’t the ones who invented the French kiss

Sorry to burst your bubble: the worldwide famous French kiss does not actually come from France!

It is said that both American and British soldiers, during World War I, were so surprised by the passion French soldiers kissed their girlfriends with, that they decided to name the famous kiss that way, but it probably does not come from France.

 

29 - fun facts about french people french kiss

 

30. French people can marry… the dead

A very creepy fact to round it all: the French can marry the dead, technically.

It is not easy to do, obviously, but if the dead person has stated their wish to be married in an official paperwork before their death, the French President can allow the wedding. This was mostly used for spouses of soldiers who died at war.

 

So there you have them, these were all my 30 interesting facts about the French people. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.

In case you want to learn more about the rest of the country, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about. 

 

More Facts!

Want to learn more facts about France?

Well, I have other France facts posts I’m sure you’ll love reading!

Here is the main guide of the best France facts 👉 The 60 Best Facts about France

Check out these France facts by city:

Or these French facts by region:

You can also check these French facts by topic: 

Or click here to see ALL the facts up on the blog! Spoiler alert: there’s A LOT of them.

 

The Full List of 30 French People Facts

  1. French people don’t do French manicures
  2. French people like to go on strike pretty often
  3. French people critique very easily
  4. Politeness is critical in France
  5. It is very common for a French meal to last for hours
  6. French people are big smokers
  7. Even French people themselves don’t know how to greet each other for the first time
  8. If you choose to kiss cheeks in France, you have to make sure you come from the same region
  9. Baguettes and bread in general is loved by everyone in France
  10. A lot of French people have several names
  11. French people are against sexism and women are very independent
  12. Whenever you have a serious problem, you have to call the firemen in France
  13. French people usually first answer “no” to any question
  14. French people never leave baguettes for the next day
  15. The French generally drink tap water
  16. Until 2013, it was legally forbidden for women to wear pants in France!
  17. French people brush their teeth twice a day
  18. French people will always find toilets if they need to
  19. French people are becoming more and more… overweight
  20. French women are having more and more sex
  21. France has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe
  22. French people are mostly Catholic
  23. French men are cheaters!
  24. There are on average more people with TVs than refrigerators in France
  25. French people like snails a bit too much
  26. If you don’t want to eat snails, there’s always pizza in France
  27. French people are huge drinkers
  28. French people live in very different time zones
  29. French people… weren’t the ones who invented the French kiss
  30. French people can marry… the dead

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