France

Executive summary
Introduction
Executive summary
The French Republic is made up of metropolitan France in western
Europe (the mainland plus Corsica) and a collection of overseas islands
and territories on other continents. France is the second most populous
country in the European Union (EU; Union Européenne) after Germany, and
has the fifth largest economy in the world.
The overall state of health in France is mixed. On the one hand, overall
indicators show that the health of the population is good. French average life
expectancy at birth is now over 80 years (82.4 years, compared with the EU
average of 80.6) and for women is the second highest in the world (85.6 years).
Moreover, older people remain in better health than in many other European
countries. However, France suffers from a high rate of premature male deaths
from accidents and unhealthy habits such as smoking and harmful alcohol
consumption, which are the most common causes of avoidable mortality
in France. France also has health inequalities across socioeconomic and
geographical groups that are wider than in most other European countries.
These inequalities are the result not only of risk factors but also of disparities
in access to health services.
Organization and governance
Although the basic form of the French health care system is social insurance
on the Bismarckian model, the French health care system has historically
had a more centralized character with a stronger role for the state than other
social insurance systems. This is illustrated by the single public payer and
the increasing importance of tax-based revenue for financing health care,
bringing the French system closer to the state-run national health services on
the Beveridge model. Statutory health insurance (SHI; assurance maladie),